Opening Gambit by Tilly Wallace

Author:Tilly Wallace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ribbonwood Press

Long after dinner and while the neighbourhood slumbered, Sera tucked her hair up under a cap and turned to Elliot. “Will I pass muster?”

He stared at her and narrowed his eyes before blowing out a sigh. “No. Even a blind man wouldn’t believe you’re my younger brother. You look like a woman in trousers. Which, funnily enough, is exactly what you are.”

She stared down at her legs, her trousers tucked into a pair of laced boots. Fortunately, she could do something about adding a familial resemblance. Sera studied Elliot’s square face and then whispered into her palms. A quiet afternoon and a substantial dinner had done much to restore her. With the spell in mind, she washed her hands over her face and down her neck.

Elliot stared. “That is…” The footman shuddered.

Sera frowned. A simple glamour should have masked her features. “Did it not work?”

He shook his head as though trying to clear his vision. “Oh, it worked, all right. I just don’t like seeing my face staring back at me from atop your body.”

Sera grinned. Every day her power grew, as did her confidence in tapping into the magic that flowed in her veins. If she imagined the spell she needed, the words to call it forth tumbled through her mind. “Come on. It will do for the task at hand.”

“Will we be stopping for a pint on our way back?” Elliot called after her as she headed out the front door.

There was an idea—a chance to see what exactly men got up to in a tavern after dark. But it would have to wait for another night. They walked for a distance through the quiet streets, then hailed a conveyance at a busy crossroads. They alighted a block away from their destination. As they passed the Napier home, Sera considered that she could have visited Kitty and slipped over from her friend’s home, but she wanted to keep her friend ignorant of her nighttime activities.

A crow fluttered to the railing, and Elliot paused. “Hello, girl,” he murmured, and stroked the ebony head.

“Friend of yours?” Sera asked. She wondered if it was the same crow who had welcomed her on the first morning in the Soho townhouse with a gift of silver ribbon. But there were many such birds soaring above London.

“More like a relative. Off you go—we have work to do.” His tone softened as he spoke to the bird.

The creature tilted its head to Sera and cawed before taking flight, its midnight wings disappearing against the nighttime sky.

Farther down the road, Sera’s home for so many years sat in darkness. The staff had moved on with undignified haste the day after Branvale died. Down the spiral stairs, Sera and Elliot crept toward the staff entrance. Sera stroked the lock with a gentle touch until it gave with a click. She grinned in the dark and pushed the door open. Once inside, she handed a jar to Elliot. She had created two small glow lamps from two jars she’d found in the back of the larder at her house.

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