Alexander fell asleep on the sofa in the sitting room of the
Mazarine. Amelia slept in the surprisingly opulent bed. They met each
other only a few hours after retiring, bleary-eyed and wondering if the events
of the previous day had even occurred. Except that they were on the airship
docked at Colonel Pell’s manor outside of the city, and Fletcher had addressed
them as Mr. and Mrs. Brinkley.
“So it’s true, then,” Amelia said with a sigh.
“No cold feet, now, my dear,” Alexander admonished. “We have
the first true test of our acting skills before us.”
“As though the past several years haven’t been a perpetual
charade,” Amelia retorted. “We’ve managed to convince the whole city of our
fond devotion to each other. I fail to see how meeting Colonel and Lady Pell
will prove a test of our abilities.”
“They would expect a certain...” Alexander waved his hand in
a circle, searching for the turn of phrase.
Amelia glared at her husband and tucked a parasol under her
arm. “I should hope not. But if you want me to gaze longingly at you and
suggest a quiet stroll through the wilderness, I will. For your sake.”
Alexander shrugged into his jacket. “We should muss your
hair and leave a stray twig or two to complete the effect.”
Glare melted into shock and barely restrained hilarity.
“Bravo.” Amelia shook her head and smirked.
“Shall we?” Alexander offered his arm.
“Frankly, I see no reason to alter our already established
methods,” Amelia said as they stepped down from the cabin onto terra firma. She
squinted up at the sunlight, one hand shading her eyes. The manor grounds
looked very different in the daylight, but she could see three people sitting
on the veranda not far away. Brass glinted in the sunlight from a pair of
goggles on a top hat. “Is that Gavin Graves?”
“Your friend at the Metropol? Why would he be here?”
Alexander asked.
“Hardly a friend,” she mumbled. A heavy sensation settled in
Amelia’s gut. “He expects to be Merriday’s replacement.”
“Excellent, then. Offer your blessing to Mister Graves,
relinquish your place in the Argonauts, and we get on with our lives.”
“I’m afraid it might not be that simple,” Amelia replied.
Colonel and Lady Pell sat on the veranda with Mister Graves,
watching a rather rambunctious, lanky puppy gambol about the lawn with a
knotted rope toy. He flipped the toy in the air, nipped at it with his
uncoordinated jaws, and in general moved with all the grace of an inebriated
giraffe.
Lady Pell rose to meet her guests with considerably more
alacrity than she had shown Amelia at the gala.
“Quite an intriguing hound you have,” Alexander said when
they had gained the veranda.
“A Great Dane,” Lady Pell said with a shake of her head,
“and not much older than 5 months.”
“Will he ever grow into those paws?” Amelia asked with a
chuckle.
“Eventually, perhaps," the lady mused. "I have my doubts.”
“Nonsense,” Colonel Pell said with a slight lift of his
chin. “A noble and stalwart breed.”
The dog lay on his back, torqued sideways, his tongue
lolling from his maw, tail whipping between his splayed back legs.
“Indeed.” Lady Pell passed a glance from Gavin to the
Brinkleys, one elegant eyebrow crooked in skepticism.
Gavin offered his congratulations to the newlyweds with only
a hint of the usual gallantry that he usually bestowed. “You’re a tad far from
the coastline, aren’t you?”
Amelia glanced at Colonel Pell, who resolutely fixed his
attention on his frolicking dog. No help from him, then.
Lady Pell, clearly the more conscientious of the pair, spoke
up in her husband’s silence. “With the danger of pirates on the coastline, we
felt perhaps it would be safer for them to venture into the mountains instead.”
“Surely there are pirates in the mountains as well,” Gavin
said.
“Undoubtedly,” Amelia interpolated. “But if one is to face
imminent death, it would be better to face it on land than at sea.”
“We might as well come to business, then,” the colonel said,
cutting the conversation before it became too heated. “We have a matter to
discuss, and it does no good to linger on pleasantries.”
This announcement shocked everyone, though Gavin appeared
more pleased than shocked by the abruptness. He settled back in his chair with
an air of triumph that set Amelia’s nerves on edge.
