I stopped imagining Octavia flat on her back, writhing beneath me, urging me on in that husky, breathy voice she had, and smiled. “Because you’re a very intelligent woman, that’s why. Have I mentioned that I think smart is sexy?”

She blushed, just as I knew she would, closing the door to her cabin in a pretty confusion that never failed to delight me. “I can’t imagine anyone would find ignorance attractive, so it makes sense that the opposite must be true.”

“You don’t like being complimented, do you? It’s something I’ve noticed about you, Tavy. Usually feelings of inferiority accompany that sort of mentality, but I don’t think you feel that way.”

“Then you would be wrong,” she said with a primness that, again, delighted me. “I feel less than secure on a number of issues. This engaging in sexual acts while standing is one example. I wish I had a pamphlet on it, Jack. I wish I could see some diagrams about where one’s hands go, and how one’s legs are to be dealt with.”

She was a mystery, my Octavia was, a woman who was both strong and yielding, sophisticated and yet naive. She had the manner of a prude, but once her passion was stirred, she was a wildcat, demanding more and more until I thought my eyes were going to roll back in my head and I’d just flat-out die of sexual gratification. She was a conundrum, a puzzle, and I loved every interesting facet to her intriguing personality.

And that was what worried me. “I’m no Alan Alda, you know,” I said as she moved over to a large brass-bound trunk and began taking off her clothes. “I don’t like quiche. I get bored at Jane Austen movies, and I’d rather have my ball hair plucked out than sit around discussing what I feel at any given moment.”

She paused in the act of pulling off her shirt, surprise and confusion written on her adorable face. “I beg your pardon?”

I sat up, swinging my legs over the side of her bed. I was, naturally, naked, and even though I felt it was important to make a few points, I couldn’t help but be pleased by the way in which her gaze lingered on me. “I try to be sensitive to a woman’s wants and needs, of course. I’m not a selfish pig, after all. I want to give you as much pleasure as you give me. But that’s just sex, and what we’re talking about here isn’t sex.”

Her expression was confused. “It isn’t?”

“No. You need help?” I got to my feet and moved behind her, peeling off her shirt and tossing it onto the chest, quickly loosening the corset strings as she’d shown me a few days ago, bringing my hands around to caress her tits before undoing the hooked part of the corset front. I moaned into her hair as she filled my hands, so warm and soft and mouthwateringly wonderful. “Oh, God, I’m never going to get enough of this, am I?”

“No,” she said on a long breath, leaning back against me, her hands covering mine as I kneaded the soft globes. “No, you never will.”

I breathed in the scent of her, something that held a faint hint of honeysuckle, but was mostly a pure, womanly smell that had my balls tightening with pleasure. “I’ve been in love before, Tavy. I don’t want you to think I haven’t, because I have.”

“Have you?” She shivered as I sucked on the spot behind her ear that always made her knees buckle. I loved her knees.

“Yes. I always hoped it would last, but it never did. I think it’s something to do with me, the way I work or the way I process emotions. I don’t blame the women—they gave it their best shot. I think it’s me.”

“Yes, yes, it’s definitely you,” she said, her voice becoming increasingly ragged as I slid my hands down, peeling off first the thin gauzy chemise she wore beneath the corset, then working the buttons on her skirt until I could slide it over her hips. It settled on the floor around her feet with a sigh that I echoed. “About this standing up—”

“This is important, Tavy,” I said, unbuttoning her petticoat to the long underwear she wore beneath the skirts, pushing them, too, down over her hips until she stood naked except for a pair of knee-high silk stockings, held up by a pair of garters. I turned her around, curling my fingers down around the plump lines of her ass, parting her legs until I could feel the heat of her, heat that glowed only for me.

“What is?” She was having problems speaking, her breath coming in short spurts as I dipped my fingers inside, teasing her soft flesh. “Merciful heavens, Jack! Do that again!”

A sense of possession shook me for a moment, the knowledge that this woman was mine, and mine alone. I rubbed my thumb in the circular manner she found so pleasing, feeling her passion clear down to my bones as she writhed and panted soft little breaths that made me as hard as a rock.

“It’s important that you realize that what we have probably won’t last. It never has before, and although you’re different, Tavy, completely and utterly different from any woman I’ve been in love with before, it never lasts. There’ll come a time when we both will be ready to move on. I don’t want you hurt when that happens.”

She quivered in my arms, her fingernails digging into the flesh on my shoulders, as I pleasured her. But a few seconds after I delivered my warning, her eyes snapped open. She stopped quivering. In fact, she downright glared at me, as if I’d done something to piss her off.

Before I could explain again that I was just trying to keep her from being hurt when the inevitable happened, she let go of my left shoulder, made a fist, and punched me as hard as she could in my gut.

“Hey!” I said, releasing her to rub my abused belly. “What the hell was that for?”

Her glare was truly monumental now. “I think I agree with you, Jack.”

Surprise felt somewhat hollow in my stomach. I rubbed it again, wondering if it was just because she’d hit me there that acknowledgment of the rightness of what I said felt so cold and clammy. “About us having no permanent future?”

“About it being more enjoyable to have your testicular hair plucked out than indulge in a discussion of your feelings.” Her fingers twitched, as if she wanted to start the plucking immediately.

I took a prudent step back. “I’m just trying to think of you. I’m trying to be sensitive and caring.”

“By telling me that the time will come when you will tire of me and look for another woman?”

I was lucky there wasn’t a large, heavy object within her reach at that moment, because I think she would have brained me with it if there had been. Clearly, she misunderstood how thoughtful I was being. “No, by telling you that I love you. It’s not easy for a man to say that, Tavy, or at least it’s not easy for me. But I do love you, and I know you want to hear that. I just don’t want you to think that it’s going to be a forever sort of thing, because based on my past history, it doesn’t last.”

She stopped looking like she wanted to kill me, a thoughtful expression settling across her face. Her lips softened as she considered me. “You love me?”

“Yes. I just said that.” I waited, but she didn’t reciprocate. “Er . . . did I mention how hard it is for me to say that?”

“Yes,” she said, continuing to look thoughtful. She moved over to the bed and sat, removing first her shoes, then her stockings.

“I don’t want to hurry you or anything, but now would be a good time for you to tell me you feel the same way, and then we can get on to the sex part of the evening,” I said, a little surprised that she hadn’t taken the hint. Normally she was so quick.

Her eyebrows rose. “You wish for me to tell you what?”

“That you . . . er . . . love me, too.” I suddenly felt vulnerable and winded, as if I’d been playing a game of dodgeball and someone knocked me backward with a ball to the gut. I didn’t like the feeling at all, but I couldn’t very well tell her that after I’d just explained that I didn’t want to talk about my emotions. “You do, don’t you?” I couldn’t help but ask, clearing my throat when the words came out unsure.

