Midnight Jewel
Page 77

   I was also just tired, period. I was burning the candle at both ends, and sometimes, I wondered how much I had left. I usually made it back to Wisteria Hollow about four hours before our wakeup call. Adrenaline could keep me fueled during those late hours, but in the day, I dragged. I often fell asleep in the coaches when we traveled. Mistress Culpepper began insisting I wear face cream at night because of the dark circles under my eyes. And whatever energy I had left at social events went to searching for intelligence. I avoided dancing as much as possible. Even if I’d wanted to aggressively pursue some man at a party, my exhaustion put a serious damper on my charisma and conversational skills. My suitors fell away—all except one.
   “Are you ready to make it official?”
   I’d expected Cornelius to find me at the Flower Fest gala, just not so quickly. I accepted his hand for a waltz and put on a bland smile. “I will . . . but not until the end of my season.”
   Behind his blue velvet mask, Cornelius blinked in surprise. “If you’re going to do it, why not take care of it now?”
   “I don’t want it to reflect badly on your father—or me. You know I like him very much and—”
   “That’s wonderful! He likes you too,” interrupted Cornelius. “So does Lavinia. We all do. See her over there?”
   From a refreshment table on the room’s far side, Lavinia waved excitedly. She’d scaled down her dress tonight, a lilac velvet creation that almost looked tasteful. Her natural hair, however, had been covered by a towering white wig adorned with a gem-studded gold coronet. That kind of hair accessory wasn’t uncommon, but from the way hers picked up the light, I almost wondered if it was real and not costume.
   “She’s lovely, as always,” I said automatically. “But like I was telling you, I’ve heard gossip saying I’m only interested in your father because of his money, and I’d hate for others to believe I’d think so little of him or that he’s naïve enough to be tricked.”
   Cornelius flinched. “Of course not.”
   “If we wait until the very end of my season, when I have no other proposals, we can make it look like he was kind enough to take pity on the poor Sirminican girl who couldn’t get an offer. I’ve been dissuading others, you know.”
   That mollified Cornelius a little, and he agreed to wait, mostly because he had no choice. My explanation wasn’t even entirely a lie, but I still clung to the far-fetched hope of buying my freedom. The delay would help.
   Adelaide dazzled everyone in the ballroom, and Warren’s adoration was clear for all to see. I managed to catch a few words with him and hoped to finally learn if any of the supplies he’d gathered for his new colony had been stolen.
   “Will you be leading any heretic patrols later tonight, Mister Doyle?”
   “No. No doubt there are all sorts of dark rituals going on, but we all needed a night off. I figured the boys deserved the chance to partake of their own festivities too.”
   I tried to picture Grant celebrating in a sparkling mask and almost smiled until I remembered our last conversation. “And I’m sure you’re busy preparing for your trip to Hadisen. It’s in a week, right? Do you have all your necessities?”
   His eyes followed Adelaide as she whirled around with another partner. “Nearly. Excuse me, Miss Viana.”
   I’d warned Aiana I’d be ducking out of the ball a little early. The chaos of these big events made slipping away easy. Aiana had the difficult job because as a chaperone, she was supposed to help do a head count and make sure everyone was accounted for when we returned home. She’d scolded me for being out so much with Grant, and I hoped she wouldn’t say anything to him. Neither had any idea that I was really out with Tom.
   After trading my glamorous red gown for Lady Aviel’s starry cloak and subdued black mask, I made my way to the rendezvous point Tom had given me. Normally, he assembled his crew at the Dancing Bull or one of a handful of other pubs he frequented. Tonight, I’d been told to meet him at a quiet crossroads south of the city limits.
   There, I found him and ten other men. All of Tom’s regular crew, except Jenks, was there. The rest appeared to have been hired for the night. There was also one woman. I immediately recognized her as Joanna Steel, one of the few renowned female pirates. She didn’t work for Tom but was another ally he’d recruited for the night. A bright red kerchief was tied over her iron-gray hair, and she winked when she saw me. Rumor had it that she’d been married to five infamous pirate captains—and that she’d killed them all.
   “We’re raiding a ship called the Queen Grace,” Tom told us. “It has a light guard tonight because of the festival, but it has a big cargo. That’s why we need so many hands. We need to unload it quickly and get out of there. The crew shouldn’t be any trouble. The few who are there are probably put out that they had to work on festival night, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve already hit the rum. We round them up, load our boats, and hopefully still have enough time to attend the festivities ourselves back in the city. Any questions?”
   “Should we wait for more fog?” asked Anders, Tom’s Skarsian colleague and the one whose dirk I’d inherited.
   Tom peered out toward the water. The sky was mostly clear, but mist was starting to roll over the bay. “No, by the time we get there, it should be right where we want it.”
   Away from the crossroads, down by an uncleared patch of shore, we found five skiffs waiting in a secluded cove. We spread out among them and rowed back toward Cape Triumph’s main port, the place where all the commercial ships docked. Tom directed the boats to go wide to avoid detection offshore and then come in behind the large galleys.
   “This fog is a lucky break,” Tom told me as we sailed. “It’ll make this even easier than it already is. Some might say the angels wanted this to happen, so you don’t have to have any of your usual moral dilemmas.”
   “You know I don’t like hurting people if we don’t have to—especially unlucky sailors who are just doing their jobs.”