A Study in Ashes by Emma Jane Holloway

Author:Emma Jane Holloway [Holloway, Emma Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Historical
ISBN: 9780345537201
Google: bgKAqpPg88gC
Amazon: 0345537203
Barnesnoble: 0345537203
Goodreads: 18005361
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 2012-12-31T18:30:00+00:00

Cornwall, October 5, 1889

KILLINCAIRN

1:17 p.m. Saturday

NEXT TIME NICK CHOSE A SECRET HIDEOUT, IT WAS GOING TO have more amenities, like a convenient train station—preferably one with a decent alehouse nearby. Unfortunately, locations where one could hide the hangar for a steamspinner tended to be off the beaten path. Far, far off, where not even the customs boats watched for smugglers.

The railway stop closest to the tiny fishing village of Killincairn was at Falmouth, and from there it was horseback all the way south along the coast. Nick had missed horses, but this was a long ride in the pelting autumn rain, and in Cornwall that meant bucketing torrents. Nick’s coat was soaked right through. He’d stopped to buy some extra shirts with the money the Schoolmaster had loaned him, but he was fairly sure his bags were sodden, too.

He went back to his daydream about the alehouse, because fantasy was more bearable. His perfect tavern would have that good brown stout he’d had at the place a few miles back, and decent bread and cheese—the sharp, crumbly white stuff that went with hot pickled relish. And there would be an inn, with a warm bed and a real wood fire. Oh, yes, a good night’s sleep felt just the thing. Not that he was complaining. At least he was free, even if his backside did hurt because he hadn’t ridden for a year.

Evelina would be in that bed.

But he couldn’t afford to think of her right then, or he would think of nothing else. She was the key to his happiness, but it was as if that key was hidden inside a Chinese puzzle box. He could hold it, but he couldn’t get to it without solving the riddle of how to free her from the complex prison Keating had created for everyone she cared about. And if everyone Evelina loved wasn’t free, she wouldn’t be, either. Loving that way was her curse and blessing, and therefore Nick’s.

Of course, puzzle boxes could be solved two ways—with a clever mind, or with a hammer. Nick was starting to vote for the latter.

Nick pulled the horse up and looked toward the horizon. He was fairly sure he was near the road to Killincairn, but he couldn’t see the path. Rain pattered off his hat brim, obscuring the view he might have had if it wasn’t all buried in a thick gray mist.

Where the blazes am I? He sat pondering a moment, the rain chattering around him. He felt like the last living man in the Empire. He’d seen no other travelers for miles. No birds peeped, but he could hear the ocean in its constant, restless churn. The air was fresh and salty and Nick sucked it in, feeling every lungful expel another particle of Manufactory Three’s soot. The mare shifted restlessly beneath him, and he absently patted its neck. I should have stayed in the last town and waited out the storm. But he wasn’t able to do the sensible thing. Not when his ship and crew were so close—or at least he hoped they were.

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