She was back to looking thoughtful. She rose and strolled over to me, her hips swaying in a way that sent a warm glow through the cold pit that was my stomach. There was something about the curve of her hips that drove me wild, something about that long, sinuous line that started at her rib cage, swept inward to her waist, then flared out in a curve that begged my hands to trace it. I wanted to simultaneously touch, taste, and bite her, marking her as mine, claiming everything that she had for me and me alone.

“I’m very fond of you, naturally, Jack. I should not have gone to bed with you if I had not been fond of you. Very fond. But if you are so determined that our relationship not be anything but the most fleeting of moments, then it seems to me that it would be the purest folly for me to indulge my emotions in anything but such a fondness, and an appreciation for the time we have together. Don’t you agree?”

The dodgeball hit me dead in the gut again. “No, I don’t agree. I think if one person loves someone, then that person should love the other person back.”

Her eyebrows rose again, damn them. “But there is no sense in that at all. Your way, both of us will suffer heartache when the time comes that we part. If I remain just fond of you, then only you will be heartbroken, and surely that has to be better than both of us suffering?”

Suddenly, I hated her cool, calm intellect. “The least you could do is love me back, Octavia. I just bared my soul to you! Do you have any idea how hard that is for a man?”

“Quite difficult, I’m sure,” she said, placing a hand on my chest. I was distracted for a moment by the feeling of her stroking the line of my pectoral muscle. “And I can understand your ire. I tell you what—every time you tell me that you love me, I will reciprocate. Does that sound fair?”

Relief filled my still-clammy-feeling belly. “Very fair.” I slid my arms around her, pulling her soft, warm, lush body against mine, bending my head until my lips steamed against hers. “I love you, Octavia.”

“And I fond you, Jack,” she murmured back.

It took a few seconds for the word to sink through the lust-induced haze that always seemed to grip me when I was around her. I reared back, scowling down at her.

Her brown eyes regarded me with frank amusement.

“You fond me?”

“I realize it’s not a verb, but I felt that under the circumstances we can be a bit free with the rules of linguistic syntax.”

At that moment, I knew fury as no man had ever known it. “By God, I am going to make you pay for that, woman.”

“Oh really?” Her head tipped to the side. “How?”

I grabbed her shoulders and hauled her up to me, kissing her fast and hard and not even letting her respond. I whipped my tongue into her mouth, sucked hers, and then released her just as she began to moan. “I’m going to make you love me! You’re going to love me so much that you’re going to want to die from it!”

She giggled at the words rather than looking horrified, as she ought. I had a nagging suspicion I was making a fool of myself, but at that moment, I didn’t care. I was filled with a righteous purpose, a holy grail that I would pursue to the end of time—she would love me as much as I loved her, or I would die trying.

“I see. And just how do you expect to make me love you?”

“Sex,” I snarled, grabbing her breast, immediately gentling the touch so I wouldn’t hurt her. “Lots and lots of sex. So much sex, you won’t be able to walk straight for a month of Sundays.”

“There is more to love than just sexual compatibility,” she pointed out with that annoying rationality that normally I adored, but just at the moment was as irritating as sandpaper on diaper rash.

“Do not mock my holy vow,” I said, spinning her around so she was against the wall of the cabin. I pressed myself against her, my body reveling in the feeling of her curves so soft and warm against me.

“Oh, it’s a holy vow,” she said, and I swear there was a giggle in her voice, although her face was almost without expression. “I see.”

“You don’t yet, but you will,” I promised, and had another go at her mouth. This time she managed to get her tongue back in time to twine it around mine, her hands moving down my back to my hips.

“Jack, there is something I read in the pamphlet, something that was mentioned as being particularly enjoyable to some gentlemen. I don’t see it, myself, but I am prepared to try if it would bring you pleasure.” Her voice was deep with arousal now, just the way I liked it.

I rubbed my hips against her, catching my dick between her thighs. I almost lost it all right then and there. “What is involved in it?” I managed to gasp out as her hands slid lower, to my butt.

“Evidently there is a very sensitive spot that I can reach by inserting my—”

I covered her mouth with my hand, shaking my head as her eyes widened. “Any suggestion that involves the word ‘inserting’ with reference to me is not going to float my boat.”

She relaxed, and flexed her fingers on my ass. “I didn’t think it sounded very enjoyable, but I am not a man, and thought that perhaps it was different for you.”

“Some men, yes. Not for me. I’m a traditionalist where that is concerned. And now, my fair little captain, are you ready to be plundered? Because I don’t think I’m going to be able to take much more of you wiggling like that.”

She wiggled again, the impudent hussy. “I am quite ready. I have been since the moment I came into the cabin and found you stretched out on the bed naked. Jack, do you really love me?”

“With all my heart,” I murmured into her neck, wrapping my hands around the backs of her thighs, and hoisting her upward. She locked her legs around my hips, her arms around my neck as I nibbled a path along her collarbone. I paused and gave her a look. “At least so long as it lasts.”

She bit me on the shoulder. Hard.

I dipped my fingers inside her, found her more than ready, and, without any sort of warning, thrust deep into her.

Her back arched against the wall, her eyes wide, as her legs flexed on me. “Mercy! You’re so deep within me! I ... I ...”

I couldn’t talk, couldn’t tell her how she felt to me, couldn’t even think. I just kissed her long and hard, our bodies moving against each other in a rhythm that had no beginning or end. It just was, and I gloried in every single moment of it. By the time she was yelling her pleasure into my mouth, I was ready to promise her the sun and moon if only she would swear to stay with me forever.

“I love you, you insanely wonderful woman,” I gasped as my brain started working again. We clung together, her legs still around my hips, the heat of her still holding me tight, my legs shaking with the intensity of the moment. “I love you more than anything else in the world.”

“Oh, Jack.” Her eyes were misty with the strength of her orgasm, her breath hot on my mouth. “I shouldn’t say this after you were so beastly, but I—”

“Captain Pye? My arms seem to be tied down. Do you know what’s happened to me?”

The door next to us opened and the naked figure of a man staggered in, still bound by Octavia’s corset.

Joy filled me at the words she’d almost spoken. “You shouldn’t say what, my love?”

“I . . .” She looked from me to the chief officer, who stared at us in horror. I let her slide down me until her feet were on the floor, while I shielded her with my body.

“Gark!” the chief officer said, swaying and toppling over onto the floor.

“Mr. Christian?”

“What was it you were going to say?” I demanded, shaking her gently so she would stop staring at the unconscious man and get back to admitting she loved me.

“I think he fainted,” she said, peering around me. “How very peculiar.”

“Octavia.”

“Hmm?” She was all innocence when I grabbed her chin and turned her head toward me.

“What was it you shouldn’t say, but were about to when that idiot burst in on us?”

She blinked for a couple of seconds, then kissed the tip of my nose. “I was going to say that I’m not just fond of you, Jack. I’m also very fond of that new position.”

