Page 7 of Unearthing the Smuggler's Heart
"Surely we can send someone else to retrieve whatever it is," she had said to Zelda, holding the document in one limp hand. "I know nothing about it. I don't see why my presence is necessary."
Her guardian, silver-haired and stern-faced, had sighed, shaking her head. "Because your mother taught you her ciphers, and apparently they play a part in this task," she'd said. "We never used them again after she was imprisoned, and so no one else in the Silver Leaf Society knows them. It would take ages to teach them to someone else, and even then, who knows which ones she used to hide this damned mystery item?"
"But I do not need money," Jade had protested, that first flutter of panic beating its wings in her throat. "There is plenty of money already. Maybe this thing does not need to be retrieved at all. Maybe it is best left in the past, with the war and all the rest."
"Maybe so," Zelda had allowed, "but I'd rather not risk the permanence of regret."
After that, many letters had come and gone from the flat on Bond Street, and Jade had not read a single one of them. All she had known until today was that passage was booked and that she would have help in this strange and unwanted mission.
Then she had met Mathias Dempierre, the captain who was to transport her to France.
She should have expected him to be beautiful. She was dear friends with his sister, Gigi, and they looked much alike. But one is never quite prepared for a beautiful man, or at least Jade suspected this was the case.
He had kissed her hand, warm amber eyes gazing up into her own, seemingly filled with unspoken suggestion. It was all she could do to scamper away at the first opportunity. She could not go on this trip, not withhim.This had every hallmark of a disaster.
She had hidden in her room and created a list of ways she might escape this obligation, ways she might end this endeavor before it was too late. Most ideas were immediately struck through, too silly to bear considering. Lists had never failed her before, but at the moment, the most viable option she could fathom was contracting something quite contagious and long-lasting. That would surely give her a reprieve, wouldn't it?
She had also considered walking into Dover and committing a petty crime. She couldn't sail away if she was in jail, could she? And it wasn't as though it would surprise anyone that the daughter of two shamed criminals would get up to no good as well.
She sighed, shaking her head to clear the rapidly accelerating thoughts. It would not do to sit here among all these people looking perfectly vacant, would it?
"Are you all right?" Gigi asked her, tilting her head curiously. "You must be full to brimming with excitement. I know I was on my first mission."
"Excitementis one word for it," Jade allowed with a half-hearted shrug. "I simply cannot convince myself that this is a good idea. I know nothing of seafaring or espionage or France. I wish I could just stay here."
"Nonsense!" Gigi replied, her eyes sparkling with excitement, a large, dimpled smile on her face. "There is nothing quite so thrilling as the unknown, my dear. Remember how excited you were on the day you came to London? It will be like that all over again. You'll see."
Jade attempted to smile, but only managed a strained pressing of her lips together atthatparticular memory. If only she could be as exuberant as Gigi.
Another young woman was approaching their shaded table, holding Gigi's daughter, Maggie, on her lip. The child's close-cropped blonde curls were in disarray, and her thumb was firmly in her mouth, her eyelids beginning to droop.
"Isabelle! Oh, you've brought me my Magpie," Gigi cooed, holding out her arms for the girl, who squirmed a bit in protest before slumping against her mother's chest and resuming the very serious business of falling asleep. "Have the two of you met yet? I understand you are to be traveling companions."
"Only briefly," said Isabelle Applegate, giving a polite nod to Jade as she arranged herself into a seat. She was a tall woman, striking, with a thick rope of auburn hair braided over her shoulder and a ready smile. "I am certain we will have plenty of time to get to know one another once we set sail."
Jade forced herself to put on a pleasant face, to assume a friendly tone. It would not do to alienate the one ally she might have in the weeks to come. "I truly hope so. Gigi has told me much about you, and I must confess I am a little in awe of you."
"Do not be," Isabelle said with a little snort. "I am a tenuously educated farm girl who is overly fond of her tiny dog. I assure you that all those sophisticates you must have encountered in London are much more awe-inspiring than I."
"I know far too much about far too many of them," Jade replied. "Indexing the prints at Mrs. Smith's has dashed any innocence I had about the great and powerful right into the dust."
"Likely for the best," Isabelle replied, her laughter mingling with Gigi's.
"Innocence does little to serve a girl, I think," Gigi commented, stroking her daughter's hair. "The more you know, the safer you are, I believe. Every bride I consult with has a different level of knowledge about what is to come, entering the world as a woman, and I find that I only ever worry for the ones who've never properly faced any challenges. It isn't their fault, but I've made it clear to Kit that we are not going to shelter Maggie that way."
"Oh?" Isabelle said, interested. She leaned forward with her hand supporting her chin, a faint grin of amusement playing about her lips. "And what does Kit think of that?"
"He agrees with me, believe it or not," Gigi replied. "It is hard to argue with the idea that ignorance is a weakness."
"Your brother once told me that all little girls are innocent, sweet, and mild," Isabelle informed her, the hazel in her eyes glittering. "I disabused him of that notion in quick order, and I like to think that that knowledge haunts him still. He is far too enamored of a world where pure maidens await rescue by white knights."
"And he sees himself a knight?" Gigi scoffed.
"He looks the part, I suppose," Isabelle allowed. "Maybe we are all entitled to our little fantasies. I certainly have a few of my own."
When Isabelle had departed and they were left alone again, Gigi turned her eyes to Jade and grinned. "A white knight, can you imagine?"
Jade did not answer, for she could imagine it all too well.
