Geared for Pleasure (20 page)

Thigh-high boots made, Dare would guess, from the butter-colored leather of the threehorn, complete with brass buckles along the side, covered most of her legs. Her upper thighs were encased in ruby red tights that nearly matched the richness of her hair in color, and the snuggest pair of leather short-pants in existence.

Her red corset had no design, other than the buckles up the front that seemed to match her boots, with slats for small silver arrows.
Weapons that reminded Dare of the dangerous bracelet Phina still wore on her wrist. The arm-length bracers and the whip coiled at her waist completed the predatory fashion statement. This was a thief’s garb? Dare could not imagine
not
being noticed in such an outfit, much less sneaking past security and shield guards as Gebby had insisted she did so often. Still, with her tousled hair glowing like a beacon and her bright clothing, Phina stood out.

She also looked more like a wild thing than she had before. Crouching atop her chair, spots visible along her arms, her long, entrancingly mobile tail flicking behind her and her emerald eyes watchful, she was pure Felidae. In her current state, her feelings were less complex, easier for Dare to translate. She did
not
like this place.

Dare knew there were several areas of Theorrey, particularly in the south, that contained marshlands similar to this one. She herself had been taken blindfolded and left in the marsh at the edge of Centre City with only a simple dagger when she was eight. As part of her shield guard training, her goal was to procure a rare white lotus for the queen… and survive until she found her way out.

She had not thought of that in years, nor of the trauma of learning firsthand about the stalking techniques of the animals that dwelt in these unpopulated regions. Years of ease and isolation with the queen may have softened her more than a Wode should admit, but Dare felt nowhere near the anxiety she was sensing from the men and women around her.

What could have caused this kind of reaction?

She asked them bluntly, and they all looked at her with suspicion. She tensed. Was this something she was supposed to know?

“Miss Dare no doubt wants a story to go with our campfire. Haven’t told it in a queen’s age, pardon the expression. May I?” Dare looked up at the balding Gebby with a grateful smile, thankful that he was attempting to spare her embarrassment.

She found herself riveted to Gebby’s animated tale of the black sky ship and the crew who brought death in their wake. Of the immortal Scarlet Lord who ruled them and stole people from their homes when the two moons waned. His features glowed in the light of the small, smoking stove that sputtered soothingly in the center of the base camp, his hands casting expressive shadows.

Idony would love this story. She would no doubt appreciate Gebby’s lavish embellishments. There was nothing that brought the queen more enjoyment than telling a story. Still, it did not ring any truer than the Wode tales told around the campfire to scare the young cadets. It certainly sounded nothing like the explanation she’d requested.

She tried to maintain her smile for Gebby’s sake, but she was dubious when the humorous man finished with a dramatic flourish. “This is why we’ve landed? Because there is another ship that sails the sky, hidden by darkness instead of dodge? And this captain, the Scarlet Lord? A child’s story could not have a more impossible villain. If no one wants to tell me the true reason we have landed, then I will not ask again, but do not patronize me.”

Phina’s laugh was short and derisive. “Impossible? You believed sailing the sky was impossible not a day ago, fair Dare. That traveling beneath the sea was impossible. Tell the truth now, you had no knowledge of a prick’s shape before you found one in you.”

Dare flinched and the captain stepped toward Phina in silent warning. “You’ll forgive Phina’s crudeness; this is not her natural habitat. Though she has a point. Your naivety about the most ordinary things would be amusing if it weren’t so disturbing. Point of fact, the more I know you, the less I understand why you are here.” She tilted her head, hair tumbling around her shoulders as she looked down on Dare. “I had expected more when I saw your mark, but we no longer have time for riddles.”

She turned her chin to her shoulder and spoke to the men behind
her. “Gebby. Wen. Get your boots wet and make sure our girl won’t drift. Keep your eyes open.”

The two men shared a speaking glance before obeying in silence, disappearing from the dim lights of camp. Dare watched Gebby smacking the back of his neck when the bugs descended on him before he disappeared from view, Wen tromping along beside him.