I growled. Women!

I bit back the smile that seemed to be arising more and more often when I was around Jack. It wasn’t easy keeping a placid countenance around him when he was in full possession of what he thought of as his wholly righteous ire, but the man had brought this upon himself. The nerve of him telling me in one breath that he loved me, and the next that he fully expected it wouldn’t last.

“I hadn’t planned on saying that at this exact moment, but if you feel the need to hear it—”

He made a sharp movement with his hand. “Thanks, I think I’ll pass. What did you need?”

Determined though I was to make him see the error of his ways, I couldn’t resist pushing back that lock of hair that insisted on falling over his brow. For a moment, I considered weakening and admitting that my feelings for him had grown, as well, giving him the reassurance that my heart was wholly his, but for such an intelligent man, he could exhibit some profound stupidity. If he hadn’t guessed that I was madly in love with him by the time we rescued his sister and were all safe in London, then I would admit the same. But until then, he could simmer in the stew of his own making. “I seek advice regarding Mr. Mowen.”

“Matthew giving you trouble? I thought of all your crew, he was the one you were worried least about.” He sat back on his heels and wiped his hands on a repulsive rag splotched black with grease.

“He is. Or rather, he’s not. Everyone has been fine since we left Rome—they believed that I was called back to England suddenly, and no one questioned our hasty departure thanks to the royal wedding in two days’ time.”

“Is he giving you grief about me? I thought your crew bought the story about us meeting up in Rome by chance.”

“No, it has nothing to do with you.”

“Good, because one raving lunatic on board determined to kill me and take my place in your bed is enough.” He grinned.

“I have spoken most firmly to Mr. Francisco,” I informed him, momentarily diverted from my purpose. “He knows now that I will confine him to his quarters if he tries sneaking into my cabin again in order to stab you. I expressed myself in no gentle terms about that matter, you may rest assured!”

He took my chin in his hand and kissed me, very swiftly, but it was enough to send heat flashing through me. “And you, my adorable one, may rest assured that I also had words with him, and warned him that if he wanted to ever have children, he’d best leave us alone.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “You are such a terribly bloodthirsty man for a Quaker.”

“I told you before—being a Friend doesn’t mean I’m a pushover. I am quite capable of defending what’s mine.” He knelt and made a small adjustment to the bearing before returning to his feet.

“Would you prefer that I object to being considered as a possession now, or later?” I inquired politely.

He laughed. “I thought you’d like that. It wouldn’t be good for your spleen to hold it in, so go ahead, tell me you’re not mine.”

“Damn you,” I grumbled, wrapping my arms around his waist and reveling in the warmth and hard strength of him against me. “You know full well I’m yours body and soul.”

“And heart?” he asked, something serious behind the laughter in his eyes.

“You know that I’m very fon—”

He stopped me with his mouth, growling even as he kissed me. “Dammit, Tavy, it’s only fair that we should suffer together.”

“Perhaps I prefer that we should enjoy life together, instead,” I said lightly.

He set me away from himself, gathering up the handful of tools on the floor and returning them to a small wooden box that Mr. Mowen was seldom without. “Be that way. What was it you wanted my help with if it’s not someone pestering you?”

“It’s the plan for today,” I said, watching as he tidied up. I frowned as I mentally ran over the note Alan had sent me the morning we left Rome. “I’m not easy in my mind what we’ll tell Mr. Mowen. He knows something is up.”

“Yes, he does.” Jack rubbed his nose, leaving a black smear of grease on it. “Matt’s no fool. You think he’ll hinder us when we see the Aurora?”

“I don’t know. He’s been with the Corps for a very long time. The others will be no problem—we will simply lock them into the mess as we planned, thus keeping them from any charges of complacency when we attack the Aurora. But we will need Mr. Mowen’s assistance in order to be successful, and I fear he might not feel the excuse of your sister is enough motivation to assist. I will naturally reassure him that we will swear that he had no part in the attack, but he is the sort of man who would not be easy in his mind about lying.”

Jack rubbed his chin. I tsked, and pulled out a handkerchief, unable to stand him spreading any more grease marks. I cleaned off the side of his nose and his chin, pressing a kiss to the latter.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about. He seems a reasonable enough man. Once he understands that Hallie will be executed if we don’t save her, he will help us. I’m sure of that.”

“I wish I was so confident,” I said, sighing as I consulted my pocket watch. “Two hours to go.”

“You’re sure the Aurora is following?”

“Alan said it was scheduled to leave after us, and we are unladen, and thus faster. It could not have passed us, and according to my calculations, we should find her before we pass over Angers.”

“I still say we should have attacked right out of Rome.” Jack shook his head. “Rather than waiting until we’re right at the English Channel.”

“It just wouldn’t be prudent. The king of Italy has ships leaving Rome to travel to London, as well. They take a slightly different flight path to England than imperial ships, and now that we are two days out, our paths have separated. Should the Aurora call for assistance, there will be no one to aid them. I know you hate the delay, but it is far better to catch the transport ship by surprise when she least expects it. That element of surprise is going to have to carry us far.”

“It still seems like waiting until the last minute. And speaking of your friend, where is your precious Alan? I thought the plan was for him to come with us and help,” Jack grumbled as he took my hand, leading me from the boiler room, his fingers warm on mine.

I was silent, uncomfortable when it came to that subject. I wanted badly to tell Jack what Alan had said in his letter to me, but there were secrets that were not mine to divulge. Still, it left me feeling dishonest, and I struggled with my need to speak frankly to Jack, and the knowledge that I held Alan’s life in my hands.

“He was so gung ho about the whole idea of attacking the Aurora, you’d think he’d want to be here for it,” Jack continued.

I felt lower than a slug’s belly. “He sent me a note saying he was asked by the king to travel with his entourage. His hands are tied, although he did promise to do whatever he could to help,” I said with a lameness that made me wince.

Jack shrugged. “Fat lot of good he can do us if his ship isn’t even nearby. Aw, sweetheart, that’s such a long face. I’m sorry. I won’t pick on him anymore if it’s going to make you uncomfortable. As penance, I’ll help you talk to Mowen, OK?”

I bit my lip, not wanting to say anything that would condemn either myself or Alan. Luckily, Jack was distracted by the sight of Mr. Francisco looming in the passageway, and didn’t bother to press me for reassurances that I badly wanted to avoid.

Our conversation with Mr. Mowen a short while later was eye-opening. Jack quickly explained the circumstances of Hallie’s incarceration, and the travesty of a trial that had been held in Rome. To my surprise, Mr. Mowen simply nodded.

“You’ll be wanting to take the lass off the ship in flight, then?”

