Heart of Steel

by Meljean Brook

  If it was an act, this encounter was already turning out better than Yasmeen had anticipated. “Perhaps we can speak inside, Miss Fox.”

  With an uncertain smile, the other woman stepped back. “Yes, of course.”

  Zenobia led the way into a parlor, her too-long skirts dragging on the wooden floor. A writing desk sat by the window, stacked with blank papers. No clickity transcriber’s ball was in sight, and no ink stained Zenobia’s fingers. Obviously she hadn’t been busy penning the next Archimedes Fox adventure.

  A shelf over the fireplace held several baubles, some worn by age, others encrusted with dirt—a silver snuff box, a lady’s miniature portrait, a gold tooth. All items that Archimedes had collected during his salvaging runs in Europe, Yasmeen realized. All items that he’d picked from the ruins but hadn’t sold. Why keep these?

  Her gaze returned to the lady in the miniature. Soft brown hair, warm eyes, a plain dress. The description seemed familiar, though Yasmeen knew she hadn’t seen this portrait before. No, it was a description from Archimedes Fox and the Specter of Notre Dame. In the story, he’d found a similar miniature clutched in a skeleton’s fingers, and the mystery surrounding the woman’s identity had led the adventurer to a treasure hidden beneath the ruined cathedral.

  How odd that she’d never realized that fictional miniature had a real-life counterpart. That she’d never imagined him digging it out of the muck somewhere and bringing it to his sister. That he’d once held it, as she did now.

  The stupid man. Yasmeen lied often, and so she didn’t care that he’d lied about his identity when he’d arranged for passage on her airship. It did matter that she’d allowed Emmerich Gunther-Baptiste’s son aboard her airship without knowing who he really was. A threat had sneaked onto Lady Corsair right beneath her nose.

  She couldn’t forgive him for that. Too often, she led her crew into dangerous territory, and they would only be loyal to a strong captain. A captain they could trust. She’d invested years making certain that her crew could trust her, and rewarded their loyalty with piles of money. There wasn’t enough gold in the world to convince a crew to follow a fool, and Archimedes Fox had come close to turning her into one when he’d boarded her ship. She’d only been saved because he’d openly thanked her for killing his father, negating his potential threat. He’d become a joke, instead.

  And later, when he had threatened her in front of the crew, she’d gotten rid of him . . . maybe.

  Yasmeen turned to Zenobia, who stood quietly in the center of the parlor, tears trailing over her pink cheeks.

  “So Archimedes . . . is dead?” she whispered.

  Funny how that terrible accent came and went. “As dead as Genghis Khan,” Yasmeen confirmed. “Unfortunate, as I said. He was a handsome bastard.”

  “Oh, my brother!” Zenobia buried her face in her hands.

  Yasmeen let her sob for a minute. “Do you want to know how he died?”

  Zenobia lifted her head, sniffling into a lace handkerchief, her blue eyes bright with more tears. “Well, yes, I suppose—”

  “I killed him. I dropped him from my airship into a pack of flesh-eating zombies.”

  The other woman had nothing to say to that. She stared at Yasmeen, her fingers twisting in the handkerchief.

  “He tried to take control of my ship. You understand.” Yasmeen flopped onto a sofa and hooked her leg over the arm. Zenobia’s face reddened and she averted her gaze. Not accustomed to seeing a woman in trousers, apparently. “He hasn’t come around for a visit, has he?”

  “A visit?” Her head came back around, eyes wide. “But—”

  “I tossed him into a canal. Venice is still full of them, did you know?”

  Zenobia shook her head.

  “Well, some are more swamp than canal, but they are still there—and zombies don’t go into the water. We both know that Archimedes has escaped more dire situations than that, at least according to his adventures. You’ve read your brother’s stories, Miss Fox, haven’t you?”

  “Of . . . course.”

  “He mentions the canals in Archimedes Fox and the Mermaid of Venice.”

  “Oh, yes. I’d forgotten.”

  There was no Mermaid of Venice adventure, yet the woman who’d supposedly written it didn’t even realize she’d been caught in her lie. Pitiful.

  But the question remained: Did that mean Zenobia wasn’t the author after all, or was this not Zenobia? Yasmeen suspected the latter.

  “So he might be alive?” Zenobia ventured.