Dare could feel expectation thicken the air. All of them: Freeman, Phina, and the captain. They had forgotten about any information Bodhan might have about the queen and focused on her. Even Bodhan wondered about her—she sensed it, though she felt him reach out to place his hands on her knee for comfort. His wrists were still shackled, yet he thought of her comfort.

Trust the captain.

She did. And she trusted him. It was time to show them the proof. Dare stood, letting Bodhan’s touch slip away as she stood at her full, if not impressive, height. She was glad she wasn’t facing him for this. “I am called Dare but that is not my true name, and I am not a half-breed or a bastard. I am Wode.”

“You don’t smell of pure-blood Wode,” Phina snorted, but her tail stilled behind her. “I’ve been with more than one shield guard, fair Dare. Male and female alike. All of them as tall as two of you put together,” she sighed lustily. “Legendary stamina, and a very distinctive scent.”

Dare pressed her lips together and nodded. “You are not the first person to notice my differences. But I was raised Wode and lived in the main barracks until I reached my eleventh year.”

Bodhan stood abruptly, angling himself so he stood between Dare and the captain. Dare bit her lip to hide her surprise. He was protecting her? Even now?

The captain’s eyes rolled. “Please. Stop. Your masculinity may overwhelm me.” She turned to Dare. “You said until you were eleven
you lived in the barracks? Did no one notice the differences in you before then?”

“They noticed.” Dare’s voice was grim. “My father was a commander, but I could not be protected from all of their scorn. I never knew my mother, was told she had been posted far to the north, so the others were free to spin any yarn they wished to explain my anomalous attributes. There were many. But I believe it was those same traits, along with the esteem my father had always been held in, that led me to my posting.”

Dare took a breath, taking comfort in the thin blade hidden in her boot. She had armed herself before they left the Deviant, and if these people were not what she sensed them to be, she would have to use it.

“I am Senedal. Demeter Senedal. The Queen’s Chalice.”

The captain paled and Freeman took a subtle step closer to her side, ready should she need him.

Phina leapt from her chair and moved toward Dare, her head cocked and eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You tell us you are a Chalice but if it’s true, you’re one who isn’t guarding your queen.
I’m
guilty of many crimes, most of which I don’t regret, but none of them are treason.”

Dare clenched her fists at her sides. She forced herself to say aloud the horror she had been holding inside for too long. To speak the words that, even now, made her ill. “I serve the true queen, Idony the Ever Young. Not the mockery that wears her face and sleeps in her bed in the Copper Palace.”

The captain drew her sword in response.
“Traitor.”

Dare inhaled sharply, but stood her ground. “I did not want to believe it, either.
My
message from your Khepri confirmed my greatest fears.”

Her memories blurred her vision, the emotions and her sense of loss returning in a rush of pain. “I have spent more than half my life
by Queen Idony’s side, privy to her mannerisms, her thoughts, her emotions. She has been my monarch and my friend. One day, without warning, I was locked out of her rooms. Kept away, with unfamiliar Wode brought in to protect her in my stead. After I received the missive I snuck into her rooms against her orders and learned the truth. The woman who wears the crown has flesh but no feeling. She is
not
the queen I know. Someone went to unthinkable lengths not only to take her but to replace her. Lengths that I believed included killing my companion guard. There is no rumor of a possible plot, Captain Amaranthe. Though Bodhan may have information that could help us that he is unaware of, you should unchain him immediately. I speak the truth. Queen Idony has been taken.”

The captain shook her head, backing up until she bumped into her first mate. “Why would the Khepri not tell me when he obviously told her? He pointed me toward the Siren instead of bringing me directly to her side. Instead of scaling the walls of the Copper Palace itself. Why waste all this time?”

An odd, out of place whirring grew closer, as if in answer, and they all turned their attention to the darkness.

“He certainly knows how to make an entrance doesn’t he?” Phina’s voice held a trace of admiration, despite her restlessness. “Though on a night like tonight, I’d rather it didn’t glow like the rest of those bugs he’s so fond of sending to guide us. He should understand our need to stay hidden.”

Glowing bugs? Dare thought back to her initial attempt at escape from the Siren, and what she’d seen in Bodhan’s room with Phina. Was this what it had been? The Khepri guiding her? Them?