“Yes,” I said. “I realize this is asking you to go against everything you believe in, every moral value held dear by the Aerocorps, but it is literally a matter of life or death. We cannot do this without you. Naturally, we will arrange it to appear that you were an unwilling participant in the event, so that your career will not suffer for your kindness.”

Mr. Mowen gave me a lopsided smile. “I’ve been thinking of retiring soon anyway. Perhaps this will be the event that pushes me down that path.”

“Thanks, Matt,” Jack said, clapping him on the shoulder while tossing me a triumphant “told you so” grin. “I knew we could count on you. Octavia is going to handle positioning the ship for the attack. If you can deal with making sure she has the power she needs, that’ll let us handle subduing the crew of the Aurora once we’re in place.”

Mr. Mowen gave Jack a curious look. “What will happen to the other prisoners on the ship if you kill the crew?”

I made a face while Jack laughed.

“If you only knew how bloodthirsty your captain is,” he said, grinning at me.

“I am not bloodthirsty. It was a natural assumption on my part to assume that when you decreed we would become airship pirates, we would use force to overpower the crew of the Aurora. I hardly see how that makes me some sort of a monster crying out for innocent people’s blood!”

Mr. Mowen gave me a very long look.

“Tavy and I had a bit of an argument over what to do with the crew,” Jack explained.

“It was not an argument. I never once said, ‘Let’s go in with our Disruptors blazing and take out everyone we possibly can!’ I simply assumed that you would wish to use Disruptors on one or two crew members or guards in order to show the rest that we were serious.”

“That does seem reasonable,” Mr. Mowen said.

“Thank you. I’m glad someone understands,” I said with much dignity.

“It’s a bit sadistic to make examples of the poor innocents, but more reasonable than slaughtering the entire crew and leaving the other prisoners to die on an unmanned ship,” he added.

I sighed.

“So after I took a firm stand with Tavy and told her no, she couldn’t turn into a steampunk version of Black-beard, she demanded to know just how we were going to get Hallie free if she couldn’t bathe the decks in blood.”

“Bathe the decks in blood!” I gasped, outraged.

“To which I had four words for her. And those words are what, sweetheart?”

I ground my teeth for a moment at Jack’s teasing, finally managing to get out, “Better living through chemistry.”

“That’s right.” He nodded and beamed at Mr. Mowen, who just looked confused.

“Chemistry? You’re going to bomb the ship?”

“Nope. In Tavy’s cabin, hidden away in a nice little box, we have several syringes prefilled with the best, strongest, most potent form of liquid knockout drops money could buy in Rome.”

Mr. Mowen looked even more confused.

“It’s a sedative,” I explained. “Jack wanted to make some sort of tapir, but wasn’t sure how to do so.”

“Taser.”

“So instead, he suggested that we simply drug people on the ship, remove his sister and the other five prisoners, and fly away without anyone coming to harm. By the time the crew of the Aurora comes to, we will be far away and they will not be able to catch us.”

“Neat trick, huh?” Jack asked, looking inordinately proud of himself.

I gave him a little smile. I was rather proud of his ingenuity, too.

“Very neat. But won’t that take a bit of time, drugging all those people?”

“Not really.” I looked at Jack. He nodded for me to continue. “The Aurora is running with just a skeleton crew. The only people they are transporting are half a dozen prisoners. There are no other troops on board, and only enough crew as is needed to fly the ship. We’ll be able to take them out quite quickly, I believe.”

“Aye, that would help things along. You’d be well met to take along a Disruptor or two just in case your sedative doesn’t work.”

Jack protested that his plan couldn’t fail, but Mr. Mowen waited until he had left to gather up the syringes to press his Disruptor on me.

“Give it to your man. Just in case.”

I took it with a murmur of thanks. “You’re not at all surprised by any of this, are you?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Not by Jack being here, or the need to rescue his sister, or my decision to do so.”

“Not really, no,” he said with a slow smile.

“I fear you must be disappointed in how things turned out, that I will never be the captain of whom you had such high hopes.”

He shook his head. “On the contrary—it would have been my pleasure to serve under a captain who thought more of others than herself. I knew your guardian, you know.”

“You knew Robert?” I was frankly surprised. Robert Anstruther was such a man that those who knew him were usually quick to identify themselves.

“Aye. I sailed with him briefly during the war with the Americas. I was a gunner’s mate then, but I knew him to be a fair man, a just man who thought the world of his crew, and we him. I remember one day, when we were in port and about to set off for the east coast of America, he came on board with a little girl who had the reddest hair I’d ever seen. She was a solemn little mite, but curious, and when I twisted a bit of packing cotton used to cushion the aether tubes into a doll, she smiled at me. It was like a ray of sunshine piercing my heart. Captain Anstruther was very pleased, for he told me later the little girl hadn’t smiled up to that time.”

“I don’t remember that at all,” I said sadly, searching my memory for anything about that time. “It must have been when I was very young.”

“Aye, you were, just a sprite of about ten. I knew that you’d be fine with him, and so you have been. He’d be proud of you now, Captain.”

I blinked back a few tears that stung my eyes. “Thank you. I’d like to think he would.”

“ ’Tis a shame he is no longer around. I think he’d like your choice of men, as well.”

His tone was even, but there was a note in it that made me look sharply at him. I couldn’t tell if he was simply making a slight dig at the men of my past, of whom Robert had most definitely not approved, or if he was implying something else, something far more sinister. “Indeed. Do you have any questions about the plans?”

“None. I’ll be on duty in the rear boiler room at the appointed time. You just give me the word, and I’ll open the boilers wide up.”

“Thank you. I believe what Jack calls a speedy get-away will be most propitious.”

Slightly less than three hours later, I entered the mess and smiled at everyone present. “Good afternoon. Thank you all for answering the summons of this impromptu crew meeting. Mr. Llama alone is missing, I see.”

“And Mr. Mowen,” Dooley said, jumping up from his chair at the long table. “I’ll fetch him.”

“Stay where you are, Dooley. Mr. Mowen is excused from this meeting.” I felt rather than heard a presence behind me. Without turning around to look, I added, “Ah, Mr. Llama, how nice of you to join us. Won’t you sit down?”

He gave me an odd look as he sidled past me, gliding his way over to stand in a far corner.

“No doubt you are all very curious as to what this meeting is about,” I said, looking from one face to another. “Jack?”

“Right here.” The far door, the one leading to the galley, opened, and Jack stood there.

Mr. Francisco forcibly shoved back his chair and leaped to his feet, scattering Spanish curses as he did so.

“I’m afraid we’re taking a little detour. It shouldn’t take long,” I said over the cursing. “But you all are going to have to stay here while we do so. I have placed a case of ale under the table—you’re free to enjoy that until we are back on course.”

I nodded to Jack, and before any of the crew could protest, ask a question, or charge the door, I slipped out it, locking it from the outside. Jack, I knew, would do the same to the galley door.

“Do you have everything?” I asked him as he met me on the upper level.

