Chapter Sixteen

The Fog—

In Which Audrey Meets the Queen of Thieves

Air World

Audrey kicked her gas-masked captor in the knee and ran downhill into the fog bank.

She made it five steps, and then, on her next breath, she inhaled some of the poisonous marsh gas that clung to the lower slum streets. Acid clawed her throat; she immediately started to cough. Each additional inhale made it worse. She doubled over, unable to continue.

She pressed a fold of her cloak over her mouth, but the material was too thick to breathe through.

She needed Zephyr, but she had no breath to Call.

A meaty hand closed around her upper arm and hauled her to her feet. “I got ’er!” Red Sideburns crowed.

She slapped at his hand, but she had no strength, still coughing, coughing, coughing. What was the poison doing to her lungs? Would she start coughing up blood?

She offered no resistance as he hauled her back uphill and into cleaner air. They rejoined Broken Nose and the wounded boyo.

Piers materialized out of the mists and held a knife to Broken Nose’s throat. “Let her go!”

Broken Nose gave a small nod, a signal. But instead of letting her go, Sideburns laid a knife to her throat. Audrey let out an involuntary squeak at the prick of sharp metal. Her pulse thudded in her neck.

“Well, looks like we ’ave a standoff,” Broken Nose said.

“Let her go, or I’ll kill you,” Piers said fiercely.

“Come on now, Jack,” Broken Nose coaxed. “You don’t want to go crossing the Queen o’ Thieves. It’s unhealthy for a body.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Broken Nose’s expression shifted to calculation. “Is it true then? Are you ’er son?”

A beat of silence. “And if I am?”

“Then you should ’ave no objection to us going to see ’er.”

Audrey stilled. Like the jumbled fragments of glass in a kaleidoscope, things were falling into a pattern. Piers was The Phantom, and his mother was the Queen of Thieves. According to Leah, The Phantom’s mother was the otherself of Qeturah, the woman who’d shattered Fire World. Qeturah had a habit of murdering her otherselves. So the Queen of Thieves might actually be Qeturah masquerading as her Air otherself.

Audrey was not eager to meet her. At all.

“All right,” Piers said after another tense silence. “We’ll all go together, but none of you boyos are to touch her.”

Broken Nose nodded, and Sideburns shoved Audrey into Piers’s arms. Piers sheathed his knife in his boot and put his arm around her. “It’ll be all right,” he murmured in her ear.

He, no doubt, thought he could protect her from his mother. But if Qeturah had murdered and replaced Piers’s mother, she’d be willing to cut Piers’s throat and wouldn’t quibble over Audrey’s for a second.

The Queen of Thieves lived in a dirigible. The balloon envelope was a faded green and had several large red patches that had to be fake. Audrey squinted at them. Yes, both the thread holding the patches on and the patches themselves were mere paint. In addition, the gondola had an odd shape; it looked like a giant’s boot. With windows and a little roof over the top end. It was also oddly familiar… The sign beside the anchor cleared matters up. It said “Old Mother Hubbard’s Antiques and Collectibles,” and Audrey remembered seeing a similar boot in an illustration in a children’s book.

Audrey eyed the structure dubiously. She supposed the ability to fly to another location in the city would be useful to the Queen of Thieves.

The Tier Five neighborhood it was currently moored in was less than prepossessing: two abandoned houses on either side and, judging from the lurid red-velvet curtains, a brothel across the way.

Audrey stopped praying for rescue and started praying no one would recognize her. If they did, her reputation would be ruined. Hopefully, the early hour would mean all the drunken ne’er-do-wells were still sleeping off the excesses of the previous night’s festivities.

“In, in,” Broken Nose said, glancing around nervously.

Piers squeezed Audrey’s arm in reassurance but urged her up the three steps and into the swaying gondola shop.

The shop was small and crowded. Bins full of trinkets competed for attention with porcelain vases and fancy dishes. Lengths of ribbon curled coyly on bolts of silk. Necklaces dangled from the ceiling, their chiming creating an eerie music. Rows of footwear ranging in size from baby shoes to men’s work boots marched along the floor. Everywhere Audrey’s gaze lit, she saw more junk.

Antiques? She very much doubted it. But perhaps the more expensive items—or stolen merchandise—were hidden from common view.

“Queenie?” Broken Nose called, craning his neck to look in the back corner.

