Steam Guardians 01 - A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious

by Mary Wine

  “Yes, I recall the gates.”

  Just like the Jewish communities, the Illuminists lived with their own kind. The main difference was that the Illuminists actually had gates to keep outsiders away. The air smelled different, and she realized it smelled like the country. Fresh and lacking the stink so often present in the city.

  “Come inside, Janette. You need to keep out of sight. Now that others know of your abilities, someone will likely be looking for you.”

  A doorman held the door open, but he lacked the stiff formality of her father’s servants. He offered them a jovial grin and was dressed in a shirt that was clean but not an unpractical color like white; instead, it was a deep blue. His vest had four pockets, two at the waist and a second set at the breast. An Illuminist pin reflected the light shining from inside the house.

  “Glad to see you back, sir. Welcome, miss.”

  Janette found herself smiling back at him.

  “Miss Janette will require a room and some supper, Hector.”

  The manservant closed the door before nodding. “I’ll see to it, sir.”

  “I need you to answer some more questions, Janette.” Darius held a door open to what looked like a study. Lykos stood behind her.

  “You two act like constables.”

  “More like detectives, but your perception is accurate. Security and protection of the Order is our sworn duty. We are Guardians.” Lykos offered the explanation as he extended his arm toward the open study door. He was still slightly behind her, reminding her of the burly attendants who had shadowed her every step at the clinic, ever ready to strong arm her. The difference was the ring of dedication in Lykos’s voice. He and Darius had integrity, something the attendants had lacked. Besides, she wanted to be here.

  She stepped through the door, and the room began to brighten. The level of light was only a glow at first but increased until the room was comfortably lit. She heard the slightest amount of crystal rhythm when she concentrated; otherwise, it didn’t bother her.

  “The reaction between the crystals—that’s what powers everything.” She walked closer to one of the lamps and laid her hand on it. She could feel the current and turned to see the badges on the two men’s lapels lit.

  “The stronger crystal is in your badges, which completes the current.”

  Lykos looked at Darius again, but Darius didn’t notice because he was watching her. There was a gleam of appreciation in his eyes, which pleased her.

  She felt her lips twitch up and turned to hide her smile.

  “Do you know who told Dr. Nerval about your visit to the lecture?” Darius was back on his mission to discover what she knew. Janette turned to face him.

  “No. But he knew the crystal I touched was a level-four, and I recall Professor Yulric saying the same thing. He also had a cane with a carved crystal on the top of it. He handed it to me at my father’s house.”

  Both men weighed her words.

  “What is a Pure Spirit? Please don’t say I need to challenge your exam before you tell me. I believe we are past keeping me ignorant at this point.”

  “Possibly,” Darius said. “But for the moment, we need to discover why and how information is leaking.” He reached out and pulled on a thin tapestry sash hanging from the wall, ringing a bell somewhere in the kitchen.

  Janette fingered her skirt, feeling alone. Darius was focused on his duty to protect his Order, and she was nothing but the incident that had brought this current dilemma to light. Like a piece of evidence. That awful feeling of being nothing more than an object was creeping through her again.

  The world felt bigger, and her confidence, smaller. Things she had felt secure in that morning no longer gave her comfort. The door opened, and Hector appeared.

  “Hector will take you to the kitchen, Janette,” Darius said.

  The desire to remain twisted her insides, but she refused to allow her emotions to rule her now that she had escaped the clinic. Things were certainly improved, and she’d hold on to that knowledge.

  Clinging to Darius was bound to land her in a different sort of trouble altogether.

  “Thank you, gentlemen. I am grateful for your assistance tonight.”

  Polished and polite, her exit was everything her father would have approved of—except she wasn’t part of the world where such things mattered anymore. Still, part of her was humming with excitement because she’d managed to embark on an adventure, and this one didn’t live between the pages of a book.

  Of course, that meant the aches and pains would be real too. Along with the danger. But she was absorbed with the sense of anticipation warming her insides. In spite of the way the gag had bruised the corners of her mouth, she smiled.

  ***

  “I’d say Miss Janette just managed to make herself quite useful.”

  “Possibly, but at a great cost to herself.” Darius discovered his attention wandering away from the task before him. He should have felt irritated, but as the moments passed, his ire didn’t rise. No, only a desire to follow his guest into the kitchen to make sure she was seen to. Comforted was the more correct word, but it frustrated him to acknowledge the tender impulse.

  “Hector won’t appreciate your questioning his ability to run your house,” Lykos offered drily. “Run out to check on your guest, and he’ll likely overstarch your shirts.”

  Darius frowned. “The man works for me.”

  Lykos snorted. “You sound just like one of those society gentlemen. The servants work for you and all.”

  “Smart-arse.”

  His friend shrugged. “But you got my point.”

  “I did.” It left him with a major infraction to deal with and Janette neatly taken out of his immediate care.