  “He still had most of his equipment and weapons. But if he hasn’t contacted you after two months now . . . he must be dead, I’m sorry to say.” Yasmeen meant it, but she wasn’t sorry for the next. “And so he is the second man in your family I’ve killed.”

  Surprise and dismay flashed across her expression. “Yes, of course. My . . .”

  She trailed off into a sob. Oh, that was good cover.

  “Father.” Yasmeen helped her along.

  “Yes, my father. After he . . . did something terrible, too.”

  That was good, too. Smart not to suggest that the armed woman sitting in the room had been at fault.

  Obviously this woman had no idea who she’d targeted by taking Zenobia Fox’s place. If asked, she’d probably say that her father’s surname had been Fox, as well. She wouldn’t know that Emmerich Gunther-Baptiste had once tried to roast a mutineer alive. Yasmeen hadn’t had any love for the mutineer—but she’d shot him in the head anyway, to put him out of his misery. She’d shot Gunther-Baptiste when he’d ordered the other mercenaries to put her on the roasting spit in the mutineer’s place. When Yasmeen realized that she’d attained a beauty of an airship in the process, she’d shot every other crew member who tried to take it from her.

  After a while, they’d stopped trying and began taking orders, instead.

  “Did he do something terrible? I’ve killed so many people, I forget what my reasons were.” A lie, but Yasmeen wasn’t the only one telling them. Now it was time to find out this woman’s reasons. With a belabored sigh, she climbed to her feet. “That’s all I’ve come to say. A few of Archimedes’ belongings are still in my ship. Would you like to have them, or should I distribute them among my crew?”

  “Oh, yes. That’s fine.” For a moment, the blond seemed distracted and uncertain. Then her shoulders squared, and she said, “My brother hired you to take him to Venice, and was searching for a specific item. Did he find it . . . before he died?”

  Ah, so that’s what it was. Yasmeen had spoken to three art dealers about locating a buyer for the sketch Archimedes Fox had found in Venice. A flying machine drawn by the great inventor Leonardo da Vinci, the sketch was valuable beyond measure.

  She’d demanded that the dealers be discreet in their inquiries. Not even Yasmeen’s crew knew what she’d locked away in her cabin. But obviously, someone had talked.

  “It was a fake,” Yasmeen lied.

  No uncertainty weakened Zenobia’s expression now. “I’d still like to have it. As a memento.”

  Yasmeen nodded. “If you’ll show me out, I’ll retrieve it for you now.” She followed the woman from the parlor and into the hallway. “Will you hold the rope ladder for me? It’s so unsteady.”

  “Of course.” All smiles, Zenobia reached the front door.

  Yasmeen didn’t give her a chance to open it. Slapping her gloved hand over the blond’s mouth, she kicked the woman’s knees out from beneath her. Yasmeen slammed her against the floor and shoved her knife against the woman’s throat.

  Quietly, she hissed, “Where is Zenobia Fox?”

  The woman struggled for breath. “I am Zen—”

  A press of the blade cut off the woman’s lie. Yasmeen smiled, and the woman’s skin paled.

  Her smile frequently had that effect.

  “The dress doesn’t fit you. You’ve tried to take Zenobia’s place but you’ve no idea who you’re pretending to be. Where is she?” When the woman’s lips pressed together in
an unmistakable response, Yasmeen let her blade taste blood. The woman whimpered. “I imagine that you’re working with someone. You didn’t think of this yourself. Is he waiting upstairs?”

  The woman’s eyelids flickered. Answer enough.

  “I can kill you now and ask him instead,” Yasmeen said.

  That made her willing to talk. Her lips parted. Yasmeen didn’t allow her enough air to make a sound.

  “Is Zenobia in the house? Nod once if yes.”

  Nod.

  “Is she alive?”

  Nod.

  Good. Yasmeen might not kill this woman now. She eased back just enough to let the woman respond. “Where did you hear about the sketch?”

  “Port Fallow,” she whispered. “Everyone knew that Fox boarded your airship in Chatham. We realized he must have found the sketch on his last salvaging run.”

  Yasmeen had only spoken to one art dealer in Port Fallow: Franz Kessler. Damn his loose tongue. She’d make certain he wouldn’t talk out of turn again—especially if this had been his idea. This woman certainly hadn’t the wits to connect the sketch to Zenobia.

