A Dark Heart (30 page)

Brightlingsea just rolled his eyes at Romanov’s histrionics, evidently at
peace with his madness as well. “The good news is that Rowan is not dead
– not yet anyway,” he growled. “He’ll be able to survive the effects of
time travel with his Da Vinci heart. But he’s stuck in the past, which is
impossible – and dangerous.”

Lady Christiana collapsed against Inspector Drexler’s chest. The pair of
them looked weak with relief – and they deserved it. They deserved a
chance to finally be happy together, after all they’d gone through. But Hex was
not so sure that they had anything to celebrate quite yet, judging from the
grim look the Duke still wore – and from her memory of the way things had
ended a decade before.

“So the Earl is alive,” she murmured, her mind racing.

“We’re still here, which means he’s alive,” the Duke confirmed.

“What the bloody hell is
that
supposed to mean?” Romanov demanded,
earning him another impatient glare from the Duke.

 “But you can bring him back, right? Please tell me you can bring
Rowan back!” Lady Christiana pleaded, starting to look worried again.

“I have to,” the Duke said matter-of-factly. “This device essentially
ripped a hole through time. The longer he stays there, the more the fabric of
reality will start to unravel. He’ll die, and he’ll take the future with him.
This moment we’re in right now will cease to exist.”

“Nothing to worry about, then,” the Inspector muttered.

She looked around her at the varying degrees of perplexity and anger in
everyone’s expressions. They were having trouble comprehending what the Duke
was saying. But she wasn’t. Every insane word out of his mouth made perfect sense
to her, for she had lived it all. Ten years ago, reality
had
begun to
unravel. A stranger had fallen into her life like a star from the sky, without
a name and with the powers of a god. By the end of his brief time with her, the
natural world around them had been turned on its head, and nothing could
restore its order.

Nothing but his…

Her hope began to wither once more as she remembered the sacrifice they’d
both had to make back then.

“The only problem is I’ve no clue where – or
when
–
Rowan has gone,” the Duke said, bringing her back to the present.

Then he looked straight at her, waiting.

As if he
knew
.

And perhaps he did. He was a bloody
time traveler
, after all. But
if he’d seen the future – or the past – or whatever the hell it was
– he’d have to know…

“I do,” Hex said grimly. “I know where he went.”

He gave her a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “I thought you might,” he
murmured.

Hex wiped the tears she’d not even known she was shedding from her cheeks
with the back of her hand, ignoring the wide-eyed looks around her as she told
her tale.

When she was finished and she dared to finally look around the room, she
saw Lady Christiana and the Inspector staring at her with something like wonder
on their faces. Wonder and hope. But she had a sinking suspicion that their
hope might be in vain – that they wouldn’t have their happy ending after
all.

For she couldn’t bring herself to tell them the way things had truly
ended ten years ago. She couldn’t tell them that Rowan Harker, Earl of
Llewellyn, the god from the sky and the father of her children, had
died
.
That she’d watched him go to his death with her own eyes.

She couldn’t tell them, because that damned seedling of hope had rooted
itself deep inside her heart, just as it had in the hearts of everyone else in
the room, and it refused to go away. For after all of the miracles she’d
witnessed in the last twenty-four hours, anything seemed possible. Even
resurrecting a dead man.

“Just bring him back to me,” she whispered. “I’ve already lost him once.
I’ll not lose him again.”

The End …
For Now …

Margaret Foxe is a professional musician from Tennessee. She has lived in
several countries and travelled from Costa Rica to Cairo. Her crowning transcontinental
glory was ascending Jebel Toubkal in the High Atlas Mountains with her best
friend, a mule, a Berber guide named Omar, a bota bag, and lots and lots of Orange
Fanta. She is currently working on her master's degree in piano performance in
between writing steampunk mash-ups.

She hopes to one day circumnavigate the world by dirigible.

You can follow her literary(ish) and life escapades at Margaret Foxe's
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The
Elders and Welders Chronicles

A series of steamy romances set in a unique Victorian steampunk
universe. The
Chronicles
have it all: true romance, swashbuckling
adventures, a vampire or two, evil masterminds, scorching love scenes,
automaton dogs, dirigible pirates, brooding immortal heroes, spunky heroines, boy
geniuses, sword-fights, mel
é
es, and impossible devices built by a
tattooed Duke who may or may not be completely cracked in the head.

Book One:
Prince
of Hearts

Sasha and Aline’s story (print and e-book available now)

Book Two:
A Dark Heart

Elijah and Christiana’s story (print and e-book available now)

Book Three:
Thief of Hearts

… (coming soon)