“Which business does your family run? My father owns a ranch in the west there, but he also dabbles in railroads and mining.”
“Banking.” Kenneth rested his hand over hers where she’d left it on the table. “I’ve heard your father’s made himself quite a name.”
Amethyst straightened her shoulders. “Indeed he has. He’s been said to have a king’s worth of money. He’s probably the richest man in the world, even wealthier than our leaders.”
According to her uncle, it was hard to judge wealth since it came and went so fast in investments, but she liked repeating what she’d read in newspapers.
“Is he here now, in the city? I would enjoy meeting him.”
“Oh no.” She tossed her head to make her hair shimmer. “My parents live out on the ranch. I prefer staying here with my uncle. There’s just so much to do in the city.”
“Speaking of things to do…” He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, making her stomach clench and her nerves twitter. “I’ve been meaning to rent one of the small airships for a turn over the countryside. Would you be interested?”
She’d never gotten to do that before. How jealous her friends would be that she’d taken an airship ride with Kenneth! “I would love to! It’s so very kind of you to ask me.”
“Tomorrow morning? We can set out by ten?”
She wrinkled her nose. They needed to spend the evening together, perhaps see a show. She wouldn’t rise until at least eleven. “That’s terribly early. Shall we agree upon noon? You can call on me then.”
He narrowed his eyes and shifted in his seat, pulling his hand away. “I’d rather meet you at the airship rental.”
Amethyst stiffened. Gentlemen always called on her at her uncle’s apartment. Ah, Kenneth had to be shy about meeting her paternal figure. After the ride, he would feel more comfortable. “Fine, I’ll meet you there.”
“Your champagne.” The waitress materialized from the shadows of the café, piano music drifting after her.
“We’re going on an airship ride tomorrow.” Amethyst beamed. Hopefully, it would make it into the newspapers.
The driver opened the door to the steamcab and lifted his hand to Amethyst. “Miss Treasure?”
She slid her gloved fingers into his and descended with slow steps. Once on the pavement, she lifted her head and smiled to the awaiting photographers… only, the media didn’t wait outside the airship rental. The brick building had shutters fastened over its windows and a wooden cutout of an airship hanging over the closed door.
“Will that be all, Miss Treasure?” The driver held out his hand.
She pulled a wad of bills from her purse and yanked the drawstring. That should cover the fare and his tip. “Fine.” She must not have told enough people she would be there. At least Kenneth would appreciate her attire. She’d chosen a white silk corset high enough to be worn on its own, with detachable sheer puffed sleeves and a full hoop skirt. The top hat and choker matched the pristine, virginal white. Kenneth needed to know how sweet she was, even while she took charge.
Amethyst marched into the rental shop with her chin up, a single curl dangling down her neck from her chignon beneath the hat. Paintings of airships adorned the cream-painted walls. A man sat behind a desk in the corner, and across from him, Kenneth lounged in a sitting area of settees. He rose and removed his hat, bowing at the waist.
“Miss Treasure.” He took her hand to kiss it. “Greetings, my dear. I’m glad you could make it. I was worried.”
Worried? She almost flared her nostrils. She was only a half hour late. It was better to keep men wondering. “Of course I’m here.”
“The photographers were waiting. I don’t know how word got out. I called the police to send them away.”
“What?” Amethyst froze. “You sent them away?” How would her face be pasted across the newspapers the next day?
“Today will be just for us.” Kenneth slung her hand through his arm and turned to the man at the desk. “We’re ready.”
“Right this way.” He inclined his head to them before heading toward the back of the shop. “I have the one you requested outside, but if there’s another one you’d prefer, I can get a different one.”
“It will be fine,” Kenneth said. How could he know if he hadn’t seen it? It might have advertising on it, and then Amethyst wouldn’t be able to ride in it, unless it advertised something of her father’s.
The back of the rental contained a mile-long strip of gravel and grass. An individual airship rested in the center, tethered by ropes and metal hooks to the ground. She’d seen airships floating past in the sky, some large enough for groups of as many as three-hundred passengers. An individual would only house up to five.
“Did you tell your uncle where you were going?” Kenneth opened the door in the basket for her and Amethyst glided inside.
“Of course not.” She giggled. “He doesn’t trust these newfangled inventions, as he calls them.” With the giant balloon up top and the basket hanging underneath, he thought of them as floating deathtraps.
“Wise man.” Kenneth stepped in and latched the door.
“You know how to fly this?” Amethyst leaned over the basket to stare at the metal propeller, then up at the red and white striped balloon.