“Who
is
this Khepri? And why does he bear the queen’s seal?”

Bodhan lowered his voice, his eyes on the blue-green glow moving toward their camp at a rapid pace. “He is, without question, the most brilliant inventor Theorrey has created. He is the leader of our unusual consortium, such as it is, and the queen’s right hand.”

The queen’s right hand? She had never heard that title before. Surely she would know him. No one knew those filling the queen’s palace better than she. Unless he wasn’t in the palace.

Another memory struck Dare with a sudden, almost physical blow as the glow brightened.

Queen Idony standing on her enclosed balcony, a strange light bathing her. She was speaking in a hushed tone, but when Dare knocked to announce her entrance, she’d laughingly confessed she had been talking to herself.

She’d thought she knew every secret the queen had. Apparently she’d been mistaken.

“Khepri’s hummingbird,” the captain murmured. “Freeman, hang one of the blankets on a sturdy branch behind us.”

Dare watched the big man move with surprising swiftness before returning her attention to the brass bird hovering just out of reach. It did hum. She could hear it, perhaps because of the rapid, barely visible flapping of its mechanical wings.

It darted toward Dare and she stepped back instinctively for fear of being hit by the tiny brass bird. But it did not attack her; instead it hovered in front of her, its clear crystalline eyes full of seeming impatience.

Then the copper and brass marvel did something truly odd.

It tilted its head to one side and glanced down at Dare’s right hand while she looked on, uncomprehending. After a moment it fluttered down until it was even with her fingers, before lifting to her eye level once more. It did that twice before Dare, utterly fascinated, began to catch on.

She lifted her right hand slowly, palm up toward the busy automaton. She trembled with the excitement of discovery as it instantly landed on her skin, the cool metal buzzing with clockwork life. She could also make out a closed panel on its rounded chest etched with that strange segmented bug again. The symbol for the Khepri.

She heard Phina snort softly. “I think it likes you.”

It folded its little wings against its sleek body, and the panel opened, revealing a circular depression within its clicking inner mechanism that seemed to be missing a gear.

Bodhan bent down at her side, leaning close to study the opening in the dim light of the fire. He must have seen something she didn’t because he straightened and spoke to the captain, his tone urgent. Anticipatory. “Captain Amaranthe, did you bring it as I requested? My wrist brace?”

Freeman slid the device from his pocket and walked closer to hand it to Bodhan, who instantly began to tap the largest theorrite crystal in the center with a definitive rhythm. “The Khepri sent me something ages ago, along with some of his more florid prose. I’d nearly forgotten about it.” A loud click came from Bodhan’s device and the gem turned clockwise on its own. “The basic meaning seemed to be”—he caught Dare’s gaze with his light blue stare and winked—“keep this close until the right one comes along.”

He lifted the theorrite crystal out and placed it in his pocket. Between the conductor of his brace and the leather, there was a small compartment. He stepped closer to Dare so she could look into it. It was a copper gear. Miniature but intricately precise, though a closer look revealed unusual grooves etched into it like the rings of a tree. The perfect size for the bird’s missing piece.

“What is that?”

“I think it’s yours, princess.” Bodhan nodded toward the Khepri bird. “More precisely, yours to put into
that
.”

Dare frowned in confusion, but the bird seemed to understand, turning its head to study what Bodhan held. With her left hand, she reached for the small mechanical piece carefully, praying she would not drop it onto the soft, wet ground beneath their feet.

Before she could touch it, she was stung by a type of static charge that arced across the space between the gear and her skin.

“Ouch.” Dare looked down at the improbable creature in her hand, relieved that it appeared unaffected by the jolt or her surprise.

Her fingers tingled as they did when she’d touched the dodge on the ship. She flexed them and made a fist to regain sensation. Now prepared for the shock, she touched the gear with her fingertip and gently withdrew it. It was so light it clung to her skin.

She brought her new acquisition toward her right palm and the open panel of the automaton. As she moved the gear closer she felt a force, like that of a magnet, cause the gear to wobble, then spin off her finger and snap into position inside the bird’s chest.