by Jess Schira
Saika locked her jaw against a yawn which helped her make her final decision.
No, she decided, as much as she wanted to complete the abhorrent task she’d been assigned, it was best to wait. She was tired and her brain wasn’t working at full speed which meant her body would also be a beat slower than it should be, plus she didn’t have the tools of her trade on hand.
The most sensible thing to do right now was to get a few hours rest, fetch the things she needed and infiltrate Queen’s Lodge. There was time. The brown eyed man had given her until the end of this week.
Sebastian!
Unbidden, his name flashed across Saika’s mind and her expression darkened. Guilt arrowed through her. She’d love nothing more than to blame the fact she’d failed to complete her mission last night at the Yule Ball, but she couldn’t. The training and the strict code of belief’s her grandfather had instilled in her made it impossible for her to lay the blame on anyone’s shoulders but her own. She hadn’t spent enough time planning, she hadn’t capitalized on her advantages, she’d let her emotions get the better of her.
She’d failed her training.
She pushed the thought aside.
What was done was done. The only thing she could do now was to learn from her mistake and make sure she never repeated it.
Saika stood and her knees threatened to buckle, reminding her that she’d pushed her body to the limits of endurance today. She needed rest.
Turning away from the Queen’s Lodge while exhaustion weighed down on her wasn’t easy. It took a good portion of her focus to convince her tendons and muscles to respond to her mental cues to stride away from the bench.
********
The house looked old.
Saika stood across the street and several houses down from the Donavon home and studied the building. They had moved into the house four years ago, just a short while after arriving in London from Dublin. Since that time the building had become an important part of the family’s activity, it had seemed to pulse with life. Now, without the Donavon family inside of it, the house seemed to have aged several years, as if its heart had stopped beating.
Saika wondered if it would regain its vitality once her family returned or would it continue to be a sad shell of itself.
Saika pondered the question whilst she looked up and down the street, alert for signs of danger. She wanted to go home and sleep. She didn’t want to deal with the brown eyed man or any other problems.
Everything was dark and appeared quite. With Boxing Day over, everyone was tucked into bed, catching up on their sleep before a new business day started in the morning. The only sign of life was the flicker of a single candle in a second floor window three houses down from the Donavon home.
A smile softened Saika’s features.
The candle was in the room where Mister Richardson, a lean, spidery man with sparse white hair and sparkling eyes. He earned a living teaching the children students of some minor aristocrat who Richardson hated which was why he rented a room rather than staying at his employer’s home.
Richardson was a sweet man who Saika was quite fond of. She often found reasons to speak to him. He told her stories about going to the colonies and fighting in the war. It was where he’d suffered the injury that left him with a permanent limp. Since the war, he suffered from nightmares that made sleeping difficult and he passed the time when most people slept reading.
Saika drew a deep breath of London’s night air into her lungs and straightened to her full height before she stepped out of the concealing shadows and walked in the direction of the Donavon house.
Her steady, relaxed gait belied her nervous stomach as she walked along the side of the street towards the Donavon house. She didn’t think anyone had followed her from the Queen’s Lodge but she couldn’t shake the sensation of being watched.
The front door surprised her. At some point while she was gone someone had removed the door Robbie had patched and replaced it with a freshly constructed one. The new wood looked odd next to the worn door frame. Saika stared at the door and wondered who handled the chore, but after a moment she decided she was too tired to care. A new door was the least of her problems.
She pushed the door open, stepped across the threshold and into her father’s dark shop. She turned and locked a door, the new bolt wouldn’t stop a battering ram but it was solid enough to prevent the average person from reaching her while she slept. She hoped it would also discourage the brown eyed man from entering the house.
The tension drained from Saika’s body as she walked through the shop and up the stairs and into the family living quarters.
Saika always considered this section of the building to be the warmest place in the world, walking through it always made her feel safe and secure, but right now the only thing she felt was cold. The place was freezing.
Saika let out a shaky breath and moved deeper into the family area, intent on reaching the room she shared with her sisters. She’d curl up in her bed and allow her body a few hours of the sleep it so desperately needed, and then she would return to the Queen’s Lodge.
She refused to let her thoughts travel past that point.
“I cannot decide if I am delighted I correctly guessed where you would eventually go after you made your daring escape from Newgate Prison, or if I am disappointed you’re predictable.”
Saika didn’t jump. She’d been too well trained for such a response, but her heartbeat quickened and she twisted her fingers together to hide the way they shook before she turned to stare into a shadowed corner of the room.
The darkness was too intense for her to make out the man’s features, but she didn’t need to see his face to know his identity.
She’d recognize the smooth cultured tones anywhere.
“Sebastian.”
Sebastian shifted and reached towards the floor, his movement caused her stepmother’s favorite chair to creak. A moment later, Saika was dazzled by bright lantern light that shined directly into her eyes.
Saika blinked and cleared the glowing dots from her vision.
