Born of Treasure (Treasure Chronicles Book 2) (10 page)

loody gears.” Jeremiah took a step back, bumping against a barrel of flour. Clark had mentioned knowing a girl back in Tangled Wire. Her name could’ve been Mable, or maybe it’d been Honey. Clark hadn’t spoken of her as though they were wedded. She’d been a friend, her mother a Tarnished Silver like his.

“Why aren’t you with him?” Alyssa asked. How could she be so calm? Clark Treasure had a secret wife he’d abandoned.

“I got stolen.” Mable’s face reddened to the shade of her hair. “Why’d you think he’d up and leave? He loves me more’n life itself. I swear he told me.”

“You were stolen?” Alyssa grasped Mable’s trembling hands and led her to one of the chairs. “Sit, please. We’ll talk calmly.”

“Please,” the Bromi slave interrupted. “Guests are not allowed when the master is not home. This must be quick. You must not be seen.”

“I’m never allowed to be seen.” Tears dripped down Mable’s cheeks. “If you know, will you tell him where I am? He’s got to come get me. He won’t let me suffer.”

“No one should make you suffer.” Alyssa patted Mable’s unbound hair as it hung in matted clumps. Alyssa needed to be careful; the girl might not be stable. Jeremiah rested his hand on his pistol in case he needed it.

Mable sniffled. “I get sunlight through the windows and sometimes he lets me open them for air.”

“Captain Greenwood keeps you here?” Jeremiah clarified.

She nodded. “He took me away from Tangled Wire. Said it weren’t my home no more.”

“You must be family to him.” Alyssa lowered Mable’s head to her lap as she stroked her curls. “He wants to keep you safe.”

“He ain’t no family.” Mable jerked away, her eyes narrowed. “My family was my Ma and he shot her in front of me. He held her down and put the bullet between her eyes. He told me he’d do it to Clark, too, if I didn’t behave.”

Alyssa tensed. “He shot your mother?”

“She must’ve done something against the law.” Jeremiah trailed off. The defense sounded too much like something Zachariah would say. He knew the captain made his skin crawl.

Tears drenched Mable’s cheeks. “I didn’t mean to hurt Clark none. The army came through all the time. I don’t know why, but they was always there. Clark had some absinthe. It was in a little bottle. Folks always carried tumblers and stuff around. It weren’t no different than normal. This army fella asked me if I’d seen it and I said yeah, Clark had it. He’d thrown it away so I got it back.”

A child’s ramblings. How old had she been when it had occurred? Jeremiah couldn’t remember much of what Clark had mentioned about his only childhood friend. He might not have said the bad.

“What happened then?” Alyssa cooed.

“The army fella got real mad. Captain Greenwood was there and some others. They shot Clark’s ma. They asked where he was. He should’ve been at the mine, but he wasn’t. Ain’t nobody could find him. Captain Greenwood, he killed my ma and grabbed me. Clark said since I was his girl, he’d come back for me.”

Clark’s girl—his wife. “What did he do?” Jeremiah gritted his teeth. Clark would’ve had to do something bad to start so much trouble, but it didn’t mean the army could kill Tarnished Silvers.

“It was that absinthe he drunk, only it ain’t absinthe. It was something else. Captain Greenwood said it would do something to him. I’ve heard them talking a lot about it.”

No wonder Clark hated the army and why Captain Greenwood wanted him there. “What did it do to him?”

“I don’t know for sure, but it sounds like it gives him magic. The army’s been after him. They want to…” She scrunched her nose. “Dissect him to get to it. I don’t know what that means.”

It couldn’t be the real story. Magic didn’t exist. Jeremiah glanced out the window at the bare yard and whitewashed fence. It didn’t mean her story wasn’t partly true.

“You’ll find him for me?” Mable rubbed the tears off her face. “He’ll come get me. He won’t let them hurt me no more. We’ll run away, just like he promised.”

“We can’t leave her here,” Alyssa whispered.

“If we take her, he’ll punish the Bromi.” Jeremiah nodded at the slave by the stove. That man hadn’t done anything besides allow Mable to tell her story.

Unless it was a lie. They could be working together.

“But…” Alyssa bit her lower lip.

“We’ll get Clark,” Jeremiah said, “just like she wants.” He could confirm or deny. Garth would know what to make of the matter.

Mable screamed into the pillow on her bed, but even that couldn’t lessen the excitement that made her heartbeat race. Clark would finally come for her. He must not have known Captain Greenwood had her. If Clark was on the run, Captain Greenwood wouldn’t have been able to get him word.

She rolled onto her back to stare at the white ceiling. Everything in the house was white. Captain Greenwood wouldn’t have it another way. She stretched her legs and adjusted her corset. Sure, the captain used her once in a while like men had used her mother back in Tangled Wire, and sure he starved her sometimes, beat her once in a while, all depending on his mood. He’d only pulled out a hunk of her hair once, when he’d been in a rage over Clark escaping him again.

He needed her alive so he could use her against Clark.

He’d put her in the clean room, with a real bed, and he got her clothes so she wouldn’t be naked. Whenever he left, she and the Bromi got to talk. He taught her about his lifestyle and his language. The Bromi had even taught her about the government—how he knew, she wasn’t sure, but he swore it was right. When the king had died, heirless, the government had decided to elect a president. The queen became what the slave called a figurehead. The people liked to look at her, but she didn’t have power. The president, therefore the people, since they elected him, got to control the government.

Clark would save him, too. He didn’t deserve to be a slave.

Mable giggled. Clark would give her a perfect life, full of riches and rich food. She’d grow fat and happy.

He’d promised.

“I’ll give the telegram to Mr. Treasure.” Captain Greenwood held out his hand, grinning.

“It goes right to him.” The Bromi sidestepped in the hallway.

Captain Greenwood clenched his teeth. The message might be about Clark. Garth wouldn’t share it.

“You are a slave,” Greenwood snarled. “You will know your place and act like it. Hand me the missive.” The captain yanked it from the Bromi’s hand and slapped him across the head, knocking him into the wall. Captain Greenwood landed a kick to his face, hearing the man’s nose crack. Blood gushed down his face.

“Know your place.” He unfolded the telegram and scanned the words.

Beware Captain Greenwood. He has history with Clark. Do not let Clark near him until I return with news. J.

The “J” would have to stand for Jeremiah, the son who had gone traveling with the family friend. Captain Greenwood stuffed the paper into his pocket. What could Jeremiah have discovered about Clark’s past? The family seemed oblivious—Clark must not have told them.

“What is this?” Georgette fled from the parlor, one hand to her mouth. “Blooming gears. What happened?”

“This slave accosted me.” Captain Greenwood wrinkled his nose. “Control your slaves, madam. If the government learns you’ve been too lenient, you will lose your permit to own them and they will be placed in hard labor where they belong.”

He stormed toward the kitchen for a glass of bourbon, leaving her to fawn over the pathetic Bromi.Those slaves would never tell on the captain—the pathetic beasts were too afraid to have that gumption.

Fools, all of them. He couldn’t wait until Clark Treasure returned home to the trap.

lark leaned against the side of the steamcoach interior and stretched one leg across the cushion. Amethyst settled into his lap, her head tucked between his shoulder and neck. Sleep breaths emerged from her mouth, her chest rising in rhythm.