A petite woman emerged from a door in the heel of the boot—her private apartment, perhaps. She had green eyes and long, black hair streaked with gray and wore a black dress with a tight bodice that showcased her voluptuousness. Audrey recognized her at once as Norton’s lover.

Her gaze slipped past Broken Nose and landed on Audrey. She smiled widely. “Well, if it isn’t the very pigeon I most wanted to net. Good job.” She waggled her fingers at Broken Nose. “You may go now.”

“But—”

Irritation crossed her face. “You’ll get your money, but right now I have business. Guard the door outside.”

Broken Nose and his boyos slunk out, glancing back resentfully.

“The Admiral’s daughter,” Queenie said, circling Audrey in a way that made her feel decidedly uncomfortable.

Audrey stiffened her spine and imitated the way her mother treated impertinent servants. She raised an eyebrow and turned to Jack/Piers/The Phantom. “Well, Piers? Aren’t you going to introduce me to your mother?”

Queenie’s left eye twitched, but otherwise, she didn’t react.

Piers shot Audrey an irritated glance but stepped up to the challenge. “Mother, this is Lady Audrey Harding. Audrey, this is—”

“Queenie will do,” his mother said sharply.

Piers rolled his eyes. “I don’t think I even remember your real name.”

“Why did you tell her about our relationship?”

“I didn’t. Billy guessed,” Piers said shortly.

So Broken Nose was Billy. Audrey tucked the information away for later. Her father would arrest Billy and his minions for this outrage.

“So now Billy knows, too?” Queenie’s mouth tightened. “You should have laughed in his face.”

“I couldn’t. I needed a bargaining chip to make the bullyboys back off.”

Queenie laughed scornfully. “What’s this, chivalry?”

He flushed but stood his ground. “Why did you kidnap Audrey? Did you order Norton’s death?” His voice grew hoarse.

“Robert’s dead?” She sighed and shook her head as if in sorrow. “I only wanted him contained. The fool must have tried to run. What a waste. You know I was fond of him, and he’s been very useful to us over the years.”

Audrey didn’t believe Queenie’s protestation of innocence for a moment, but Piers’s shoulders relaxed. “You shouldn’t have sent Billy and his boys to collect Norton. They only understand violence.”

A shrug. “You weren’t here.”

Piers flinched.

Audrey’s temper flared. How dare the harridan lay the burden of Norton’s death on Piers? She spoke up. “What about me? Why did you send the bullyboys to kidnap me at the ball yesterday?”

Piers jerked his head and stared at her, mouth open. “What? When was this?”

“It was after—” Audrey stopped and cleared her throat. Her heart was racing. If Queenie didn’t want it known that Piers/Jack was her son, she really wouldn’t like it that Audrey knew Piers was The Phantom. Enough to shut Audrey’s mouth permanently? “After the parade, at the Children’s Ball,” she finished.

“It doesn’t matter,” Piers said, his eyes flashing. “I’m taking Lady Audrey back to her family.” He rested his hand protectively on the small of her back.

“In a little while,” Queenie said. “She’ll be perfectly safe here, with Billy and his boyos outside.” It was a pointed reminder that she held all the cards.

Piers’s hand tightened at her waist. “No one will be hurting Audrey.”

Queenie rolled her eyes.

“Why are you doing this?” Audrey asked her. “Are you a Siparese agent?”

Queenie laughed. “No. I’m in this purely for the money.”

“What money?” Audrey insisted. “Billy says you’re not playing middle this time. So where is the money in causing a war between Donlon and Sipar?”

If she’d expected the woman to confess to being Qeturah and having a secret plan to shatter Air World and drain it of magic, she was disappointed.

Queenie smirked. “There’s plenty of money to be made in wars, my dear.”

Money was made in selling weapons and uniforms to the Crown, perhaps, but not if the war ended in a week.

Queenie addressed her son. “We’ve talked about this for years, and it’s finally here: our opportunity, our big score. One more week and you’ll be able to become Mister Piers Tennyson in reality. But a Piers Tennyson who has just inherited a fortune. You can become one of the nobility and marry a girl like her, if that’s to your taste. But I need a little more time. One week.”

He hesitated.

Audrey tensed, willing him not to listen.

Queenie took his silence as capitulation. “It’s only for a few days. Why don’t you take her to your room and make her comfortable? As long as she does as she’s bid, she needn’t have any contact with Billy.”

