Aether Rising by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0000000000000
Published: 2020-07-23T21:03:18+00:00

When Iris and Marie arrived in the lobby, Lieutenant Crow smiled and reached out to shake Marie’s hand like a man would.

“Madame Bledsoe, it’s a pleasure to see you again.”

Marie, taking on the air of a French noblewoman, limply offered her own hand. “I would say likewise, but we both know this is merely a business transaction. Our attendance for the telegram you’ve stolen from us.”

Crow’s smile held but a hint of regret. “I’m sure Mrs. Bailey will find our trip to the museum most enlightening. I don’t expect you to trust me, but I am trying to help.” With that she turned, and Marie and Iris followed flanked by the two guards. Before they left, Iris insisted upon stopping by the front desk to leave a note for Edward and Johann that she and Marie had gone to the Museum of Ancient Cultures and would be back by mid-afternoon.

The snow of the previous day had given way to a bitter cold, and Iris pulled her cloak more tightly around her. She glanced up at Marie, who seemed only to walk along with a disdainful air and not feel the wind that scraped across Iris’s cheeks.

“My carriage is at the corner,” Crow said. “These old streets are too narrow for it.”

Or you prefer to have more maneuverability for a quick getaway. Iris didn’t say the words out loud but used the thought as a reminder to be cautious. She wanted to find something of Crow’s to hold so she could delve more into the woman’s emotions and motivation, but there wasn’t anything on the outside of the carriage, obviously. Before she got in, Iris noted the scrape on the front passenger side.

“Any more word on what that was last night?”

Crow shook her head. “I’ve put out feelers—the government here has a rule that one must register their automatons and keep them under control at all times—but you know as well as I that government agencies move slowly.”

Iris nodded and wished she could talk to Marie’s Uncle Zokar, an expert inventor. It wasn’t common for automatons to move about independently, was it?

If it was, well, that was a chilling thought.

The inside of the carriage was as spare as it had been the previous night. One of the burly men handed Lieutenant Crow up, and her hand lingered too long in his. Iris more closely examined the youth, or tried to as her eyes adjusted to the gloom of the carriage. The person whom she’d assumed was an unshaven young man lacked the prominent brow line of men, and there was a softness to the jaw. Iris couldn’t get an idea of body shape under the person’s overcoat, but she suspected that without a corset to narrow the waist and flare the bosom, many women could pass as men, especially if they used bandages or something else to bind their breasts.

Could Lieutenant Crow be an invert? She made a mental note to ask Marie her opinion later.

The person who had handed Lieutenant Crow in closed the door, and the steamcart moved as he/she mounted the driver’s seat.

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