“Think so. Syringes, set of skeleton keys, goggles . . . yup. Got everything.”

“Goggles? What are those for?” I asked as I ran up the spiral stairs to the navigation room.

“You can’t be a proper airship pirate without goggles, Tavy. Everyone knows that. Here, I got a pair for you.”

“You are the strangest man I’ve ever met,” I said, taking the goggles. “I shan’t wear them, you know.”

“We’ll see,” he said, donning his pair and grinning at me.

“For mercy’s sake . . . Jack.” I bit my lower lip, holding his arm as he was about to leave. “I know how you feel about weapons, but please take this. Just in case you need it.”

He looked down at the Disruptor that Mr. Mowen had given me, his eyes hidden behind the dark green glass of the hideous brass-and-leather goggles. “I don’t need a gun, Tavy.”

“I know you don’t, but if something untoward happens, it would make me feel better to know you had it.”

He pushed the goggles back onto his forehead, his eyes considering me with something that looked very much like sorrow. “Do you expect me to use it?”

I looked down at my hands for a moment. What he was really asking me was whether I wanted him to use it, whether I wished for him to violate his moral beliefs. “I believe that the sight of it will dissuade people without you having to use it.”

“That’s not what I asked, sweetheart.”

“I know.” I took his hand and rubbed his knuckles against my cheek. “But it is the best answer I can give you, Jack. Take it. Keep it prominently visible so the crew of the Aurora sees you have it. That’s all I ask.”

The pain in his eyes was deep, but it was nothing compared with the pain I felt at the thought of losing him. He nodded and tucked the Disruptor into the pocket of his Corps jacket. “I won’t need it, Tavy. Our plan is foolproof.”

“I pray that’s so.” I released his hand, and would have turned to the autonavigator, to begin our swing around to intercept the Aurora, but Jack’s hand on my arm stopped me.

“There’s only one woman in the world—in any world—I would carry a firearm for,” he said, pulling me into a hard embrace. “Now give me a kiss for luck, pirate Octavia.”

His lips were demanding, but I was of no mind to take issue with that. I put every ounce of love I had into the answering kiss, smiling when he pulled the goggles into place, made a dashing salute, and hurried out of the room to take up his position on the forward deck.

I had qualms about calling any plan foolproof, having had ample example during my lifetime to see how even the best of plans could go astray, but luck was with us. The Aurora was an hour behind where I had calculated she would be, but she did eventually show up, and upon seeing the signal lights that Jack was waving from the forward deck, she slowed as I knew she would.

By the time Jack was using semaphore to indicate we were in distress, the Aurora had stopped her engines, and two crewmen were on their promenade deck with grappling hooks. I waited until we were within hailing distance, then appeared on our forward deck, assisting Jack as the Aurora’s hooks were thrown across to us and we were reeled in.

“Our boilers are down,” I called across in answer to a question about the nature of our emergency. “I believe it is sabotage by the Black Hand.”

A man appeared, pulling on the scarlet jacket bearing the insignia of a ship’s captain. “What’s going on here?”

“If you would allow us to board, I will be happy to explain,” I called across to him. The ships were not able to pull close together because of the size of the envelopes, but one of the grappling hooks carried with it a heavy line, which Jack secured to a ring bolted into the Tesla’s frame.

“Come across, then,” the captain said, holding a finger up to the air. “You’ll have a bit of a rocky ride, but you should be safe enough.”

“You’re sure this is not going to come loose?” Jack murmured as one of the Aurora crewmen attached a pulley to the line that tethered us, and hooked a basket underneath it. “It doesn’t look very sturdy.”

“It’s the only way to get across. I’ve done it before, and had no problems. Just don’t look down,” I advised as I reached out to receive the basket. “I’ll go first. Use the pulley to move across to the Aurora. The wind will buffet you a little, but if you brace your legs in the bottom of the basket, you’ll be fine.”

Jack didn’t look like he believed me, but he had no other choice. By the time I knelt in the basket, hauling myself across the gap between the two airships, he had evidently steeled his nerve, for he did not hesitate at all when the basket was sent back to him.

“Captain Octavia Pye,” I said, greeting the Aurora ’s captain. “That is Mr. Fletcher, my chief officer. If you have a moment, we’d like to consult with your engineer.”

Jack arrived on the deck of the Aurora, his color high, but in one piece.

“Captain Armand. We don’t have time for dillydallying, Captain Pye. We’re on a very tight schedule to reach England, and although I would normally take the time to help you, I’m afraid the best we can do is to spare you a half hour.”

I smiled, and put my hand in my coat pocket, sliding off the hard lump of wax from the tip of a syringe. “I believe that will be ample time.”

The captain and the first of the two crewmen stared at us in surprise when we leaped at them and jabbed them with syringes.

“What the devil—,” the captain started to say before his eyes rolled back and he slumped to the floor.

The second crewman on the deck shouted and reached for his Disruptor, but Jack knocked it out of his hand, quickly disabling him with another syringe of sedative.

“This is quite a bit more potent than I imagined,” I said as we hurried into the interior of the airship. “I had no idea it would work so fast.”

“I told you—better living through chemistry. Which way?”

“Down,” I said, pointing to a spiral staircase. “The containment cells are bound to be at the bot—”

An explosion rocked the ship. I grabbed at the metal handrail, slipping down a couple of steps, Jack falling heavily into me.

“What the hell was that?” he demanded to know, righting me. “Are you OK?”

“I’m fine, but I think we’d better hurry up and get Hallie.”

Another blast shook the ship. “Damnation,” I swore under my breath as I tumbled down a couple more steps, the hard iron railing burning my hands as I clutched it frantically to keep from falling farther.

“You get Hallie,” Jack ordered, hauling me to my feet before turning and starting up the stairs. “I’ll go see what’s going on.”

“No, Jack, it’s too dangerous,” I yelled, aware of a wetness on my hip. Jack ignored me, bolting to the top of the stairs and disappearing down a catwalk that stretched behind the nearest envelope. “Ratsbane! Jack! My syringes are broken!”

A third blast hit, this time accompanied by the hissing sound that indicated one of the envelopes had been breached. The ship listed to the fore, forcing me to cling to the railing in order to keep from falling. A distant, more muffled explosion sounded, and I knew with a horrible prescience that someone had fired on the Tesla.

I swore under my breath as I half ran, half slid down the stairs. Two more crewmen raced past me, none of them giving me a second look. “I’m from the Tesla,” I yelled after one of them. “What’s happening?”

“Who’re you?” he asked as he bolted for the stairs, pausing long enough for me to answer.

“Captain Pye, from the Tesla.”

“Well, Captain Pye, we’re in the middle of a Moghul attack. Bronson! Get the prisoners out and bring them aloft! They can man the cannons with us. Your ship’s being fired on, as well, Captain Pye. I’d advise you to see to her and leave us to defend ourselves.”