  “You and the one upstairs. Was this his plan?”

  Yasmeen interpreted her hesitation as a yes—and that this woman was afraid of him. She’d chosen the wrong person to fear.

  “What airship did you fly in on?”

  “Windrunner. Last night.”

  A passenger ship. “Who’s upstairs?”

  “Peter Mattson.”

  Miracle Mattson, the weapons smuggler. A worthy occupation, in Yasmeen’s opinion, but Miracle Mattson sullied the profession. He always recruited partners to assist him with the job, but as soon as the cargo was secure, the partners conveniently disappeared. Mattson usually claimed an attack by Horde forces or zombies had killed them, yet every time, he miraculously survived.

  No doubt that if this woman had secured the sketch for him, she’d have disappeared soon, too.

  “Did he hire you just for this job?”

  “Yes. I’m grateful. I’ve been out of work for almost a full season.”

  A full season of what? This woman’s soft hands had never seen any kind of labor. Only one possibility occurred to her.

  “Are you an actor?”

  The blond nodded. “And dancer. But the company replaced us all with automatons.”

  If this woman’s performance was an example, Yasmeen suspected that the automatons displayed more talent. “All right. Call Mattson down.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’ll make you a better deal than he will.” Yasmeen wouldn’t kill her, anyway. Probably. “And because if I go upstairs holding a knife to your throat, he might do something stupid to Miss Fox.”

  “Oh.” Her eyes widened. “How do I call him?”

  God save her from idiots. “I’ll let you up. You’ll open and close the door as if you’ve just come in from outside, and yell, ‘I’ve got it! Come see!’ You’ll be very excited.”

  “And then?”

  “I’ll do the rest.” She waited for the woman to nod, then hauled her up. “Now.”

  Yasmeen had to give the actress credit; even with a knife at her throat, she played her part perfectly. Mattson must have realized that something was amiss, however. No answer came from upstairs. Perhaps he’d taken a look out the window and saw that Yasmeen had never climbed back up to the airship. She didn’t think he’d heard their whispers. When noise finally came from above, the walls and ceiling muffled Mattson’s low voice.

  “Get up.” A thud followed the rough order, the sound of a body falling onto the floor, then the slow shuffle of feet and the heavy, regular tread of boots. “Stay quiet. Don’t try anything stupid.”

  Ah, Mattson. Always predictable. Of course he wouldn’t come down alone and risk his neck. He was bringing Zenobia with him, probably with a gun at her head—and he likely intended to offer the woman’s life in exchange for the sketch. Yasmeen couldn’t imagine why he thought it would work. Did she look that foolish? After she handed over the sketch, nothing would stop him from shooting them all.

  No, Mattson was the only fool here. Knife still at the actress’s throat, Yasmeen dragged her into the parlor. She stopped with her back to the window, the actress in front of her and facing the parlor entry—an escape in one direction, a shield in the other. If Mattson began firing, Yasmeen preferred that the bullets didn’t hit her first, and the actress’s body hid the gun Yasmeen tucked into the sash at her waist. No need to draw it yet. Her blade would do until she tired of talking.

  As if suddenly realizing what her position meant, the actress emitted a desperate squeak. Yasmeen hissed a warning in her ear, and the woman fell silent, trembling.

  The tread of boots reached the stairs. Slowly, they came into view, Zenobia’s pale bare feet and Mattson’s shining black boots. Her hands had been bound at the wrists. He must have surprised Zenobia while she slept. Rags knotted her brown hair, and she wore a sturdy white sleeping gown. A wide strip of torn linen served as a gag, stretched tight between dry lips and tied behind her head. Her eyes were the same shade as Archimedes’—emerald, rather than the yellowish-green of Yasmeen’s—and bright with anger and fear.

  Zenobia’s gaze locked on Yasmeen’s, but aside from a quick glance at the woman’s face and at the revolver that Mattson held to the side of her throat, Yasmeen didn’t bother to pay her any attention. Mattson served as the greater threat here, and Yasmeen wasn’t a fool to be taken unawares while making cow-eyes at a writer whose work she adored.

