The Clockwork Ice Dragon by Liz Delton

Author:Liz Delton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: christmas novella, christmas romance novella, holiday romance novella, steampunk novella, fantasy novella
Publisher: Tourmaline & Quartz Publishing
Published: 2020-11-09T16:00:00+00:00

Seven

The Day Before Christmas

BY SOME MIRACLE, HER boss let them off work two hours early—though of course it had nothing to do with care for his workers, but a desire to get home to the delicious meal his wife was making that he had bragged about all day.

A thrill ran through Aurelia as she clocked out, the timeclock stamping her card with a resounding thud when she pulled the lever. She was free for a little over a week, until the Dawn of the New Year. And tonight, she and Frederick would hook up her train. The judge would come tomorrow, and one way or another it would be over.

She pulled the letter from the Magistrate of Invention out of her pocket again, already worn from handling it all day ever since she had gotten it in the post this morning at her workshop. It confirmed her appointment with the judge, at half past nine Christmas morning. She still couldn’t believe they were working on Christmas Day. It was just about the most inconvenient day to get anything done—not to mention ruining any holiday plans people might have.

The city had managed to clear the roads a little better today for the autos, but hadn’t bothered with the sidewalks, so Aurelia walked in the street, a cheerful bounce in her step.

She was on her way to meet Frederick at Max’s cart. Before her shift this morning, she had told Max she needed to speak with him, and asked where his cart would be when she got out of work. Since she had left the foundry two hours early, she hoped she could still find Max’s cart and not waste the extra time she had been given. At least she knew where he would be two hours from now.

By some luck, Frederick was already waiting at the corner of Solastra Street and Anville Lane where they had agreed. He was leaning against a black wrought-iron lamppost, reading a folded newspaper. Perhaps he had gotten out of work early, too.

It was unusual spending so much time with him after their years apart. He had even bought her a cup of Max’s coffee this morning while they had made the plans to meet this afternoon.

He didn’t look ruffled in the slightest since she last saw him, after his day apprenticing down at Penydarren Place, the most well-known workshop full of Soldark’s leading inventors. He wore a gaudy red and green brocade waistcoat today, with the chain of a watch dangling from one pocket. A black bowler cap protected his hair from the snow, and he had a cup of coffee in his hand. His eyes glinted at her from under the brim of his bowler cap as she trudged through the dirty and uneven snow at the side of the road.

She was glad for the cold for once, the hat and scarf hiding her rumpled hair and sweaty clothes after a long day of work. With how busy she’d been, she hadn’t even had a chance to wash her clothes for a few days.

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