A muscle flexed in his jaw. “Billy is a thug.”

“Billy is a tool,” she corrected. “My tool. He’ll do as I say, never fear.”

Strangely, that was exactly what Audrey did fear. “Piers?” she pleaded. “Don’t do this. You must see that I have to go home.”

He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he shot her a smile and turned on the charm. “Think of it as an adventure. Confess, Audrey, you hate staying at home. You’ll be perfectly safe here for a few days, and just think of the stories you’ll have to tell.”

Audrey started to protest that there was a lot more at stake than her desire for adventure, then shut her mouth with a click. She’d be better able to reason with him once he was separated from Queenie. She followed him into the heel of the boot.

His room was small and cozy with a bunk against the wall and a writing desk jammed in one corner. Miniature airships swung on wire from the ceiling.

“See? You’ll be as snug as a bug in a rug. And I’ll stick around to keep you company as much as I can,” Piers promised.

How could she convince him Qeturah couldn’t be trusted? That this could end in disaster for all of Donlon? She wet her lips and tried. “Piers, does it seem as if your mother has been acting strangely? Assigning you unusual jobs, working for herself instead of as a middle?”

“Maybe. What are you getting at?”

Deep breath. “That woman in the other room isn’t your mother. Her name is Qeturah. She’s a sorceress from the other side of the mirror.”

Piers smiled uncertainly as if he didn’t quite get the joke. “If she isn’t my mother, then where is my mother?”

“Murdered.”

His eyes blanked. They changed color from gray to clear. She could see right through them. Extraordinary.

“What?” he asked, a note of violence in his voice.

She squeezed his arm. “I’m sorry. I hope I’m wrong, but…” She didn’t think she was.

“Of course you’re wrong!” His voice slammed around the little room like a blast of wind. “My mother wasn’t murdered by her reflection. That’s insane!”

Audrey just shook her head. Her heart ached for his loss. “You know her better than anyone. Has she been acting like herself?”

He was trembling, and his clenched fists kept fading into transparency. “I do know her, and you’re wrong.”

Audrey hated to push him, but her life was at stake—maybe the entire fate of Donlon or Air World. “About the time when she started acting odd, had she just changed the shop’s location?”

Piers stilled, and she knew she’d guessed right. “And if she had?” he asked defensively.

“Go back to where the shop used to be and do a little digging. Ask if a body was found.”

He raked his fingers through his dark hair, making it stand on end. “You’re speaking nonsense. I can’t listen to any more of this. I have to go now. Sorry.” He backed out of the room and turned the key in the lock.

The room was equipped with a window. Audrey watched through it as Piers flew away in phantom form.

She considered climbing out the window but glimpsed Sideburns stationed outside. Perhaps she’d get lucky, and he’d fall asleep later.

The key turned in the lock, and Qeturah whisked inside. In one hand, she held a blunderbuss, in the other, two sheets of paper. “Copy this out word for word and sign it.”

Reluctantly, Audrey accepted the stationery and seated herself at the small writing desk. She dipped quill in ink and copied the message.

Father,

I’m being held hostage by Siparese agents. They’ll kill me unless you follow their instructions. Please do as they say.

Your Loving Daughter,

Audrey

Resisting the urge to crumple the paper up, Audrey handed it back. “He won’t do it,” she said baldly. “Whatever it is that you want from my father, you won’t get it. He’s a Harding. Duty is bred in our bones. Honor comes before family.”

Qeturah’s lips quirked, amused. “I’m quite familiar with your father’s stubbornness. That’s not the point of this.”

Audrey scowled, off balance. “Then why kidnap me?”

Qeturah pocketed the missive. “Your abduction will make him vengeful. Aggressive. That’s what I want.” Still holding the blunderbuss high, Qeturah tossed a pair of handcuffs to Audrey. “Shackle yourself to the bed frame. Do it properly, or I’ll get Billy in here to do it for you.”

Seething, Audrey obeyed.

Qeturah gave the cuffs a quick tug to be sure they were secure, then backed out of the room and relocked the door.

Five minutes after that, long before Audrey had come up with a satisfactory escape plan, the dirigible rocked back and forth and abruptly began to rise.

It stopped thirty feet up in the air, effectively turning the gondola into a prison.