Seleste deLaney - [Badlands 02] (10 page)

“What are you doing?” Henrietta stood less than ten feet away, staring at him with her head cocked to the side, her vicious clockwork dragonfly glittering amongst her curls.

The look in her eyes told him far too much. No matter what lie he spun in that moment, he’d be under guard—heavy guard—if he didn’t leave now. As it was, he already needed a diversion.

He pulled the ocular implant from the tangle of other parts. “I remembered something about this piece from when I assisted your father with his earliest work on animals.” Tobias didn’t bother to suppress the shudder that memory brought on. The implants were so crude that they’d driven the animals quite mad. “If you look at this piece here...”

The instant Henrietta leaned toward the ocular, he yanked the deadly clockwork from her coiffure and shoved her to the deck. The howl of outrage that followed echoed in his skull, sounding far too much like the scream of an insane wild cat.

* * *

What was the crazy man doing? He had to know the Badlands warriors weren’t about to let him go free. Then Tobias jumped on the terrain vehicle and ignited the steam engine. Like a flaming dirigible, reality crashed down on her.

When the fool St. Clair put the vehicle in gear and pulled away, he did the one thing that was truly unthinkable. He lifted his hand, her clockwork hairpiece between his fingers. Henri couldn’t see the vibration of the wings, but she knew he’d activated it. She raced out of the
Dark
Hawk
and shouted to all in earshot, “Get down. Now.”

She flattened herself on the ground, pulling the nearest women down with her and praying the others followed suit. The rogue clockwork buzzed overhead, slicing at hair, clothes and anything else that got in the way.

Henrietta had trained the machine to respond to her touch alone in order to avoid others being able to use it against her. Unfortunately she hadn’t taken into account the possibility of it being stolen and thrown randomly. When Tobias activated the damn thing, it had no direction and didn’t know when to shut down. It was essentially flying blind.

Around her, women fired at the machine, but it was too small and moving too fast. As much as she hated the idea, there was only one possible way to stop it. She tried to stand, but someone grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her down until her face connected with the grass, dirt filling her mouth.

“You brought one of those things into
my
camp.” Ever’s voice dripped with accusation, even as her muscles jerked on Henrietta’s scalp. “We had a deal.”

“It is for personal protection, something I thought you’d appreciate. I wouldn’t have brought it here without your permission except for the fact I forgot I was wearing it at all.” That wasn’t entirely true. From the moment Tobias had first mentioned the mafia, she’d kept herself armed. Henri jerked away and cringed as she felt countless strands of hair yank from her skin. There was absolutely no need to mention the other, similar clockworks hidden in her clothes.

Ever released her hold, and the hairs blew away on the breeze. “You were aboard the
Dark
Hawk
. Do not try to tell me you need protection from the crew.”

Of course, the princess would taste the damn lie as soon as it was on the air. “No. It was—” The terrain vehicle lurched its way through the camp, rolling over the fire and knocking down a tent.

“And now your lawyer friend has stolen the transport you gave me? My one concession to your
technology
?” Ever growled and shot to her feet, weapon already in hand.

It was all Henri could do to pull her to the ground before the dragonfly sliced through her neck. “Stay down. I think I can stop the clockwork. Or at the very least make it simple for you to destroy it and me in one fell swoop.”

At the warrior woman’s shrug, Henrietta sucked in a desperate breath and stood, her arms outstretched. She couldn’t see the clockwork, but its progress was impossible to miss as it sliced its way through one blockade after another.

The whirring of the brass wings was getting louder. Whether standing up had called it to her or not, it would be on her soon enough. She braced her feet and steeled herself for impact.

There.

Sunlight glinted off something in the air in front of her. Henrietta reached toward it, clenching her teeth against a scream as the blades bit into her outstretched fingers.

Crimson coated her hands by the time Henrietta managed to secure the clockwork. Its blades had stopped spinning after first cutting her, but the slices were deep. Plus, with Ever around, she had no choice but to shut the thing down entirely or the woman would have destroyed it.

“Why do you even keep such a monstrosity? Look at what it did to my camp.” Ever seethed as she brushed herself off and waved at the destruction. Tents shredded or, worse, collapsed when the clockwork cut through the poles holding them upright. Multiple warriors with blood oozing from cuts of their own.

As much as Henri felt remorse over the damage, a part of her thrilled at how much havoc her little clockwork had managed in mere minutes. Still, with the warrior woman staring her down, she needed to focus on the former emotion. “I am sorry, Ever. I will do what I can to repair the damage.”