Two more muffled explosions had my stomach clenching in fear. I stood indecisive for a moment, torn between trying to rescue Hallie and saving my crew. If the prisoners were being forced to man the cannons with the crew, I would never get her free. Not without more sedatives.

I hauled myself up the stairs, calling for Jack.

“Here! Tavy, they’re shooting the Tesla. Did you get Hallie?”

He pulled me up the last few stairs, looking expectantly beyond me.

“No, I couldn’t. They’re using the prisoners to man their aether cannons. Jack, we have to get across now, while we can, or we’ll be stuck on the Aurora. And the Tesla will go down.”

“I’m not leaving without Hallie,” he said grimly, trying to push past me to the stairs.

“We can’t get to her! The first blast broke my syringes, and you don’t have enough left to disable the remaining crew.”

Another explosion sounded. I grabbed Jack’s arm and dragged him toward the door. “Jack, we have to go now!”

“But Hallie!”

“This ship is well armed, and the Moghuls appear to be targeting the Tesla now. Hallie will be fine. We’ll just have to rescue her at a later time.”

Jack hesitated, pain lacing his face, but in the end he saw reason and jerked open the door, taking me with him as we slid down the tilted deck to where the basket waited.

The Tesla was listing heavily to the port side, toward us, causing the rope that tethered the two ships to hang slack. I pulled it tight while Jack held out the basket for me.

“Get in,” he ordered.

“There’s no time for two trips,” I said, stepping into the basket. “We’ll have to go together.”

“Will it hold us?”

“It should.” A flame appeared briefly in the forward-most envelope. I grabbed Jack by his coat and hauled him into the basket, kneeling beside him as he fed out the line that pulled us across.

I fervently hope I never again have to make such a journey as the one from the Aurora to the Tesla. Both ships continued to tilt, the Tesla starting to roll over on her side. Blasts of aether from the Aurora’s cannons split the air, sending the basket rolling. Jack yelled something as I clutched the side of the basket with one hand, and him with the other, praying fervently all the while that the line hold just long enough to deposit us on the deck of the Tesla.

It did, of course. It even held a good two minutes after we got there, but once Jack and I had managed to get inside the ship, release the crew, and order a very shaken Mr. Mowen to open up the boilers, the Tesla was beginning to show the effect of taking several broadside blasts of Moghul aether cannons.

“Mr. Christian, set a new course twenty-five degrees to the north. Jack, can you help Mr. Mowen with the boilers? We’ll need maximum speed immediately. Dooley, go with Mr. Ho and see to the envelopes. I must know how badly damaged they are. Mr. Llama, would you likewise assess structural damage in the frame?”

“Captain, what’s happenin’?” Mr. Piper asked, limping after me as I dashed down the hall. The rest of the crew scattered, their faces pale and strained. “Who’s attackin’ us? Why did ye lock us in the mess?”

“Moghuls, and no time to explain now. I smell smoke! Mr. Francisco, you come with me to the forward holds while Mr. Piper deals with the aft.”

Another explosion ripped into the ship, this one causing the floor to shake horribly under my feet. A rush of air and a long, inhuman scream warned me that yet another envelope had suffered damage. I shoved the pressurized water cylinder we kept for fires into Mr. Francisco’s arms. “Put out any fires you see in the forward holds. I must go aloft and see how many envelopes are intact.”

“I will not leave you alone, my glorious capitán of the hair!” he said stoutly.

I shoved him none-too-gently down the corridor, and took off, deaf to his shouts and demands that he be allowed to save my hair. I scrambled up three flights of stairs to the repair balcony that ran the length of the airship, gasping in horror at the sight. Of the seven envelopes, four were damaged, two collapsed upon themselves, with the other two sagging inward at a fast rate. “Dear God in heaven. Why are they doing this to us?” I asked, clutching the railing as one of the three remaining envelopes suddenly shuddered and began to lose its form.

The ship was going down. I was staring straight into the face of disaster, and there wasn’t anything I could do to save the Tesla.

“Abandon ship!” I bellowed, throwing myself back down the stairs to the floor below. The Tesla had rocked over about thirty degrees onto her side, making it impossible to walk on the exposed upper gangways. I made it down to the main floor, falling down the last half of the flight, just in time to see Jack race past yelling my name.

“Octavia! The ship is—”

“I know. Help me get to the mess. No, it’s all right, I’m not hurt seriously. We must sound the alarm and get everyone off the ship before she lists any more.”

“Matt says the boilers will explode,” he said, half-carrying me down the corridor. “How are we going to get off the ship? Have parachutes been invented yet?”

“Of course they have. Do you think we would conquer the skies without having a method of getting down in the case of an emergency?” We reached the mess just as Dooley and Mr. Ho came barreling down the corridor, yelling at the top of their respective lungs.

“We’re abandoning ship,” I called to them, then jerked down on the emergency cord just inside the doorway.

A loud Klaxon horn sounded, adding to the confusion. “Help me pull up the floor,” I commanded, and kicked back the small rug that covered a panel in the floor.

Jack and I hauled up the panel, bracing ourselves when the ship groaned and leaned even farther over. “Go to the gangway off the forward hold,” I yelled over the sound of the Klaxon and the noise the ship was making as she died. “Jump from there.”

Jack yanked up an armful of canvas bags, shoving one each into the arms of Dooley and Mr. Ho.

“I can stay and help—,” Mr. Ho started to say.

“Go! Get out while you can!” I yelled back, lying on my belly to grab the remainder of the parachutes from their storage locker under the floor.

By the time the rest of the crew appeared, the ship was listing at a forty-degree angle.

“The boilers won’t hold much past forty-five,” I told Jack, helping him buckle on the harness of the parachute. “I don’t suppose you would jump without me?”

He gave me a chastising look. I summoned up a grim smile. “I didn’t think so. I wouldn’t leave you, either. Where’s Mr. Mow—thank God, there you are. You’re injured!”

A blood-drenched Mr. Mowen staggered into the room, Mr. Christian holding grimly on to his arm. “I found him on the gangway above,” Mr. Christian said. “He’d been knocked out.”

“Get into your parachute and jump,” I told him, shoving a parachute bag at him before grabbing up another one. “Mr. Mowen, can you hear me? Do you understand what’s happened? Here, Jack, help me get this on him.”

My fingers were slick with Mr. Mowen’s blood as we frantically buckled the harness straps around him. He said nothing as we did so, his eyes glazed and unfocused.

“Should I wait—?” Mr. Christian said, hesitating at the door.

“Go,” I ordered, shoving him. “We’ll see to Mr. Mowen.”

“Godspeed,” was all he said before sliding his way down the gangway.

