Rise of the Arcane Fire (The Secret Order) (28 page)

“Like another skeleton, only on the outside.” Peter pushed his chair forward and grabbed a piece of paper from the table. He sketched furiously, and when he was done, he had drawn me standing with an armature reaching out and tying to each joint in my arms and legs. “Something like this.”

“It needs refinement.” Manoj took the drawing from him and considered it. “But it could work.”

Michael peeked over Manoj’s shoulder. “My grandfather worked with many different control systems. I can ask him to help. I believe he was good friends with the late Lord Chadwick.”

“Good,” Noah said. “I can ask my father as well.”

I took the drawing from Manoj, though I didn’t look at it. My father and my grandfather would have known exactly how to make such a machine. I didn’t have the benefit of their help. I feared I never would again and all links to my past had been brutally severed by someone who wanted to destroy me, too.

I felt a hollowness inside, one I knew I would have to live with forever.

“Meg?” Peter placed a hand on my arm, and I looked down at the drawing. “What do you think?” he asked.

I took a breath. There was nothing I could do but move forward. “I think it is an excellent plan.” I looked at the faces of the boys around me. I knew them now, much better than I had before. For such a long time they’d been only names. Now they felt like family, a new family. “Let’s get to work.”

It took us quite a while to develop a full drawing for the armature. Michael’s grandfather was an immense help, since he had been one of the Amusementists who had developed the original tumblers for the Chadwick coach. With his aid we were able to create a working model for our motion-recording device, and Noah’s father helped us craft the model.

After seven spectacular failures with our model that required finessing the motion of the joints and calibrating the recording mechanism, we found success.

Confident in our final drawing for the armature and tumbler system, we sent it on to the Foundry, then turned our attention to converting the internal mechanisms of the automaton to suit our new control system. It was not an easy task.

After working on it for weeks, I was intently fighting with a particularly stubborn spring when I heard people walking very quickly down the hall. They were talking excitedly, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I was curious, but I was really close to having all the pins adjusted perfectly, and I was the only one who could manage it, with my small hands.

“What is happening out there, Peter?” I didn’t bother to look up as I twisted my fingers in knots trying to adjust the last pin with a sharp but sturdy awl. I was wearing a set of magnifying goggles that illuminated the interior of the automaton, but I couldn’t see anything in the room at large. I waited. No one answered.

I lifted my head, only able to see large dark forms around me. “Peter?” Something loomed in the light of the doorway. A cold stab of fear lanced through my heart.

I lifted the goggles.

My eyes cleared and my heart flew to life with new purpose.

“David, what are you doing here?” I said, pulling the goggles completely off and stashing them with the awl in my pocket. I wiped my hands on one of the old rags lying at the automaton’s feet. I tried to settle the fluttering feeling in my chest. It was only the lingering effects of my shock, nothing more.

David stood in the doorway, his posture both at ease and regal. He looked as if he had just stopped by on his way to Camelot. “I came to offer my congratulations,” he said, stepping into the room with his casual grace.

I tucked the rag into my pocket with the awl and goggles. They joined what felt like a bolt, a marble, a spoon, and I didn’t even want to know what else. I yanked my hand out and smoothed the front of my dress. “Yes, well, we don’t know if it works yet.”

His intent gaze met mine as he took a step forward. “It will.”

I swallowed. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Thank you?” I muttered, while immediately chastising myself for sounding like a complete fool. Thank you. Honestly, I couldn’t think of anything wittier?

David smiled, then turned to the table where all our drawings were. “Your plan for the control system for the automaton is genius, and I intend to use it as well. I have had no luck with my own attempts. My plans were far too . . .” He circled one finger in the air.

“Complicated?” I leaned against the table.

He smiled. “Yes, exactly that.”

I let out a sigh. Creating something David wished to be a part of was an accomplishment in its own right. We were more than competitors. We were fairly matched.

“I brought you a gift to thank you for your hard work and to celebrate your brilliance.” He held out a small velvet-covered box.

“David, really I mustn’t.” I held my hands out and stepped back, gathering my tools and arranging them in their box. “I shouldn’t be accepting gifts from you. People have already begun to talk.”

“About what?” He looked as if he had as much concern about rumors as he did for the sun falling suddenly to Earth that very moment and burning us all in a great ball of fire. “You have achieved something great, and I had this made for you so you will always remember this achievement. You should be proud of what you’ve done.”

I didn’t like the feeling that there were words left unsaid at the end of his sentence. With trembling fingers I took the tiny box and opened it. Inside was a miniature tumbler. I lifted it out of the velvet and held it up to him.

He reached out and collected the music box he had given me, then rummaged on the table for a tool before removing the small screws on the bottom of the box. When he had it open, he held his hand out for the tumbler. I placed it gingerly in his palm, and he expertly fitted it into the pedestal of the music box.

Once he had it reassembled, he turned the figures at the top of the box, and slowly they began to spin.

This time the melody that came from the box was the tune that had been selected for our automatons at the ball. I watched the figures turn, and imagined our dancers doing the same in front of all the Amusementists. Profound pride swelled within me until it inhibited my ability to speak.

“It’s very thoughtful. Thank you.” I smiled, if only because I knew he understood.

“Dance with me, Meg.” He gave me a courtly bow, then held out his arms. “Just once more.”

I knew I oughtn’t. I knew I was practically skipping down a very treacherous path, but his gift had been so thoughtful, and his praise so sincere. I couldn’t deny him.

Stepping into his waiting arms, I placed my hand in his. We started a turn.

“What is this?” A dark voice with a heavy Scottish brogue spoke from the doorway.