“It is not the damage that concerns me, but your utter lack of respect for our agreement. Beyond that, your friend—”

Henri glared at the empty space where the transport had stood. “I never called him my friend. In fact—” In fact what? He was her enemy? She didn’t quite believe that. A stupid, desperate man, but surely if he’d really been their enemy he would have simply shown the mafia exactly how to get to them.

Heedless of her own injuries, Henri squeezed the clockwork until its wings bent. Had he done just that? The mafiosos had attacked from a distance at the hangar rather than trying to board. It gave Catherine time to get to the gun... Dear God, had he been working with them all along? Sneaking on board to use the crew of the
Dark
Hawk
to direct him to Laurette’s fortress?

Reeling, Henri started to move, but Ever didn’t take dismissal well. The warrior blocked her path. Eyes narrowed, she gripped the hilt of the blade she’d threatened Tobias with the day before. As Henri tried to sidle past, Ever grabbed her elbow, fingers digging in deep. “You brought death on my people once, Henrietta. I pray you are not doing it a second time.”

Henri sighed—lies and evasion might come naturally to her, but they’d never done her an ounce of good. Her voice turned to ice as she remembered the night on the mountaintop once more—and Carson’s assertion that she hadn’t killed anyone. “I believe you have me mistaken for my father. The only death on my conscience was that of one of
my
people. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

Snatching her hand away as if it burned, Ever frowned. Henrietta didn’t care what the woman thought. She hadn’t brought her father or his madness out here initially. As much as she regretted the death of Queen Lavinia, she hadn’t caused it. An image of Zeke filled her mind as she strode toward the ship. Toward another big blond man with a fondness for weapons.

One who had to know what they should do next because, in all the talk of gangsters, Henrietta still had no idea exactly what they were up against.

Chapter Ten

Henri tore into the infirmary, blood already soaking through the fabric she’d hastily wrapped around her hand.

Carson twisted himself to sitting again. “You’re hurt.”

The blasted man was going to pull out his stitches if he kept pushing.

She shrugged and started slamming through her medical supplies. “There was an issue with one of my clockworks. Truly, this isn’t that bad. You should see what it did to Ever’s encampment.” She unwound the cloth and blood began oozing again. Hopefully Mahala would be here soon—Henri couldn’t stitch herself up. “One hazard of being a crazed scientist. We’re prone to underestimating people we think aren’t as smart as we are. In other words, I let my guard down.”

“St. Clair. That slippery bastard has done enough damage for ten men.” He stared at her hand, frowning.

“Yes. And I’m unlikely to make a similar mistake in the near future.”

Carson’s hands flexed as though he wanted to choke the life out of the lawyer. “What did he do?”

There was no point in lying. He could hardly kill Tobias now anyway. “In his attempt to save his own neck, from you presumably, he stole one of my clockworks and let it loose in the camp.”

“Blast it! Do you know where he went?”

She gritted her teeth as she dunked her hand in a bucket of water. “I have a good idea.”

Carson waved for her to join him on the cot. “Care to share?”

Biting her lip, she perched on the edge—close, but not close enough. She wanted to lean into him, have him promise that everything would work out, but she had to be strong. “I need Mahala to tend to my hand. We’ll talk when the others get here.”

As if the words summoned her, Mahala eased into the room, her gaze shifting from Carson to Henrietta. “I done thought the air was heavy with lies with that lawyer aboard, and now there’s a damn cloud of bottled-up words. If’n things are ’bout to get as bad as I reckon they are, you two need to let ’em out.”

Dropping a new, already bloodied wrap into the bucket of water, Henri turned to Mahala. “I don’t think that is any of your concern, so if you’d please keep your ridiculous intuition to yourself, I would consider it a kindness.”

She rolled her eyes and grabbed the needle. “I will never, so long as I live, understand white folk.”

“Ain’t true, Mahala, you understand me perfect.” Noah poked his head in as she jabbed Henrietta with the needle. “Just wanted to let you know, the cap’n’s coming, and Ever’s mad as a wet hen without a nest.”

“Thank you,” Henri said from between clenched teeth.

Mahala finished stitching and slapped a rag into her hand. “You can clean up your own messes.”

“Mahala, wait,” Spencer said as he and Ever stopped in the doorway. “I get the sense I could use your talents for a minute or two.”

She darted a glance at them but nodded. “Sure thing, Cap’n.”