  Though Zenobia was a tall woman, Mattson’s height left him completely exposed from chin to crown. Idiot. He ought to have been crouching, but perhaps he considered any sort of cower an affront to his dignity. Sporting a neatly trimmed blond mustache and wearing a pressed jacket and trousers, he stood straight as any soldier, but Yasmeen had never known any soldier who took offense as easily as Peter Mattson. The sun reddened his skin rather than tanned it, so that he always appeared flushed with anger—as he often was, anyway. Belligerent the moment anyone questioned his character and big enough to pose a challenge, he’d become a favorite amongst the regulars at the Port Fallow taverns who found their entertainment by picking fights.

  He stopped just at the entrance to the parlor, standing in the foyer and with Zenobia filling the door frame. He’d have a direct line to the front door—so he also kept a shield and an escape. The fool. If Mattson didn’t want to be shot, he shouldn’t have come down the stairs with his gun already drawn.

  Pale blue eyes met hers. “Lady Corsair.”

  Captain Corsair. Her airship was a lady, but Yasmeen certainly wasn’t. She didn’t bother to correct him, however. Everyone called her by the wrong name. No surprise he did, too.

  “Mr. Mattson,” she said. “I believe you are here to make an exchange. Your woman for mine, perhaps?”

  “I want the sketch.”

  Of course he did—and of course he’d never get it. But as a woman of business, she was curious as to what he’d offer. “In exchange for what?”

  “Nothing.”

  “So generous, yet I’m not tempted to accept.”

  “You should be. Give the sketch to me now, and my associates might let you live. I’ll tell them you cooperated.”

  Yasmeen couldn’t have that. “And ruin my reputation? I don’t think so, Mr. Mattson—especially since you usually kill your associates. I doubt I’ll have much to fear from them.”

  “You have no idea who you’re up against.” His gaze left Yasmeen and fell to the knife at the actress’s throat. His lips curled. “Do you think I care whether she dies? Go on, slit her—”

  The crack of Yasmeen’s pistol cut off the rest. Mattson’s brains splattered against the foyer wall. His body dropped, gun clattering against the wood floor—and luckily, not discharging on impact.

  Eyes wide, Zenobia lifted her bound hands and touched the blood sprayed across her cheek and temple. She startled from her stupor and almost tripped over Mattson’s boot
s when the actress suddenly shrieked, ducking and covering her ears. A bit late for that—though if she kept screaming, Yasmeen might shoot her just to shut her up.

  She tucked the weapon back into her sash and crossed the room to nudge Mattson’s thigh with her toe. Dead. Yasmeen knew many people who seemed to function well without brains, but her bullet had definitely done this one in. Blood pooled beneath his head.

  “A hell of a mess,” Yasmeen said, and slipped her blade between Zenobia’s wrists, slicing through the ties. She did the same to the woman’s gag. “If you need to vomit, I suggest you do it on him. There’s less to clean up.”

  “Thank you,” Zenobia rasped. The corners of her mouth were raw. “But I don’t need to.”

  Then she glanced down at Mattson’s face, bent over, and did.

  Chapter Two

  Yasmeen found the maids tied hand to foot on the floor in a bedroom upstairs. She cut through the ropes, accepted their thank-yous, and when Zenobia rushed into the room a moment later, left them to do their weeping and dressing.

  She retreated downstairs, where the actress had finally stopped screaming. Yasmeen led her outside and signaled to Rousseau. He sent down two aviators to escort the woman up to the airship while Yasmeen returned to the parlor. Her cabin girl, Ginger, brought Yasmeen’s favorite mint tea down from Lady Corsair, and relayed that Rousseau had locked the actress in the stateroom. Good enough for now. Yasmeen would let Zenobia decide what to do with her.

  When Zenobia came downstairs, she stopped and studied Mattson’s body for a long moment. Jaw set, she stepped over him and poured herself a cup before sitting on the chair opposite Yasmeen.

  “You’ve come to tell me that Wolfram is dead,” she said.

  “Yes.” Yasmeen studied the other woman’s expression. She saw resignation. Sadness. But no sudden grief. “You aren’t surprised.”

  “I was supposed to receive word from him two months ago. By the third week, I had to accept that a letter wasn’t coming. So I have had some time to accustom myself to the idea that he wasn’t returning.” She sipped her tea before leveling a direct stare at Yasmeen. “Wolfram isn’t part of your crew. So why have you really come?”