Ether & Elephants (32 page)

“Charlie, are you all right?” Nell climbed down as quickly as she could, and held out her arms while Aadi climbed down with Charlie.

“Yes, Miss Nell.” He clung to her, burying his damp face into her skirts. “I’m so sorry, miss. I didn’t want to help them but she said they’d hurt you if I didn’t.”

“It’s all right, darling.” She didn’t know what else to say. Good or evil, Polly was the boy’s mother. Nell stroked his hair and wept silent tears with him while Tom bound Pritchard and the other two men checked the bodies of Polly, Barrow and Kumar, shaking their heads with each one.

“You’re going to live with me, now, Charlie,” Nell said. “What do you think of that?”

“Is she dead?”

Nell nodded before remembering he couldn’t see her. “I’m sorry, darling, but yes, she is. So is your father.”

Charlie sighed. “I know I’m bad, but I can’t help it—I’m glad they’re gone. They weren’t good people, Miss Nell. I don’t want them to be my parents.”

“Then think about calling me Mum.” She lifted him into her arms and held him tight. “If you want to, that is. I want to adopt you, Charlie.” All hesitation was gone. She’d proven to herself that she was strong enough to do anything, even manage her own school.

He cried harder. “Yes, please.” His sobs racked his small body, but she heard him whisper, “Mum. My own mum,” and her heart filled with love.

The sound of an airship overhead caused them to look up in shock. The one they’d left Cortland and O’Malley in was already down in the valley.

This one was unfamiliar, and landed next to them while all four adults trained weapons on the occupants.

Vidya and Jonathan stepped out, along with more of the Shanku staff. “We left as soon as we got father’s wire. There are more soldiers coming from Government House as we speak, but their ship is slower.”

“Behind you,” Jonathan yelled.

Nell turned to see that Pritchard was…glowing. He burst free of his bonds and lifted a hand. Light shot from his fingertips and three of the servants fell, writhing in agony.

“None of that.” Vidya stamped her foot and shouted something in Bengali. At least Nell assumed that was the language.

Behind Pritchard, a giant cobra reared its head, hood spread.

Tom screamed like a little girl.

Tom had never been more ashamed of himself, but the snake was the most terrifying thing he’d ever seen, after Pritchard holding a gun to Nell, of course. Pritchard turned, saw the snake and started to run.

The cobra struck, and Pritchard died with a horrible scream.

Tom raised his gun to shoot the snake, but Vidya chanted again and the snake…vanished. Tom swallowed the bile in his mouth.

Jonathan cast a proud gaze on his wife. “There is magick in her family as well as mine. That’s one of the reasons our marriage was arranged.”

Nell and her sister-in-law went to help the fallen servants, but even from a distance, Tom could see there was no saving them.

Tom and the other men mounted the elephants. “Wait in the airship,” he told the women. “Protect Charlie.”

Nell started to object, but after looking at the boy who clung to her skirts, she remained onboard. Vidya, too, obediently climbed back onto the deck. They looked on somberly as their men rode off to battle.

At least Tom considered himself Nell’s man. After last night, she damned well better marry him. Somehow, he had to be able to convince her.

The battle was nearly over by the time Tom and the others reached the valley. The mindless zombies and their dozen or so minders had been no match for trained soldiers on horse and elephant. Vivek himself rode in the midst of his men, on an iron horse with brass gears and pistons, and a mane and tail of shining silver.

Tom let his magick flow, taking out several zombies at a time. Once the valley was quiet, Tom and Jonathan borrowed horses and, along with Vivek, went to retrieve the women and Charlie.

“We need to find the Eye,” Nell said. “This formula is too powerful, and so is the magick of the ruby. I don’t want it to fall into any hands, not even the viceroy’s.”

“They’re right here.” Charlie pointed to a small pile of rubble that might have once been an obelisk. “Four sides, two eyes per side. Can’t you see them?”

Nell explained that the structure was ruined.

Tom laid a hand on the mound. “Charlie’s right. They’re here.” He and Jonathan dug through the rubble with pitchforks, finally digging out eight egg-sized opaque pink stones.

Nell picked one up. “Shouldn’t they be red?”

Vidya studied one. “Most Indian rubies are like this. Perhaps that’s why Mr. Pritchard never found them. He was looking for something he imagined, not something real.”