With everyone inside, the infirmary was too close, too volatile. As if the tiniest movement would spark some sort of fire.

“I told you to destroy your father’s work in the Union,” Ever fumed, her fingers twitching toward her weapons as she glared at Henri. “That man brought nothing but trouble on my people. I warned you what would happen if you were the cause of more death here.”

Henrietta nodded, moving away from Carson, and stood. Setting her jaw, she twisted her tumbled curls into a tight knot at the back of her head. “Then there’s a simple answer. We stop Tobias before he reaches the fortress. If we send him back with Carson, there’s no reason for the mafia to chase us. They’ll think he has what he came here for. Given enough time, I can find what they want and destroy it, or give it to Carson if that’s preferred. But our first step needs to be getting Tobias back and continuing with the ruse.”

Spencer didn’t try to stop Ever when she lunged for Henri’s throat and pinned her against the wall. Carson struggled to push up from the cot, but the hammers drawing back on a trio of pistols made him freeze. Spencer she understood, but Noah and Mahala joining in with their weapons made it clear just how big a mess she’d made of things. Henri saw Carson’s muscles trembling, and she waved him back. This moment would not be solved with violence, not if she had anything to say about it.

“The
Dark
Hawk
cannot find him while he is on land.” Ever ground her teeth together. “How do you propose we go about stopping this...
lawyer
before the Badlands needs to find another queen?”

It was as if the ship itself held its breath, waiting for Henrietta to respond. None of them, least of all Ever, wanted anything to happen to Laurette. Not only would it be the loss of her sister but, by blood, the throne would be hers—and she wanted nothing to do with it. If Henri had any desire to be able to sleep at night, she needed to lay the ghosts of the dead to rest. That meant finding the sort of courage she’d never required before. She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin.

“What I suggest is that the two of us go after him on horseback. The transport won’t be able to take him all the way to the fortress. If we ride hard, we can catch him and either bring him back here or blindfold him so he can’t reveal the location of the fortress, where the
Dark
Hawk
can meet us after repairs are finished on the airbag. The last thing we want is for him to lead the mafia to the queen’s front door.”

Carson piped up from the cot, his voice ringing in her head. “This is the worst plan in the history of bad plans. If there’s any chance the mafiosos crossed the border, they’re going to be looking for
both
St. Clair and you. These aren’t normal men, Henrietta. Whatever your father did to them makes them nigh impossible to kill. I’ve personally seen them shot in the chest and then come back for more.”

Though Ever started, fingers going to the phoenix tattoo on her cheek, Henri ignored his words along with the urge to explain herself. No matter how terrified she was, she had to do this, had to prove she had the best interests of her friends and the Badlands at heart.

The muscle beneath the tattoo on Ever’s cheek twitched, and Henrietta did her level best not to tremble. She didn’t have another plan to offer. It all came down to whether or not Ever believed they could do this, or if the warrior woman decided to wash her hands of the Mason family once and for all.

Spencer stepped up behind Ever, and Henri had a moment’s hope that
he
believed her. At least until he spoke. “Mahala?”

She was doomed. Mahala hated her.

“You know I think Henri’s nothing but trouble at the best of times, but I don’t think she’s lying.” Mahala jerked her head toward Carson. “Then again, he ain’t either. Which means one of ‘em’s wrong.”

“Shit.”

“That ’bout sums it up.”

Spencer rested his hand on Ever’s shoulder. “These are your people we’re talking about. You have to decide who you trust more—the marshal or Henri.”

The kiss of death to be sure. Her plan against the warnings of a federal marshal? Ever would always trust the person with the weapons first. A blade pressed against her belly, and Henri closed her eyes, sending up a silent prayer. She’d done what she could to right the wrongs of her father. No one could ask more of her than that. Then the knife moved, and a quiet tearing reached her ears instead of the sound of her own screams. She opened her eyes just in time to see her bustle skirt slit open, the front fluttering freely.

Ever nodded at the cut. “Now you can ride. I will fetch two horses. You have ten minutes. We travel light. Do not bring anything you do not absolutely require.”

Henri nodded, and everyone filed out of the room, leaving her alone with Carson and the concern written all over his face.

* * *

She might have been able to hide it from the others—after all, they’d seen her so much the tiny changes wouldn’t even register—but Carson recognized Henrietta’s fear. The vein in her neck jumping and the way she reached toward her stomach and clenched her hand into a fist before letting it fall once more.

