New Ceres Issue 1 by Twelfth Planet Press

Author:Twelfth Planet Press
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: regency romance, planetary colonies, enlightenment 18th century, science fiction, colonies on other worlds, historical, enlightenment, short stories

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We left the Marchmont estate not long after, my mistress and I. Bob and Catherine Stevens had already departed, and the Ambassador and his family were still closeted in a parlour upstairs, shrieking at each other. “Do you not feel at all guilty about that?” I asked my mistress.

“I have left them a note, attached to the Saturnalis tree,” she said cheerfully. “That should clear the matter up to reasonable satisfaction. But I agree it might be an idea to remove ourselves from Prosperine society for a while. New Switzerland, do you think?”

Drusus Savon was waiting for us by the door, though La Duchesse had pointedly not offered him a seat in the phaeton she had hired for our own transport.

She gave him a hard stare as he helped her into her travelling stole. “You went to a lot of trouble to meet me, M. Savon. Cultivating a man you hardly knew, tangling yourself in a murder and a house party, both equally dire. Was it worth it?”

“To meet a legend, Duchesse?” he said gallantly. “But of course. It was also a great honour to meet M. Pepin, considering my acquaintance with his father. You will be pleased to know that I am not currently in that gentleman’s employ. My investigation into Pepin’s identity was … a matter of private curiosity only.”

La Duchesse frowned. “And can we count on your discretion in this matter, as a gentleman? I would not like to see this ‘investigation’ of yours go any further.”

“Ah, but like you, madame,” said Drusus Savon, “I dislike a mystery to go unsolved.”

“You mistake me, dear sir,” said the Great Detective. “There are many questions in this world that I should hate to see answered. Good day.”

We swept out of the door and towards the hired phaeton. “Shall we have him killed?” she asked me in an undertone.

Despite the fear that had gripped my stomach since Savon first revealed that he knew my secret, I found myself smiling. “Not yet, perhaps.”

La Duchesse shook her head as I assisted her into the phaeton. “You are a better man than I, Pepin.”

My mistress always knows exactly what to say.

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