“Put them on that stone floor.” Vivek led his mechanical horse over as one of his men laid the eight stones in a small circle. With three quick blows of its iron hooves, the horse destroyed the rubies. Tom felt the magick disperse into the air as a swirling wind swept away even the remaining dust.

Moments later, the viceroy’s men arrived and took charge of the scene, dealing with the bodies of the drugged bandits.

The rest of them returned to Shanku.

Chapter Thirteen

Tom couldn’t seem to let go of Nell. He kept his arm around her during the entire elephant ride, with Charlie wedged tightly between them. A single touch to the boy’s shoulder had relieved his last doubt. Charlie was Berrycloth’s son by blood, and far more gifted than even Nell had mentioned.

“Are you going to be my papa?” Charlie asked.

Tom tousled the boy’s hair. “I’d like to, but that’s up to your new mum.” He’d been drawn to the child from the moment he’d seen him on the train platform.

Nell sighed. “No, dear, but we’ll talk about that later.”

That was the answer Tom had been afraid of. She wasn’t going to make things easy.

Tough. He wasn’t going to give up, either.

Back at Shanku, clothes were changed, wounds bandaged, and copious amounts of food served. Several of the women, including Vidya, washed and wrapped the bodies of the fallen members of the household, perhaps a dozen, all told. Despite their ultimate success, it was a somber evening.

And long. It seemed forever before Tom was able to slip into Nell’s bedchamber. This room was even bigger and more lavish than the one in Calcutta, reminding Tom that here, she was a princess. Once again, his princess had waited up, this time in her nightgown without the robe, her feet drawn up and her arms around her knees.

“Baba Vivek wants me to stay,” she said before he’d even opened his mouth. She gestured around. “He’s trying to sway me with all this, but I think he knows that the trappings of wealth don’t matter much to me.”

“I’m sure he simply wants time to get to know you.” Tom understood that. He just didn’t know what to do about it.

Nell rested her chin on her knees. “I do love him. It’s silly in such a short time, I suppose, but I feel as if he’s always been a father to me. Just…a second father. He’ll never be the man who raised me.”

“Do you want to stay?” He settled on a floor cushion a yard or so from her chair.

She shrugged. “After today I don’t know what I want.”

A tiny spark of hope flared in his chest, but he kept the conversation away from their relationship for the moment. “What about the adoption? I think you have enough contacts either here or in England to make sure it goes through.”

“I’m absolutely sure of that.” Nell wrapped one strand of hair around her finger. “Nancy, too, I think. They’ll be good for one another.”

“You’ll need a big house.” He did his best to keep his tone neutral. “I don’t imagine you’ll stop with two.”

She chuckled. “You know me too well. And I want my school, but I’m not going to hire someone to run it for me. I’ve proven to myself that I can do anything I set my mind to.”

He grinned. “Of that, dearest, I have no doubt whatsoever. I suspect one of your fathers would build you a school on the moon, if you wished, but either would happily fund one here or in England.”

“I did find something of home here,” she said. “Learning about this half of my history helped me feel whole in a way I didn’t expect. It came as a bit of a surprise, but for all its faults, I think I’ll always carry a little of India inside my heart. I’ll not try to hide it anymore. My Shanku heritage is part of what makes me who I am.”

“Of course it is. If you did want to stay here, I’d be willing to leave the Order.” Tom hadn’t meant to blurt it out quite like that. Leaving the Order would tear out a part of his heart, but the rest of that organ already belonged to Nell. “The viceroy has said he can find some use for me, and if not, I’m sure your father will put me to work somewhere. Of course I might be able to start an Order office here, as well. Papa and His Grace have discussed it.”

“You’d leave the Order?” Her eyes turned misty. “That’s…more generous than I deserve. Not after the way I’ve railed at you about trust and fidelity.”

Tom scooched closer until he knelt at her feet. “You had every right. I was a fool to sleep with Polly, even if it was before we’d kissed and spoken about the future. It cost me everything I ever wanted—you.”

“We all make mistakes. I could have forgiven you. As I said on the airship, I have now, if that means anything.”

“It means everything.” He drew her into his arms and held her close. “Marry me, Nell. We’ll live wherever you like, have a school and adopt a dozen other children. It will be better, you know, if they have a papa as well as a mum.”

