Page 1 of Black and Silver

Chapter One

London – November, 1816

Nobody understood the beautiful symmetry of a perfect skull the way Lady Minerva Llewellyn did. That was, perhaps, what was wrong with the world in these shallow, unimaginative times. More value was seen in lace and frippery than in the solid bone and haunting memory of a life that had been well and truly lived, and in the remnants that had been left behind. A skull was an echo of someone’s entire life story that could be held in one’s hands.

Minnie contemplated all these things and more as she stood before her bed in her room at the Oxford Society Club, holding Clarence, the skull she’d acquired twenty years ago, when she’d been in attendance at Oxford University. Clarence had been such a stalwart companion through the years, and Minnie wondered whether she should take him with her in her bid to escape the world of lace and frippery to flee into a new life.

“On the one hand, Clarence,” she addressed the skull, “you would take up a great deal of space in my valise, and I may need to run to evade pursuers at some point.”

She frowned at Clarence, already plotting how she might leap from a carriage or dart between wagons in traffic to avoid being seen as she dodged the forces of evil that pursued her. A bulky traveling bag would not help with her flight at all.

“On the other,” she continued, tilting her head, “you do not weigh much at all, and therefore, you would not add encumbrance.”

Minnie smiled and set Clarence atop the pile of her clothing and other belongings in her traveling bag, which lay open on the bed.

“And then there is the simple fact that I could not bear to part with you,” she said, leaning down and kissing Clarence’s frontal bone. “You and I have been through too much for this to be our final parting.”

She reached to the side for a pile of her underthings that she’d taken from the wardrobe and folded earlier, lovingly nestling them around Clarence’s bulbous form.

As she did, a knock sounded at her door. Minnie tensed on instinct, then let out a breath, pressing a hand to her stomach. Owen could not have found her there at the club. Even if he had discovered her exact location, which was not particularly difficult to do, even for someone of Owen’s astoundingly unimpressive intellect, men were not permitted at the Oxford Society Club.

“Come in?” Minnie called over her shoulder, anxious nonetheless. It did not matter whether Owen was forbidden entry into the club or not, if anyone who shouldn’t had discovered her plan, they might dissuade her from it.

The door opened, and the club’s butler, Regina, stepped into the room with a bright smile.

“Good morning, Lady Minerva,” she said, carrying the coat she held to Minnie. “Your traveling coat has been cleaned and repaired.

Minnie breathed out a huge sigh of relief. If she could trust anyone in the world, other than her dearest friends, Muriel, Bernadette, and Kat, then she could trust Regina Vickers.

“Thank you, Genie,” she said, taking the thick, black wool coat from Regina’s arms and slipping right into it. “This will come in quite handy, since it is bound to be cold where I am headed.”

“The Kingdom of Wales?” Regina asked, a clever sparkle to her eyes, as if she knew more than she was letting on.

“Yes, that’s it precisely,” Minnie said. “The Kingdom ofWales.”

Regina’s mouth twitched as she glanced past Minnie to the collection of items that were yet to be packed lying atop her bed. “I was unaware that the currency of choice for the Kingdom of Wales was the Swedish riksdaler.”

Minnie whipped back to the bed, biting her lip at the small pile of coins she’d accidentally left out. They were a dead giveaway to her true plans for the next few weeks.

“I do not know what you mean,” she fumbled, attempting to save face and keep her plans secret a little longer. “I’m heading home to Wales for the Christmas holidays, and to spread the word to our fellow sisters there that the Mercian Plan has been introduced to Joint Parliament for discussion, and that it is only a matter of time before Britannia is united under Mercian law. Lord Lawrence Godwin is escorting me home himself.”

Everything had been arranged the day before at the opening of Joint Parliament. Her friend Kat, Lady Katherine Balmor, soon to be Lady Katherine Godwin, as soon as she married Waldorf Godwin, had achieved a major victory in convincing the First Minister, Lord Walsingham, to bring the topic forward for debate. It was the first step in achieving the unity of Britannia under Mercian law, which was deeply favorable toward women and would prevent them from becoming subjects to their husbands in their own home.

And that was a topic of particular importance to Minnie, as the fate of becoming a subject to a husband she could not like in a home that would feel like a prison to her if she did not take matters into her own hands was closer than any of her friends thought.

Regina seemed to read her thoughts and crossed her arms, arching one eyebrow, as if she did not believe a word Minnie had just said.

“Forgive me for overstepping my place, Lady Minerva, but I know you to be too clever and too determined by far to simply return to Wales, whether to rally for the cause or not, when the center of activity is in London at present,” she said. “And besides,” she added as Minnie scrambled to think of what to say, “You’ve packed nearly everything of import in your room, as if you’ve no intention of returning to it.”

Again, Regina arched one eyebrow. The woman was incredibly sharp and alarmingly bold, which was, perhaps, why she made such an excellent butler for the club.

Minnie gave up whatever intention she’d had of keeping secrets. She blew out a breath and said, “Alright, I will confess. I have no intention of returning to the Kingdom of Wales.”

“I thought not,” Regina said, eyeing the pile of riksdaler again.

Minnie delayed a few seconds more by buttoning her coat and stepping to her dressing table to fetch her black velvet bonnet and her reticule. There was no use delaying forever, though, particularly since Regina stood between her and the door.

“If you must know,” she said, attempting to sound confident, and perhaps a bit put out, when what she actually felt was excitement and terror over her plan, “I am indeed about to leave the country, the entire island. I…I plan to debark for the Kingdom of Sweden, where I shall take up a new name and a new life, nevermore to return to these hostile shores.”

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