“We went over the directions before you arrived,” the rental owner said. “You have this for five hours. Any longer and I’ll have to charge extra.”
“Understood.” Kenneth fiddled with levers and buttons on a panel near the door. The machine beeped, sending a chill over Amethyst’s arms. Even if photographers couldn’t mark her passage, excitement still bubbled in her belly.
He pulled a cord hanging from the balloon overhead and the propeller whirled. The airship lifted, swayed, and lifted higher.
Amethyst waved to the rental owner as she called her goodbye. “Toodles!” How thrilling to be above everyone, watching people who couldn’t see her. The airship lifted over the brick buildings, higher toward the clouds. The people became doll sized, then ant sized, and the skyscrapers shrank. The ocean transformed into a blue blanket and a land of stone.
“This is very relaxing.” Amethyst held out her hand and spread her fingers, the air rushing over her skin. “Have you driven one before?”
“I have my airship license.”
“Really?” What a pity the individual airship didn’t have a bench to sit on, but leaning against the basket wasn’t too strenuous.
“I’ve flown a lot.”
“Is that your profession?” Plenty of her city companions studied to become lawyers or doctors, or businessmen like their fathers.
“No. I don’t have one anymore.”
She turned to face him, her bottom against the black wicker. “So, darling, shall we stop to luncheon somewhere? We should’ve brought along a picnic.”
“We’ll stop.” He gazed out at the world with his jaw set, the happiness gone from his straight demeanor.
“Before we have to land back at the rental?”
“Miss Treasure, did you mention my name to anyone?”
Amethyst licked her wind-chapped lips. She should’ve brought a gloss. “Um, yes. Lots of people. Why?” She’d told her uncle about charming Kenneth. She’d sent a note to Mary letting her know about the lovely evening they’d spent together.
“My full name?”
What was his last name? “Yes.” It hadn’t meant anything to her. She didn’t know of anyone else with that surname, so she’d forgotten it as soon as he’d told her.
Kenneth chuckled. “Good. When the police didn’t show up to arrest me, I’d hoped you’d forgotten.”
Amethyst curled her fingers into fists. “What does that mean?” Why did he have to ruin the romantic outing by spouting off nonsense? They didn’t even have an audience.
“Three years ago, your father ruined my life. He terminated my family’s reputation.”
“Um…” Amethyst wished she could back up further. Wind pushed at her top hat, so she shoved it up higher to
straighten it. “I don’t understand.”
“Now, I’ll ruin his life.”
“Kenneth…”
“My family worked at his mine. My father was his mine master. My mother kept it shipshape and I worked the books.”
“Yes? I’m sure there’s a lot of that out west.” The airship swayed in a strong gust.
“Do you know how much we made?” Kenneth rounded on her, his nostrils flared. “Pennies. He paid us in pennies!”
Amethyst scurried away from him around the basket. “So? Isn’t that what people make out there?” She’d never had to work. Pennies might be special.
“Your father has millions of dollars, but he couldn’t spare that for his mine master? My father took what he had to. We all took it.”
“You stole?” She forced a giggle. “This is a funny story, but its ruining the mood, Ken.”
“It’s not a story.” He scowled, pushing a few buttons on the control panel. “You rich folk all think alike. You’re perfect. You don’t have to share. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was when I found you.”
“You didn’t find me…” Her voice trailed off. “You meant to bump into me at the art show?”
“My parents are in prison. Your father wouldn’t give them bail. I barely escaped. I found a way to hide on airships to get overseas. I drove these things for rich people. You won’t be so rich anymore.”
“Ken…” How stupid she’d been to get in an airship with a stranger. “Take me back. Now.”
“Never.” He chuckled. “Your father made my family pay, so now he’s going to be the one paying. If he wants you, it’s going to cost him his fortune.”
Her uncle had always warned this would happen if she insisted on staying in the light. “You’re holding me for ransom?”
“And more, pretty girl. My father deserves that mine.”
“You’re crazy.” She bit her lower lip. Calling him names might make him angrier. “Look, if you set me down—”
“You’re mine, Miss Treasure. All of you.”
They’d left the city behind and soared over farmland of fields and trees. Something on the control pad had to lower them. If wishes worked, it would pop out at her.
She could call for help. Farms had to have workers.
Amethyst lunged toward the control panel and slapped it with her purse. A lever caught in her drawstring; buttons flashed and beeped.
“Bitch.” Kenneth seized her around the waist to yank her backward. The wind tore off her top hat to send it spinning into the air. The airship teetered and swayed, the balloon groaning. As Amethyst tumbled back, she seized the hanging cord and clung to it.