Sebastian tossed the heavy black cloth he’d used to hide the lantern onto the floor where it landed in a crumpled heap in the middle of the floor. Saika stared at the wrinkled material and wondered how she failed to sense someone in the room with her. She should have heard the rasp of his breath and smelled the lantern oil.
Curses bubbled up in her throat but Saika held them back. They would only serve to make her situation worse. She folded her hands demurely at her waist and waited for Sebastian to speak.
He sat with his right ankle crossed over his left knee and appeared to be relaxed, as if he’d just settled down to read a book, but instead of a book, he had a blunderbuss pistol balanced across his crossed leg with the wide round hole at the end of the long barrel pointed straight at Saika’s chest.
She stared at the pistol and fumed. She hated guns. She could hold her own and defend herself against any number of dangers, but bullets posed a unique threat. She couldn’t parry a bullet, or kick it aside, or out run it. The only advantage she had against a pistol was that it was so difficult to shoot accurately, but at this range, it was unlikely Sebastian would miss the shot, especially since luck hadn’t been on her side these past few days.
Her best was to bide her time and wait for the perfect opportunity to neutralize Sebastian’s advantage. Sooner or later something would happen and the current situation would change, the trick was remaining patient and alert.
She bent her head and studied the floor. “How did you know I would come here?”
Sebastian shifted his weight and lowered his raised foot to the ground, but held the gun steady. “I would like to tell you it was my powerful deduction abilities, but the truth is not nearly exciting. I had a hunch you would return home.”
“A hunch?”
“When I was a boy, my brothers and I raised and trained homing pigeons. No matter what set of circumstances they encountered, as long as they survi
ved the trip, they always came home. When I was trying to decide how to find you, it occurred to me that people aren't very different from homing pigeons. Eventually, they always return home.”
Saika frowned. In different circumstances, she’d resent being compared to a fat gray bird. It wasn’t flattering.
“I must confess, I hedged my bet,” Sebastian continued. “After what happened at Newgate, the guards were more than willing to turn to their own ranks and send people throughout the city to look for you. They lost you for a while, but one young lad sent a message stating that someone matching your description was sitting outside the castle. He was supposed to stick with you, find out where you lived, but I suspect you didn't take a direct route home and probably shook him from your trail at some point. Still, the boy did good work. I have to make sure he's properly rewarded.
Sebastian tipped his head to one side and ran his eyes over Saika. His expression turned thoughtful. “His message was quite detailed. He reported you simply sat on a bench and looked at the Queen’s Lodge. He said he wouldn't have given you a second thought, not even if he'd been standing guard were it but for the fact you fit the description of the person he'd been sent to find. For your sake, it’s a pity there aren’t more women of Japanese and Irish descent in London.” The corners of Sebastian's mouth quirked into a rueful smile. “From the tone of his messages, I suspect he was truly less interested in finding you and more interested in getting a good look at the woman who managed to capture and elude me twice.”
Sebastian continued to hold the pistol steady and unfurled his long lean body from the chair and walked towards her. “I wonder if you were what he expected or if you disappointed him?”
Saika lifted her chin. Her irritated gaze locked with his. “I cannot say.”
“There are so many things about you that fail to make any sense.” Sebastian’s voice rang with patient curiosity.
Saika refused to comment. She lifted her chin and boldly met his gaze.
Sebastian wasn’t bothered by her silence or the challenge in her eyes. “You're lovely in your own right, but not nearly as lovely as many of the women who attended the Yule Ball yet it was you who caught my eye. Even now, when I know you’re deceitful and most likely a traitor, even though there are times I want to forget you, I can’t prevent my thoughts from turning in your direction and no matter how frequently I tell myself you’re up to no good, I find myself hoping I’m wrong about you.”
Saika’s brow furrowed. After a moment’s hesitation she asked the question that had bothered her all day. “From the moment we met, you were suspicious of me. What did I do to give myself away?”
Sebastian quirked a brow. Saika couldn't read his expression and didn’t know if her question amused, surprised, or puzzled by her question. “You were too still. Even when they're not dancing, other girls would have been flaunting their ... attributes and trying to catch the attention of the nearest man or gossiping with their friends. You weren't. That was when I suspected there was something not quite right about you. When you turned down the young man who walked up to you, a minor noble by the way and rich enough to be considered a good catch by most, you confirmed my suspicious.”
“So what you’re telling me is that if I had simply taken his arm and accepted his invitation to dance you wouldn’t have approached me and now be sitting in the middle of my home?” Saika couldn’t believe how easy she had made it for him to realize there was a problem. Not only had her grandfather failed to provide her with the advice she needed in order to know if her loyalty lay with King George or her family, but it also seemed his lessons on deception and disguise also failed to take. Surely a bigger failure to the Japanese heritage had never existed.
Sebastian shrugged and adopted a board expression. “Had you accepted the invitation to dance, I would have considered your earlier behavior nothing more than a case of nerves and moved on, but you failed to accept his invitations so I came to the conclusion you needed to be investigated.”
Saika ground her teeth together and wondered if she could strike him before he managed to pull the trigger. “If ever I find myself in a similar situation, I will be sure to dance.”
