Phoenix Rising (44 page)

It was indeed bliss to have something so cool in her mouth. They walked on for a little bit without saying anything, simply enjoying the treat.

Eventually Wellington broke the silence. “I imagine you are wondering how my interview with the Director went . . .”

“Not really,” Eliza replied, unbuttoning the top two buttons on her rather severe collar.

The Archivist blinked. “But don't you want to know—”

“Wellington,” Eliza stopped and held him still by one wrist, “There is only one thing I want to know.”

He cleared his throat. “And what is that?”

“Do we still have our jobs?”

“Certainly,” Wellington tilted his head. “Doctor Sound was quite—”

Eliza pressed one finger against his slightly chilly lips, “Then that is all I need. As long as we have the Ministry and the Archives I am quite content.”

He stood there, her finger resting against his skin, and Eliza smiled sweetly at him before removing it.

“You are?” He was genuinely taken aback.

“Indeed.”

“But . . . but what about your fieldwork, all that black powder and excitement you said you missed so much?”

And Eliza did laugh then. “My dear, sweet Welly—what we just went through was more than enough to satisfy even my”—she paused and grinned somewhat devilishly—“base instincts.” With another lick of her ice she enjoyed the effect of her surprising statement.

When he was befuddled the Archivist was far handsomer than he realised. It was part of his charm. Kicking the damned skirts out from around her legs, Eliza turned and walked away, leaving the Archivist in her wake.

No footsteps followed after, but he did call out. “And the Cases in the back room, you'll let those be, won't you?”

Eliza thought of what they had achieved together. She didn't know what had happened after she'd been knocked out, but she suspected that Wellington was not telling her the whole truth, and that meant he had acquitted himself admirably. Eliza could live with the small concealments—she had plenty of her own after all.

“For now, Wellington,” she replied lightly over her shoulder. “Until something else takes my fancy.”

“Miss Braun?” he asked, gently at first. Wellington was still rooted where she had left him. She wondered if the penny ice was melting across his hand. She suspected it was. When his voice called again, there was a hint of panic in it. “
Miss Braun?!
”

Eliza didn't need to turn around to know what his expression would be. She increased her stride, feeling a smile spread across her face.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

L
ike many accomplishments in life, this book comes as an unexpected one. In our wildest dreams, we did not picture this idea to reach your hands, gentle reader, but nevertheless here our inaugural endeavour finds itself. By no means, though, did this ripping good yarn reach you solely thanks to us. We are in excellent company, and people must be thanked for making what we thought improbable into an adventure from the past that never was.

Thank you to our agent, Laurie McLean, for seeing the potential in the idea and then passionately standing behind Agents Books & Braun through it all to see them to the end of the mission. Thank you, Diana Gill, editor at Harper Voyager, for passionately fighting for the Ministry. If it were not for your belief, this adventure would have been merely an idea, not a book; and thank you for frank and upfront expectations, good conversations, and terrific dim sum. To Will, for being presented an incredible challenge and rising to it, and working with us to make the magic happen. Thank you to J. Daniel Sawyer, P.C. Haring, Gary Snook, Paolo Tosolini, and the Twitter Hive Mind, for Italian translations, steampunk resources, first draft impressions, and support and inspiration to push on and see things through.

And thank you, gentle reader, for giving Books and Braun a go. We hope you enjoy the ride.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and
incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously
and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,
organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2011 by Pip
Ballantine and Tee Morris
Cover art by Dominick Finelle

Harper Voyager and
is a trademark of HCP LLC.

ISBN
978-0-06-204976-6
EPub Edition © 2011 ISBN:
978-0-06-204977-3

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