“You take one side, and I’ll take the other,” Jack said, shoving his shoulder under Mr. Mowen’s arm. I did likewise, and we started our perilous journey down the gangway. “We’ll never get him down the stairs at this angle without killing ourselves.”

“No. We won’t need to. There’s an exit hatch ahead. It’s small, but we should fit through it.”

“Will he be able to open his chute in this state?” Jack asked as he kicked open the door to one of the storerooms.

“Open the chute?”

“Pull the cord to open it. I don’t know that he’s aware enough of what’s happening to do it in time.”

“There’s no cord, Jack. You simply open the bottom of the sack and the parachute comes out while you fall.”

“Oh, God. That sounds horribly unsafe.”

I shoved aside a crate and grasped the metal crank that would open up the emergency hatch. “I’ve never had cause to use one before, but I understand that they have saved many lives. We’ll put him through first. If you can lift his legs, I’ll ready the parachute, and we can slide him through.”

“You don’t think it would be better for me to hold him?” Jack asked, his face pinched and white.

“That would be disastrous. Your parachute would tangle with his, and you would spiral down to your death. Ready?”

We got Mr. Mowen’s lower body through the opening. He moaned, and feebly moved his arms, but didn’t seem to understand what was happening. “You’ll be all right, I know you will,” I told him before Jack released him. Mr. Mowen slid out of view.

I leaned out, relieved when I caught sight of the black silk twisting, fluttering, and then opening into an umbrella shape.

“You next,” I told Jack.

“Right,” he said, grabbing me about the waist and stuffing me headfirst through the hatch. “Octavia—”

“I know,” I said, kicking my feet as I looked over my shoulder at him. “I’ll see you below.”

My emotions as I was cradled by nothing but the air were tangled together in a mess that was hard to sort. I felt relief when my parachute opened, jerking me upward for a few feet as the canopy caught the air. Even more relief followed when I looked upward and saw Jack, silhouetted against his parachute. From my vantage point below her, I could see just how badly damaged the Tesla was, and wondered that she’d stayed aloft as long as she had. Almost her entire starboard side was in flames now, the envelopes tattered and charred, and as I watched, she gave a hiccuping lurch; then a roar exploded down the length of her.

“The boilers,” I said softly, feeling wetness on my cheeks. Whether it was from tears or moisture in the air I didn’t know, but I felt a profound sadness as my ship, my first and probably only command, died before my eyes.

Beyond her and above, the Aurora sat, her guns now silent, bearing scars of the attacks against her, but I noted that she had suffered little in comparison. Hallie and the others would be safe.

Jack yelled something, his arm jutting out to point behind me. I craned my head to look. The Moghul ship was moving away, but my breath caught in my throat when I counted the aether cannons that bristled out of her. She was small and fast, a ship clearly built for one thing—to destroy. Even as my dazed eyes counted the cannons, she maneuvered a tight turn, gained altitude, and left the scene of the carnage, evidently not wishing to tangle any further with the bigger, and better armed, Aurora.

“Why?” I asked the ship, the wind snatching away my voice. “Why would you do that to us?”

“Would that be a good moan, a ‘he’s kissing his way up my legs and will soon sup at the gates of my own personal paradise, making me squirm and writhe and become a true believer in the power of oral sex’ sort of moan, or a bad moan, a moan that indicates you’re in pain and just want to be left alone to sleep?”

“Unfortunately, it’s a bad moan, although I don’t want you to leave me. And indeed, I don’t have time to sleep.” I made an effort to sit upright in the rather uncomfortable inn bed, and swung my good leg over the edge. My wounded knee protested at the very thought of moving, but I steeled my nerve, gritted my teeth, and pulled it over the edge, as well.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Jack said, gathering my legs and putting them back on the bed. “If you’re not well enough for me to make you writhe, you’re not well enough to get up.”

“I’m not injured seriously, just a little bruised,” I said, struggling against him for a few seconds before giving up and slumping back against the headboard. “Jack, I have many things to see to. I know you mean well, but you must let me up.”

“I’ll take care of anything you need to do,” he said firmly. “You just rest that knee. You’re lucky you didn’t break your leg the way you landed.”

“I was trying to see in which direction the Moghul ship was going,” I said, allowing him to tuck me in. “I wasn’t watching the ground.”

“I know. Scared at least ten years off my life,” he said, and I noticed for the first time since we’d staggered our way to the small inn outside of Angers that there were deep lines of stress on either side of his mouth. I touched them gently.

“You were wonderful, Jack. I doubt if I could have managed Mr. Mowen on my own. Are you sure he’s—”

“The doctor said he’s concussed, has a couple of broken ribs and a bruised ankle, but he’ll recover.”

“I just wish we knew what happened to Mr. Llama,” I said, fretting the embroidered bedcover. “Has no one seen any sign of him?”

“Not yet, no.”

“I hope he wasn’t seriously injured.”

“I doubt if he was. The others came through all right. Speaking of which, your chief officer is being a big pain in the ass about seeing you. He insists it’s his right or some such bull. I told him you needed rest, but he says he wants to make sure I haven’t done away with you and am trying to hide the fact.”

“He is . . . imaginative,” I said, smiling. “You may let him in.”

“Nope. You’re too tired.”

“Please, Jack. It would make me feel better to see that everyone is safe.”

He hesitated for a moment, then bent and gave me a swift kiss. “You’re going to wrap me around your little finger any time you like, aren’t you?”

“I’m a woman,” I said with a nonchalant shrug. “That’s my job, isn’t it?”

It took over an hour to see all of the crew, since Jack would allow them to enter my room only singly. They all looked hale and hearty—a few cuts, bruises, and, in Dooley’s case, burns aside. They were all animated and excited, and wanted to know just what had happened. Noting that I was fast losing strength, Jack told them we would have a group meeting the following morning, and explanations and plans would be made then.

“We can’t stay here overnight,” I told him when he saw out the last of the crew.

“Why not? You said yourself that the Aurora would take two more days to get to England, and that we could make it there by one on a train.”

“I said if I was captain, I would make repairs first, and those would take a day. But we have no guarantee that the Aurora’s captain will do any such thing. He might feel that he’s vulnerable to another attack, and make all haste to get safely to England. We must leave tonight, Jack, if we are to arrive in England in time to intercept the transfer of prisoners from the Aurora to the prison.”

His shoulders slumped as he sat next to me on the bed. “Poor Hallie. She must be scared to death, and God knows what she thinks of me just letting her be carried off like that.”

“I have no doubt she’s frightened—I would be in her situation—but she’s a strong woman. You’ve told me that many times. And although I regret that she is no doubt very worried and scared, we have to focus our energies on rescuing her, not ruing what has happened.”

“And that means letting you walk around on a leg that should be resting,” he said, his shoulders slumping even more.

I leaned into him and rubbed my cheek on his shoulder. “If I told you that it’s feeling better, will you kiss me?”