“Let go!” Kenneth grabbed her wrist and she bit into his forearm where his sleeve exposed his skin. Amethyst kicked off him as the airship teetered harder, and the basket disappeared from beneath her feet. She gasped, clutching the cord tighter as she hung. The balloon groaned and vinyl tore. It bounced down so fast her stomach seemed to jump into her throat.
“Stop, it’ll blow up. The fire and the gasses—”
Something hit her foot and she released the cord. Weeds slashed across her arms and face, tangling in her skirt. The ground slapped her back.
Amethyst rolled to her knees before scrambling upright, turning in a circle, everything around her cornstalks and weeds. She’d seen those stalks decorating doors in the autumn, a bit of the country to spruce up the city.
To the right, something exploded and heat washed over her. Amethyst yanked up her skirts and ran, weeds slashing her ankles. When she reached a dirt road, she paused, leaning over to clutch her sides. Her lungs strained against the confines of her corset and her eyesight blurred.
Flames leapt in the distance where the airship had crashed.
No one would have to know how he had threatened her. Even if his family had committed crimes, they wouldn’t have to know Kenneth had tried to ransom her.
She could pretend the airship had malfunctioned. That wouldn’t make her look stupid or careless. Bad. Amethyst Treasure was never bad.
Lifting her skirts again, Amethyst stumbled toward the red barn.
Jordan Elizabeth, more formally known as Jordan Elizabeth Mierek, can be found wearing billowing skirts and brocade boots in the summertime. She wears them in the wintertime, too. Although Central New York is her home, Jordan travels frequently, in particular to historical forts and fairs. She fell in love with steampunk while working at a Victorian Fair when she realized the genre contained her favorite things. You can contact Jordan via her website, JordanElizabethMierek.com, or on her blog, Kissed by Literature. She’s the president of the Utica Writers Club, which would make a great full-time job, if the organization wasn’t not-for-profit. Fans of the Treasure clan should toss their cowboy hats into the air and check their pocket watches, for more adventures of Clark and Amethyst await in Hedlund.
Now that you have completed this book, we hope you will leave a review so that other readers may benefit from your perspective. Authors like Jordan Elizabeth live and die by your reviews, after all!
Please visit http://curiosityquills.com/reader-survey/ to share your reading experience with the author of this book!
Escape from Witchwood Hollow, by Jordan Elizabeth
(http://bit.ly/ZiZ6m5)
Everyone in Arnn―a small farming town with more legends than residents―knows the story of Witchwood Hollow: if you venture into the whispering forest, the witch will trap your soul among the trees. After losing her parents in a horrific terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, fifteen-year-old Honoria and her younger brother escape New York City to Arnn.
In the lure of that perpetual darkness, Honoria finds hope, when she should be afraid. Perhaps the witch can reunite her with her lost parents. Awakening the witch, however, brings more than salvation from mourning…
Gears of Brass, a Steampunk Anthology
(http://bit.ly/1vMg4Dt)
A world like ours, but filled with gears of brass, where the beating heart is fueled by steam and the simplest creation is a complex clockwork device.
Within this tome, you’ll find steampunk fairy tale re-tellings, as well as original stories that will send your gears turning.
Welcome to the steampunk realm, with eleven authors guiding your path.
Obsidian Eyes, by A.W. Exley
(http://bit.ly/1chG59s)
OBSIDIAN EYES is historical fantasy novel with a light steampunk twist.
1836, a world of light and dark, noble and guild. The two spheres intersect when seventeen-year-old Allie Donovan is placed at the aristocratic St Matthews Academy. More at ease with a blade than a needle, she finds herself ostracised by the girls and stalked by a Scottish lord intent on learning why she is among them.
Used to relying on herself, Allie must cross the guild-noble divide to keep her friend safe when she discovers he is working on a top secret military project, deep under the school.
Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh, by Katie Hamstead
(http://j.mp/1diG9o4)
To save her younger sisters from being taken, Naomi steps in to be a wife of the erratic Pharaoh.
As Naomi rises through the ranks of the wives, Queen Nefertiti seeks to destroy her. To protect herself, Naomi charms the Pharaoh, who grows to love her. But when Naomi conceives his child, Nefertiti’s lust for blood is turned against her.
Appetizer:
Book Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Main Course:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Ch
apter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Dessert:
Acknowledgements
A Taste of Gears of Brass: Treasure's Kiss, by Jordan Elizabeth
Closing
About the Author
Copyright & Publisher
More from Curiosity Quills Press
Treasure, Darkly (Treasure Chronicles Book 1) Page 26