His heart seemed to stop beating as she hesitated. She licked her lips and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Are you sure? Sure that this time, marriage is what you really, truly want? You’re not just asking because the family expects it, are you?”

“Good God, no!” How could she even think such a thing? “Nell, it was always you I wanted. I was just too impatient to wait. I like to think I’ve outgrown that particular idiocy in the last ten years.”

Her soft laugh tickled his lips and his soul. “I believe you. The whole time today, I felt confident, because I knew you were there. As long as there was breath in your body, you’d never let anything happen to me.”

“And yet it was you and Lark who saved the day.” He kissed her nose. “I have that same kind of faith in you. That’s what makes us a perfect pair.”

“Baba Vivek brought Lark with him.” Nell’s eyes gleamed. “He does understand something about magick. I don’t know how he knew my so-called music box could help, but he did. Not to mention Vidya and her snake powers.”

Tom shuddered. “Yeah, that’s one argument for going back to England, as far as I’m concerned. The elephants weren’t bad, but I’d be happy if I never saw a cobra again in my life.”

“Poor Tommy. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from snakes.” She giggled. “And you can protect everyone else from everything else.” Her lids dropped, hiding her gaze. “I will worry, you know. Every single time you go out on a mission. I have to admit, I’m going to be much more obnoxious about it than Mum. That’s why I need a school. So I can have something to keep me busy when you’re gone.”

“Do you want me to quit? Manage Stonechase myself and maybe teach swordplay at your school?”

“No.” She kissed him, long and sweet. “I don’t want to change you. I just want you to come home to me when your mission is done.”

“Is that a yes?” His tongue felt thick and awkward, making it hard to speak.

“Yes, my love. I’ll marry you, if you still want me.”

Tom pounced. He kissed her, pushed her over onto her back, pulling up her nightgown with one hand while he undid his trousers with the other. He bared her sex, tested her with one hand and found her already wet. After freeing his cock from both trousers and smalls, he thrust inside her with no further preliminaries and no damn barriers.

“I want you,” he growled as he began to move. “In every possible way, every day of my life.”

Nell smiled up at him and dug her nails into his shoulders. “Then have me.”

Tom swore the fireworks in his head formed the shape of that last Tarot card. With his strengthened magick and his newer understanding of different kinds of love, he truly had become the man he was meant to be, and in the end, he had been granted the world.

* * *

It was hard to leave India behind, but Nell couldn’t wait to get home. Baba Vivek, along with Jonathan and Vidya, took another airship just a day or two behind them, giving Nell and Tom a chance to share their news with the Hadrian family, as well as gather everyone for the wedding. Tom and Nell had promised to return to India as often as they could, while her father and brother swore to visit on a regular basis.

Less than a month later, Nell stood in a guest bedroom at Stonechase, while Vidya helped wrap a white and gold sari around her and paint a perfect bindi in the middle of Nell’s forehead.

Her mother, sisters and friends crowded into the room, barely fitting, although it was the largest guest chamber the stately home possessed. Wink watched over their little sisters, Sylvia, Rose and Vivienne Hadrian, while Amy, Geneva, Melody and Belinda kept an eye on their own youngsters. Even the older MacKay ladies, along with the present and dowager duchesses, had found chairs in the bedroom, watching as a tearful Caroline draped her own veil over Nell’s dark curls. Nancy, in a white lace dress with a blue sash, would be Nell’s only attendant, while Charlie would stand as Tom’s best man.

That probably didn’t mean he wasn’t overrun with the male contingent. Nell was sure Merrick was in there, plus Piers, Jamie, little Will, Connor, Victor, Magnus, Kendall, the duke, Sir William, Sir Fergus, Jonathan and Baba Vivek.

Finally, all the guests were called out to their seats in the Stonechase garden. Nancy walked ahead of Nell down the flagstone path, and Nell followed, flanked on either side by her fathers.

It was the happiest day of her life.

Tom’s eyes gleamed as he waited at the altar, Charlie standing proudly beside him.

Nell was so moved she nearly sang her vows. Tom just spoke with his usual determined honestly.

When the ceremony was over, they followed the tradition set by Merrick and Caroline and signed the adoption papers for Charlie and Nancy, making the four of them one family.