  It shouldn’t bother him, yet it did, because all he wanted to do was finish what had started between them last night. There were suddenly no barriers between them. The control he’d labored so diligently to perfect was threatening to crumble. Janette could pass the exam; he felt it in his gut, which meant she would no longer be forbidden to him. It was the worst sort of temptation because he was having the devil’s time trying to think of another deterrent to seeking her out and kissing her.

  But duty called, one necessary to keep Janette safe. That truth was strong enough to keep him in the study.

  “Let’s find out all we can about Dr. Nerval and his clinic.”

  Lykos abandoned his playful attitude, becoming the partner Darius knew so well.

  ***

  For how late it was, Hector produced a meal that was quite pleasing. But once her belly was full, Janette was left with nothing to distract her from how rank she smelled. Terror and horror had sent perspiration to her skin and soaked her dress too many times. In spite of being dry now, she was as rumpled as a third-class passenger on a steamer.

  The bathroom the manservant showed her to fascinated her. The tub had a round, eight-inch fixture held above it by a pair of pipes. There were tiny holes all over the underside of the fixture.

  “Forgive me for being so forward, miss, but I believe you will find the washing tub quite nice. Use the knob to begin the water flowing. For hot water, raise the levers. The closer they come to the central pipe, the hotter the water. Be careful not to burn yourself.”

  The manservant closed the door, saving Janette from having him witness her astonishment.

  No one had running hot water.

  Some fortunate homes were becoming equipped with piped water—which was quite a nice convenience—but hot water was still added with a kettle.

  She leaned into the tub and peered at the controls. There was a four-fingered knob she recognized, but there were also two-inch-wide levers that closed around the pipe the cold water ran through up to the fixture with the holes in it. They were both down and sticking straight out with the cold-w
ater pipe in the center. They wouldn’t move until she turned on the cold water. She heard it traveling up the pipe, and then it sprayed down into the tub like a rain shower, the water falling out of all the holes in the strange fixture.

  She shivered because the water was icy cold, but even so, she was willing to suffer it to be clean. After struggling to get out of her dress, petticoat, and shoes, she approached the tub and stared at the twin levers. They moved easily enough, and as she pushed them up, they began to get closer to the pipe through which the cold water flowed.

  She heard the crystals. They grew louder as the two levers drew closer to each other. Sticking her fingers between them, she felt the current. It went right through the pipe, and a moment later the water falling down from the fixture lost its chill.

  So that was the secret. Some of the mystery lifted, allowing her to see the Illuminists for what they were—men of invention. The reaction between the crystals caused a current that might be used to heat water, which could then become steam. The carriage came to mind, and it was clear how the vehicle was powered. Even though she’d heard it discussed during the lecture, seeing it was far more impressive.

  No fire. No coal. Only crystals, which were harmless until brought together to create a reaction.

  Astounding.

  Every ache in her body was suddenly worth it for the knowledge. She stepped into the tub and smiled as warm water flowed down her body. Her father could disown her, and she’d miss him, but she would never regret learning. Somehow she’d convinced herself that sneaking science circulars was enough. It wasn’t. She needed more. There was a yearning inside her that was growing every day, and she wasn’t going to ignore it any longer. She frowned when she looked down at her wet chemise. Her father had insisted she bathe in the undergarment to keep her innocence untarnished.

  Keep her ignorant was more like it.

  She pulled the wet fabric over her head. For just a moment she felt wicked, but she dropped the chemise over the far edge of the tub and stepped back under the flowing water. Illuminists had no need for foolishness, and she was going to embrace their ways. Cleaning her body would certainly be more efficient without clothing on. It was logical. Still, she felt exposed but reached for the soap bar to begin bathing.

  Darius Lawley would just have to become accustomed to her being in his world, she decided, because she wasn’t going back to her father’s house.

  You might be the one regretting that…

  She tried to scoff at her thoughts but failed because there was no way to hide how much the man affected her and how quickly she responded. Would she become brazen now? Her father had always warned her that would happen if she didn’t fear his iron hand. He wasn’t the only one preaching damnation for young women who weren’t kept under close scrutiny.

  But would it be such a terrible fate? Darius’s face came to mind, and a tiny shiver rippled across her skin. Her memory produced a perfect recollection of the way he liked to cup her neck while kissing her, and her nipples hardened. Without corset or chemise to hide her breasts, she looked down and smiled at the way her body responded—to Darius.

  Wanton. Brazen. Maybe she was, but somehow she couldn’t accept that she’d fallen from grace. No shame nipped at her, only an urge to seek out the source of her fascination.

  ***

  There was no fire kindled in the bedroom she was shown to, but it was comfortably warm. In fact, there wasn’t really a hearth but some unfamiliar machine. With the lack of fire, the entire house smelled so much nicer. There weren’t smoke wisps lingering in the corners. She could definitely grow accustomed to the lack of coal dust.