“I’d kiss you anyway,” he said in a voice that sounded very close to exhaustion.

“Ah, but I didn’t specify where the kiss would land.”

He straightened up at that, a familiar light of interest glowing in his mismatched eyes. “Captain Pye, are you by any chance flirting with me?”

“Yes, Mr. Fletcher, I am. Is it working?”

“As a distraction, you mean? Yes. Although I’m not going to make love to you as you deserve. No,” he said, holding up a hand to interrupt the protest I was about to make. “Don’t beg, it’s not becoming in a captain. You need time to physically recover from the incidents today, and if we are to get to England before morning, I will have to go out and figure a way there.”

I bristled at him. “I never beg!”

He grinned.

“Well, almost never,” I amended, recalling an event just two nights past when I pleaded with him to repeat a particularly effective tongue swirl. I cleared my throat and adopted a placid expression. “The ice you brought for my knee has worked wonders, so I should have no trouble booking our passage.”

He hesitated. “I suppose it will be all right, but only because I have no idea how to go about doing that. Although I would if you wanted me to.”

“I know you would.” I kissed him softly, my lips lingering on his. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all your help and support, Jack. I really would have been lost without you.”

“You are a horrible liar,” he said, pulling me onto his lap. When I stiffened with outrage, he just tickled my ribs. “Don’t get all prissy on me, Tavy. It was actually a compliment.”

“You have a very strange idea about what consists of a compliment,” I grumbled, my breath suddenly hitching in my throat as he began unbuttoning my blouse.

“Mmmhmm,” he murmured, burying his face in my chest.

I clutched his shoulders and gave myself over to the pleasure he provided, but only for a few minutes, sighing when I caught a glimpse of my pocket watch lying on the nightstand. “I’d better get going. Jack, please, you’re to make me embarrass myself when I go out.”

He pulled his head back from where he’d been sucking on my nipple right through my chemise. The flesh pebbled, the skin tightening into hard little knots of desire and pleasure that wanted nothing more than for Jack to pay them a good deal more attention.

“Sorry,” he said, not at all contrite as I buttoned up my blouse. He grinned wickedly at my breasts before I buttoned my jacket.

“What are we going to do with the crew?” he asked as we slipped out of the inn.

“I hate to say it, but we’d probably have more luck of getting to England quickly if there are just two of us. I will try to book them passage with us, but if I can’t, they must simply go later.”

As I suspected, there were limited openings on a train that left Angers an hour after we spoke to a booking agent. “Only three spots left, madame,” the agent told me when I inquired as to the fastest route to England. “The train, she leaves from Angers and arrives at Paris at two of the clock in the morning. The boat train leaves on the half of the hour, and arrives in Calais at the hour of five. If the channel crossing is not delayed due to weather, you will arrive in London by nine of the clock in the morning. Will that suit Madame?”

“Very much so, yes. Two, please.”

“What time is the Aurora due to land?” Jack asked in a quiet voice.

“Four bells,” I said, glancing at the clock. It was just twenty minutes to that time now. “But I’m hoping that the attack slowed her down somewhat. We might just make it there before her, especially if she was forced to make repairs.”

“Mon Dieu! You are from the Aurora?” the ticket man asked, obviously overhearing a word or two from our muted conversation. “That was most terrible, the attack of the Moghuls. It is said that they swept out of the sky like a giant black bird of prey, and tore apart the Aurora and a smaller ship, which crashed near here.”

“We were on the Tesla, the other ship,” I said, glancing at Jack.

“And you are not killed? I hear that no one was saved, and yet here you stand! You are sure you are from that ship and not the Aurora?” he asked somewhat suspiciously.

“I am the captain of the Tesla. I assure you we know which ship we were on,” I said stiffly.

“How did you happen to hear about the attack on the Aurora?” Jack asked as I tucked the tickets away in my bag. “I imagine someone noticed the Tesla falling to the ground, but the Aurora didn’t crash, did it?”

“Mon Dieu, no! But she is here, in Angers, getting the repairs most necessary.”

Jack and I exchanged glances. If the Aurora was on the ground, perhaps now was our chance to extricate Hallie from it. Just as my hopes rose that we could manage that, they were dashed again. “The emperor, he has sent ground troops from Paris to guard her. It is said that the Moghul airship haunts the skies around us, waiting for another chance to destroy her.”

Jack and I both slumped a little at the news. “Do you happen to know when the Aurora is expected to get under way?”

The man gave a Gallic shrug. “Non. But it cannot be long because it is said that the ship holds a present most magnifique for the emperor William to give to his bride, and the wedding, it is tomorrow, yes?”

I managed to keep from grimacing. Jack didn’t even bother to try to hide his disgust. “Some present,” he muttered under his breath.

I squeezed his arm and was about to leave, but the agent suddenly peppered us with a thousand questions about the attack. It took some time to curb his interest, but as we left the train station, we had much to chew over.

“The captain of the Aurora didn’t say anything about us attacking them,” I said to Jack as we settled back in a cab.

“Evidently not. I wonder if the sedatives had some sort of amnesia effect?”

“More likely things were just so confused and desperate after the attack by the Moghuls, they didn’t remember the prick of the needles.”

“I hope not. The question is, what are you going to do about the Tesla? If your Aerocorps doesn’t know you had turned to piracy, you might still have a job there.”

“Possibly, although there’s the crew to think of. Surely they must have an inkling that we were up to something nefarious when we locked them into the mess.”

“I don’t know,” Jack said slowly, his fingers stroking over mine in a way that had me thinking wholly inappropriate thoughts. “They were full of questions for you tonight, but if you think about it, none of them asked you why we locked them in—they all wanted to know about the Moghul attack.”

“That is true.”

“And why the Moghul seemed to target the Tesla over the Aurora.”

My lips tightened. I wanted very much to know that, as well. “The Aurora did have cannons, and we did not.”

“I suppose that would explain it. You know I’m opposed to violence, but if I could get my hands on that Moghul prince guy, that Abdullah—”

“Akbar.”

“—Akbar, then I’d wring his neck. He could have killed you!”

I said nothing because really, what was there to say?

We returned to the inn and slipped inside without being seen by any of the crew, most of whom I suspected had retired to recover from the day’s ordeal. By the time Jack paid the innkeeper for all our rooms, I had written a brief note to Mr. Mowen, and enclosed the crew’s tickets to London on a train that would leave early the next morning.

“I told Mr. Mowen that we had to be in London to meet the Aurora when she landed,” I informed Jack as I sealed the envelope. “And that no one seems to be aware of our attack on the Aurora. I trust he will keep his silence about that.”

“I’m sure he will,” Jack said, draping a shawl he’d acquired somehow around my shoulders. “He’s a good guy, Matt is. We can trust him.”

We escaped the inn a second time without being seen. I was about to ask Jack where he found the shawl when suddenly we were surrounded.