The Engineer Wore Venetian Red by Shelley Adina

Author:Shelley Adina [Adina, Shelley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781950854141
Publisher: Moonshell Books, Inc.

Chapter 13

3:30 p.m.

May Lin explained their situation to the prince with as much clarity as she could force past her fear. In the course of it, he managed to sit up, wrestle himself out of his canvas shroud, and ascertain that, other than bruising that would be truly spectacular should they survive the day, he was not permanently damaged.

“I have no doubt that you were drugged, Your Serene Highness,” May Lin said. “You came down that stair in the boneless manner of someone drunk or unconscious.”

“You are likely right. I have such a headache as I have not felt since before the Rose Rebellion. When my doctors were poisoning me.” Her eyes were adjusting now, and she could see him use the filthy steps for support as he attempted to stand. “Please call me Carlos Felipe, as you did once. Titles are of little use when one is once again in peril of one’s life. And on the river we dispensed with them.”

May Lin remembered those days. All too clearly. They had been all too few.

“Do your people really dislike you this much?” Lin asked.

After a pause, Carlos Felipe said, “I had not thought so, but it seems I am wrong.”

“It is not the people,” May Lin told him grimly. “I am afraid it is your association with Evan Douglas and me. It is your embrace of technology for the Royal Kingdom. I knew Bishop del Fuego hated a woman and an outlander in positions of trust, and I a Canton woman to boot—”

“And a witch,” Lin reminded her.

“—but I had no idea he would go so far as to try to kill me.”

“Us,” the Viceroy corrected her.

“Us,” she agreed. “He has obviously concluded you cannot be instructed or influenced by him. The earthquake must have seemed like a gift from God, sent specifically to aid his plans for our disappearance.”

“Once I am out of the way, he will send to Spain for my cousin, heaven help them all. He was cut from the same cloth as my father, only larger and lazier.” He sighed. “I had not thought to face an assassination attempt so soon after the usurper’s death. What do they plan to do with us? Is selling us into slavery the best we can hope for?”

“I thought that at first, but they would be foolish to let us live.”

“We think this old tub is one of the prison ships. That means they’ll sink it,” Lin said. “It certainly cannot get even as far as the Oregon Territory. If I were the bishop, I would put out a story that the two of you ran away together, and were capsized. How sad.”

May Lin could not help the chuckle that bubbled out of her. “You are as good at stories as Tia Clara.”

Lin made a sound that was decidedly not laughter as a particularly large wave made the boat yaw and wallow. “We have passed through the golden gate and are in the rough part. I will be sick. Please excuse me, Carlos F-Felipe.

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