“You should also do something about your body language.”
“What?”
Sebastian’s eyes twinkled and his mouth curved into a small smile. “The way you stood was another sign you weren’t like the other guests. All the girls I know are in a state of constant motion. They smile at everyone. They fuss with their hair. They wave their hands around in an expressive manner so that everyone around them knows they’re excited or making an important statement. They flirt. They do all sorts of things to attract the attention of the most eligible man in the room. You didn’t do any of those things. You stood so still it would be easy to mistake you for a marble statue. Perhaps that’s why you continue intrigue me.”
Saika raised a brow and felt a blush creep up her neck to warm her face.
“I intrigue you?” Something in the tone of his voice told her this was a high compliment coming from Sebastian.
“I've been around women all my life and I have never had any trouble knowing their thoughts and emotions, it’s written across their faces, but you're different. You're expression gives away nothing, I would think the lack of expression is because you don’t feel, but that explanation doesn’t seem correct.” He laid his palm against her chest, his fingers nestled into the hollow between her collarbone and shoulder while the heel of his palm settled against. Saika’s pulse pounded against the side of her throat.
Sebastian leaned closer and spoke in her ear. “Every fiber of my being tells me there’s more to you than meets the eye. I also sense you’re up to no good and that if I don’t act on my suspicion, I will regret it, and I try to avoid regrettable actions whenever possible.”
Saika dropped her gaze to the pistol he still held in his other hand. If he’d relax his grip just a little more, she’d make a grab for it. “So why haven't you shot me yet?”
Sebastian’s brows drew together. He looked genuinely surprised. “You’ve given me no cause to resort to such an extreme action.”
“It’s the perfect solution.” She regretted the words as soon as they tumbled from her mouth. Sebastian didn’t strike her as the kind of man who backed off when challenged. Like her grandfather, he was the type of person who stuck to any decision he made with a bulldog like intensity. Goading him was stupid. If he killed her, she wouldn’t be able to complete her assignment and her family would perish.
“You’re correct,” Sebastian confirmed. “I could shoot you right now which would put an end to whatever scandal you are involved with. In many ways, it’s the most sensible solution, but I don’t think it’s time for that just yet. You are a mystery and I want to see how it ends.”
Saika ran a hand along the upper part of her thigh, the exact place where she usually kept her kaiken, and waited for him to continue.
“It’s true I don’t know you well, but you don’t seem like the type of person who acts without a compelling reason for doing so. You exude a sense of honor that’s seldom seen. My instincts are rarely wrong and they tell me it is in my best interest to keep you alive and to stay close to you.” He paused and gave his words a chance to sink in. “At least until you do something that to change my mind. At the same time, letting you run lose in the city doesn’t seem wise.” Sebastian raised both brows and peered down his nose at her. “You could tell me what you are up to.”
Saika dropped her gaze back to the floor and waited for her mind to process everything she’d been told. The idea of telling Sebastian everything that had happened to her during the past few days was tempting. He would never know how much part of her wanted to share her burden but it wasn’t possible. “Even if I desired to, it’s not possible. Too many people are relying on my ability to maintain my silence.”
Sebastian nodded by he didn’t look happy. “Very well. I expected as much. Your intractableness leaves me with no other
recourse. The only place I can keep you without worrying about what kind of trouble you’re stirring up is a cell, and since Newgate Prison was unable to hold you, I will have to arrange for a change in venue.”
Sebastian set the blunderbuss aside before he motioned for Saika to turn. He drew her arms behind her and used a length of rope to bind her elbows. Oliver had once told him it was the best way to secure a prisoner since they couldn’t loosen the bindings around their elbows and work themselves free like they could when the rope was looped around their wrists.
Satisfied she was secure he led her from the house and out to the street. He did something with the lantern he carried and a moment later a carriage turned a corner and came to a stop before them.
Sebastian helped her into the carriage and climbed in behind her.
********
Saika stared out the carriage window. The moon was little more than a very small sliver in the sky, but it provided just enough light for her to make out the outline of the hulking shape she was about to be forced to enter. The Tower of London. In the years she'd called London home, she'd never found any reason to visit the building, though she knew many people who had. She'd heard many stories about the place and the people who had been imprisoned and eventually died in the building.
She supposed that if her situation wasn't so grave, if she wasn't running out of time, she’d be flattered that Sebastian had brought her to this place. It was her understanding that only royal prisoners, individuals who had created crimes against the crown were kept in this place.
She hadn't committed any crimes against the crown. At least not yet, a little voice whispered in the back of her mind.
Sebastian seemed to read her mind. As the carriage rocked to a stop, he shot a wry sideways glance at her. “It isn't customary for the average citizen to be kept here, however, I don't know how the guards will react if I return you to Newgate, and I don't want you harmed. You should be safe here. Plus, I'm close associates with some of the people who run this place, many of whom owe me a favor or two. I'll have no trouble keeping you here for a day or two while I decide what to do with you.”
