You lie against me on my couch, your myrrh-scented hair draping my shoulder, the firelight dancing in your black eyes. In just a few moments, our treason will begin.
Countess Marcella has been sent to Floria’s country house of Kellhurst with orders to ready it for Her Highness. This, I hope, will cause Edevane to believe Floria will travel there, perhaps with the intention of flying to Ferrick or Stanport and sailing on to a foreign country.
Meanwhile, I will in just a few moments carry you in my carriage to the Howel quay and put you onto a barge bound for Bretlynton Head, where my ship Sovereign is undergoing refit after its return from Tabarzam. You will carry secret orders for the captain, to ready the ship for sea and for a passenger of distinction.
In a week or so, Floria and I will take a fast boat south along the same route, and join you aboard Sovereign, bringing with us 175,000 crowns, less that which I have given you for your own journey. And then we will take Floria abroad, where she may begin her plans for a brave return to Duisland in circumstances very much to her liking.
I must again caution you against speaking to anyone on this journey, or of even informing Captain Gaunt who his passenger might be. For while the government might hesitate to imprison Floria on such charges as a scoundrel like Doctor Smolt might make, they would have no choice were she to be caught in flight.
“You have just told me that you took Floria’s letters,” you said. “What will you do with them?”
“They are by way of insurance,” I reply. “If everything goes awry, I can give them to Edevane to prove my loyalty.”
“Have you looked through them?”
“I have not.”
You offer a languorous laugh. “That is a strange delicacy for one so bold. I think you should look at those letters, for you never know what knowledge might be to your advantage.”
Perhaps you are right. But now I see through the window that the eastern sky is growing pale and the stars are fading, and that a fine December day will soon dawn. You should have a trouble-free journey down the Dordelle, and I will soon follow. But for this next moment, let me kiss you, and lose myself in your lips, your warm breath, and your perfect dark-eyed mystery.