As soon as the others left, he tried to allay her worries. “Henrietta, you don’t need to go. Ever’s a warrior—she’s equipped for this sort of thing. Hell, tell me what to look for, and I’ll go with her.”

“Don’t be stupid. You’re still too weak from blood loss. You need to rest and recuperate. Besides, Ever wouldn’t tolerate you slowing her down.” Instruments clattered as she put things away. “Not to mention, I can’t tell anyone what to look for since I may not even recognize it.”

“And she’ll put up with you? The two of you hardly seem to be friends and you’re a city girl...” He trailed off, realizing she was unlikely to take that view well. “I know you’re a more than capable doctor, and from what I’ve seen an incredible inventor.”

She scoffed, but considering how much damage her unholy machine had done, he knew otherwise. He fluctuated between wanting to destroy the contraption that had been loosed on the camp and pondering what he could do with one. Maybe something like that would finally take down Joe Gambini and the others like him. Surely something chopped to pieces couldn’t come back to life.

He shook the thought away. There were more pressing issues to deal with—namely keeping Henrietta alive. “You’re talking about tracking down a man who’s running for his life—with a woman who has already threatened you once. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

She leaned against the dry sink, the muscles in her thin arms tight as her fingers dug into the wood. “I don’t want to get hurt either, but I cannot allow someone else to get hurt
for
me. I brought the research here. I led Tobias out here. And I might have lured the mafia too.
I
brought this on them. I need to do everything I can to fix it, no matter what the cost.”

“Damn it, Henrietta. I just found you.” He swung his legs over the bed, his feet barely missing the bucket of bloody water. Memories of Lily’s death choked him and he had to focus on Henrietta’s face, which was lined with something like pain. “For the first time in years, I feel things again. Good things. I want to see where that can lead. I can’t do that if you’re dead. I care about you in ways I don’t even understand yet.”

Her eyes squeezed shut for a minute, then she blew out a breath and faced him. “What you want is impossible.”

“No it isn’t.”

Shaking her head, she stooped to pick up the bucket and promptly knocked it over, sloshing water and blood onto his trousers and the floor. “Damn it.” A fistful of rags in hand, she dabbed at his pant legs before moving on to the floor.

“Leave it.”

“You heard Mahala,” she said, her voice cracking, “it’s my mess. I need to clean it up.” She thrust the rags back and forth on the floor, her movements jerky. Finally she stopped, and her body heaved as her breaths threatened to turn to sobs. “I can’t let myself figure out what madness I feel for you.”

Reaching down, he trailed his fingers along her cheek and tipped her chin up so he could see her face. She hadn’t shed a tear, but her eyes burned with redness. “Why not?”

“Because, even if I survive this insanity, you don’t belong in my world.”

The words should have come like a slap to the face, but he thought about the way she’d behaved here and the way she’d been at the gala, and the only thought that sprang to mind was
which
world
?

He opened his mouth to ask when Ever poked her head into the infirmary. “I have the horses. It is time to leave.” Then she was gone again.

Abandoning the mess on the floor, Henrietta stood and stared at her hands and the slight film of bloody water there. She scrubbed them on her ruined skirt. “I’ll have to thank Ever for rescuing me from being forced to continue this conversation. Please do take care en route to the fortress. I’m sure everyone would prefer you in fighting shape—in case the trouble you predicted comes to pass.”

His mouth dropped open. She planned to walk out without another word? Fine. He didn’t need her to say anything. “Henrietta, there is one more thing you should know, and it’s not something I want to share with the others.”

“Yes?”

He jerked his head toward the door as if someone might be lurking, and she gave a resigned sigh and bent so her face was right next to his.

“I never give up without a fight.” His hand cupped the back of her neck, his fingers tangling in the gently curling strands of hair, and he pressed his mouth to hers. For a second, her hands pushed against his chest, but then she stopped, her lips stroking tentatively against his. He wanted more, wanted to taste her and hold her and trace the lines of her face until he memorized every inch, but he held back and pulled away from the kiss. “Besides. I believe I still owe you a dance.”

She trembled under his touch, her cheeks flushed and her lips rosy from the kiss. He released his hold on her neck, but for a moment she didn’t move. Her eyes searched his, and she licked her lips, looking as if she might kiss him again any moment.

Then the warrior woman’s voice echoed through the ship. Henrietta wrenched away from him and raced from the room. Carson leaned back and closed his eyes, his tongue tracing his mouth.

She tasted like honey.