Confused and terrified, I leapt away from David as if I’d just been burned.

There in the doorway with his arms crossed and a wary expression on his handsome face stood a certain Foundry worker.

“Will!” I ran to him and threw myself into his arms, my heart hammering with joy and fear all at once. I wanted to kiss him until I had no breath, but his arms felt tense around me. “I didn’t know the ship was here,” I confessed.

“Clearly.” He kept his eye on David, who casually polished the edge of the music box with his thumb even as the lilting song continued to play.

“MacDonald, how good to see you.” David gave Will his slanting half smile. “How is Scotland this time of year?”

“Strompton.” Will didn’t return the smile.

“David, please.” I turned to my fellow apprentice. “I’d like a moment.”

“Very well.” He gave us a nod. “We can continue another time.” He left the room without another word just as the music began to fade.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Will, hoping to brush past what had just happened with David.

“We were sent down to deliver orders for the ball. I helped with the pieces for your drawing. I took extra care with them.” He glanced at the naked automaton. Her chest was open, exposing the inner workings. We only needed to place the tumbler where her heart should be once we had it recorded. “I was looking forward to seeing her dance.”

“You’ll be at the ball?” I couldn’t believe it. I was thrilled Will would be there to see the culmination of all the things I had been struggling so much for, and yet his reserved demeanor was giving me pause.

“MacTavish has chosen me to be part of the builders’ crew. That means I’m invited to attend.”

I wondered what it would be like to dance with Will at a gilded ball, but then realized he probably wouldn’t know how. It wasn’t as if he’d ever had the chance. “That would be wonderful.”

He glanced down the hall. “I don’t have much time. I wanted to see you again. I’ve missed you.” He entered the room, inspecting the automaton and smoothing his hand over a panel on the arm, as if testing the curve of the metal.

He waited, as if expecting me to say something, but nothing would come out. Of course I had missed him. I wanted to say it. But for the first time I didn’t feel empty or hollow inside. I hadn’t even realized he was in London. I loved him, but I had been busy, and to be honest I hadn’t thought about it much.

It was awful of me.

His brow crinkled as his gaze swept to the table. He stiffened.

I followed his gaze to the music box sitting so elegantly near my drawings. He looked at it with a deep longing as he walked over and touched the flying skirt of the fine lady. “This looks very expensive.”

“It’s only a music box,” I said. “It merely plays the tune the automatons should dance to. It’s inspiration more than anything.”

“
He
gave it to you, didn’t he?” Will’s voice cracked on the last bit, and my heart broke at the sound. He was hurt, even if he’d rather die than show it.

He clenched his jaw and dropped his gaze to the floor. After a moment he looked up at me. The look in his eye reminded me of a fierce wild thing caught in a trap. “Your silence says too much.”

“It’s nothing, Will. Nothing.” Even as I said it, I thought of the dance and how I had longed to kiss David. I thought about how I had been eager to step into the circle of David’s arms just a moment before. It wasn’t nothing, but it wasn’t something, either.

Whatever I felt for David, it wasn’t as real, as deep, or as lasting as what I felt for Will, and so I couldn’t trust it. But I didn’t know how I could explain what I did feel to Will without making things worse. I didn’t wish to feel anything, but I couldn’t help myself. If I truly loved Will, shouldn’t I be blind to everyone else? I feared what I felt meant I didn’t know how to love at all. What if all the love I had known was nothing more than infatuation?

“Whatever is going on between you and Strompton shouldn’t be nothing, that’s the problem.” He turned toward the door. I grabbed him by the arm and held him.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You could be a countess, Meg. You could have wealth and luxury, and anything you wanted. He could give that to you. You are suited to him.” Will’s shoulders dropped as if weary of the weight of his own thoughts. “I can’t give you any of it. Not fortune, not prestige, not family, nothing.”

I reached up and touched his face, turning his cheek so he’d look at me again. “I want none of it.”

Will stood for a moment, thinking, as my hand lingered on the edge of his tight jaw. He closed his eyes. “Tell me you feel nothing for him, and I’ll believe you. Tell me you haven’t considered him at all. That you haven’t thought of what it would be like as his wife.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat closed tight and the words just wouldn’t come. I had thought of it. I had thought of the fine manor, and the money, and the dresses. I would have all the time in the world to work on my projects. David and I together would be like a perfectly arranged marriage of royalty. How could I not consider it?

“That’s what I thought.” Will let out a long breath, then strode for the door.

“Will, stop!” Lord, men could be so foolish. I didn’t love David. David was a temptation, nothing more.

He paused and turned back to me. “I’ve battled dragons for you,” he said, and I felt tears rushing to my eyes. “I’ve lifted your wings and helped you fly. But it will never be enough. You have always been destined for something greater.”

And with those words he turned and walked away.

“It’s enough!” I shouted down the corridor as I watched him turn the corner without looking back. “I love you.” I let out a heavy breath. “Only you.”

As I said it, I knew it was true. I felt it, not like explosions or lightning, or fire in my blood. I felt it like air, all around and within me, quiet and unassuming and yet as powerful as a storm.

Standing alone in the middle of the hall, the cold of the stone walls closed in on me.

What had I done?

I COULDN’T LET THINGS END
this way. I couldn’t let Will leave for Scotland thinking I wanted to be with David instead of him. It wasn’t true. It simply wasn’t true.

And he had to know.

I broke into a run, bolting down the corridor, then rounding the corner, only to crash into Samuel. The force of it knocked us both down.

Scrambling to my feet, I held a hand out to Samuel to help him back up. “My apologies.”