  On one wall was a large box with a pipe that ended in what looked like a sound funnel for a phonograph player with a brass tank beneath it. On either side of the box were two levers, sticking straight out. These levers were larger, and when she raised them, there was a hiss as water boiled inside the tank. Several rows of a dozen short pistons began to move, white puffs of steam escaping from the sides of the device. She heard air being sucked in through a grate at the base of the pipe, and then warm air began blowing out of the funnel end. She laughed with glee as it hit her face and warmed her chilled nose.

  “You have an intelligent mind, Janette.”

  She turned to discover Darius watching her from the doorway. She was stunned but also noticed how breathless she felt. It was almost as if she’d stepped into a dream where it was perfectly permissible to be alone in a bedroom with a man who wasn’t her husband.

  “I knocked,” he said, “but you were distracted. Not that I blame you. I forget how many conveniences my home has compared to the one you were raised in.”

  The tone of his voice was just as heated as the air, and it sent a tingle of awareness through her body.

  “This is phenomenal. I could wash my hair every night without fear of catching a chill.”

  He watched her for a long moment. She could see regret shimmering there, and she raised her chin in defiance of his judgment.

  “It’s cost you a great deal to experience it. There isn’t any way to confirm how many know you’re a Pure Spirit now, Janette.”

  “Don’t use my name if your intention is to placate me.” She hugged her arms close, realizing she was holding a conversation with him in nothing but a chemise and dressing robe. “Or warn me.”

  “You’re past the stage of warning,” he admitted.

  “I’m sure you believe I’m in shock and too frightened to think clearly, but I assure you, I am not.” Her unbound hair was beginning to dry and float in a soft cloud, and she noticed his gaze on it.

  Did he like what he saw?

  Now she was thinking in an emotional way, one that promised to lead her into temptation.

  “Am I to stay here tonight?”

  The question was a desperate attempt to return to polite, safe conversation. She needed to forget she was alone with him and how many times she’d thought about his kiss since that moment in the garden.

  “Yes, you’re my responsibility for the time being. Unless you were going to demand I return you to your father.”

  Darius watched her with a measure of satisfaction. It was dark and touched off another ripple of sensation inside her. But there was also a clear challenge in his tone.

  She squared her shoulders. “I am very appreciative of your hospitality.”

  He frowned. “I told you before; I have little interest in polite ladies of society, so kindly spare me your attempts to coddle me.”

  The reprimand in his voice stung, irritating her because she was fed up with being found lacking.

  “So I should not be polite?” She shook her head slowly. “I don’t believe that is the case among Illuminists. You are attempting to prod me into acting as you expect me to. Something you’ve done before, why?”

  “What I think is you have arrived at a crossroads, and it is unsettling you. Rightfully so. But my world is one where you can be sure you’ll have to back up everything you say you are. Females do not make their way simply because they are women. You’ll be expected to make sense. Logical sense.”

  He abandoned his lazy stance in the doorway and closed the distance between them. There was such purpose in the way he moved that she retreated without thinking and ended up against the wall.

  Darius didn’t stop when she collided with the solid barrier but kept coming until he propped one of his hands on the smooth surface next to her face. She was fully aware of him, just as she had been the night before. Her senses felt keener, every detail impacting her more dramatically.

  He cupped her chin, raising her face so their gazes met.

  “You are a Pure Spirit, which means you could become one of us. But understand one thing: join my world, and I won’t consider you off-limits any longer. Show me that stubborn determination, and be assured I will happily test
your nerve. My polished manners are for business matters only.”

  “I see.”

  Something flickered in his eyes that sent a shaft of anticipation through her—some promise lurked there that was everything she’d ever wondered about but had been told was uncivilized.

  “No, you don’t, Janette. You understand nothing about my nature.”

  Her pride reared its head. “I understand you are more truthful than any gentleman caller my father approved of. They said pretty things while their eyes were full of the same things I see in yours.” And he was using her first name easily now, something that should have bothered her, yet it felt very right. “I believe I prefer your approach, Darius.”

  He chuckled, but it was a dark, sinister sound. “Such a statement will have to be verified.”

  He slid his fingers along her cheek, moving his hand to cup the side of her face as he angled his head to press his lips against hers. The kiss was just as intoxicating as the first had been. Only now she wasn’t so sure she wanted to resist. She craved his strength and the knowledge that he wasn’t forbidden to have unleashed something wild inside her. He took command of her mouth, moving her face so their mouths fit together. She didn’t let him do all the moving this time but tried to mimic his motions. She flattened her hands on his chest, spreading her fingers to feel more. There were ridges of muscle beneath his vest and shirt. She could feel the warmth of his skin and smell his scent as her breathing became rougher.

  “Damn it, Janette.” He pulled away from her, his breathing as unsteady as hers. “You shouldn’t kiss me back.”

  Her eyes widened. “But you can test my nerve by kissing me? That isn’t fair.”

  “Fair?” He laughed, low and full of warning. “What makes you think there is anything fair about the position you find yourself in?”

  “You’re making fun of me…again.” She shoved hard at his chest, but his hand slid back into her hair. He threaded his fingers through the half-dried mass and gripped it to hold her head prisoner.