“As you all are well aware,” Pell began, “Franklin Merriday
left us rather suddenly, and for some time, we in the Argonauts have
deliberated about the future of the Club. You see, we are at a juncture. On one
hand, the cherished and enduring traditions of the Argonauts, our proud
history, and our widespread influence on world events. The other hand...” Pell
hesitated, seemed to gather his resolve. “The other hand, we have the wishes of
our dear comrade. Now, we have considered the circumstances from as many angles
as possible, and have come to realize that we have reached an impasse. Should
we proceed from the momentum of our past, we will dishonor Merriday. Should we
honor Merriday’s wishes, we will likely see the end of the Argonauts as we know
it.”
Amelia watched Gavin’s face as Pell progressed through his
speech. Though she had been told of her place in the grand scheme, she began to
wonder if Gavin was left in the dark. He looked positively uncomfortable, his
face taking on a sickly pallor.
He has no idea why we’re really here, Amelia thought.
“Merriday was always an unconventional man. That was the
cornerstone of his talent. And anyone familiar with the internal environment of
the Argonauts Society would know that he had come to resent certain fixtures
and traditions.” He hesitated again, watched his dog. “Everyone here is
familiar with the circumstances, I’m afraid, except for you, Mister Graves.”
“Circumstances, sir?” Gavin asked, his eyes fixed on Amelia.
“Merriday’s will, you see, names Miss – I’m sorry, Mrs.
Brinkley – as his Argonaut heir.”
The pallor turned to stone. He sat forward in his chair,
leaned his forearms on the table. “How long have you known this?” he asked
Amelia.
“Only last night,” she replied, shaking her head.
“Then pirates on the coastline had nothing to do with your
convenient presence today.” He looked at Lady Pell, who held his gaze, lifted
her chin.
He looked back at Amelia. “And you’re here to accept, is
that it?”
“I’m not certain,” Amelia said, fidgeting with a button on
her glove. I cannot be certain, at present. I only learned about it myself a
few hours ago.”
Gavin leaned forward toward Amelia. “I’ve been waiting for
this chance for years. Years.” He jabbed a finger on the table.
“Perhaps we should allow the colonel to continue,” Alexander
said. “What did the Argonauts conclude?”
“We could not dishonor our friend by dishonoring his last
wishes, no matter how inexplicable,” the colonel said.
“Surely he couldn’t have been in his right mind!” Gavin exploded
to his feet. “He talked with Miss – Mrs. Brinkley for an hour or more, and
determined that she holds the qualifications to lead expeditions?”
“On that we all can agree,” Amelia said, attempting to quell
his anger. “I’m as astonished by his choice as you are, and fear myself
entirely inadequate for the task.”
“Did you convince him?” Gavin hissed, ignoring her
statement, an expression of sudden clarity crossing his face. “Did you offer
yourself to him during the interview?”
Pell stood then, glowering down at his young raging guest. Alexander,
too, rose with murderous intent.
Amelia shot to her feet and leaned with both clenched fists
on the table, eye to eye with her accuser. “With you sleeping off your rampant
inebriation not five feet away?”
“Mister Graves,” the colonel said through gritted teeth,
“perhaps our decision is clearer than we anticipated.”
Gavin glared at Amelia across the table. “Fine.” He snatched
his hat from the table and pretended to honor his hosts with a curt bow.
Amelia felt a soothing hand on her back. “Sit, darling,”
Alexander said.
She sat, unclenched her fists against the arms of the chair.
No one seemed eager to fill the silence.
“I suppose,” Amelia began quietly, “that I can hardly refuse
now, can I?”
“We have left the matter in your hands, Mrs. Brinkley,” Lady
Pell said. The colonel still stood beside her, visibly shaken. Lady Pell took
his hand gently, and he seemed to come back to the present. He sat.
“On the way here, I determined to tell Mister Graves that he
could have the position if he wanted it. I’m hardly one to lead expeditions, as
he said. Is there another in line who can take his place? Perhaps he only needs
time to cool off.”
“He broke a cardinal rule, Mrs. Brinkley,” Lady Pell said.
“An Argonaut never questions a lady’s honor.
“We may not venture into Society as you represent it, but we
have standards equal to yours,” Colonel Pell said. “We must, if we should meet
regents and emperors. Mister Graves has demonstrated twice in our presence that
he cannot control his temper.”
“Imagine what would happen if he were to lash out so at a
prospective sponsor,” Lady Pell said, “or a regent. The Terra already finds territorials
backward and brutish; we would rather not prove them right in an official
capacity.”
Amelia remembered a heavily intoxicated Gavin punching the
elderly gentleman at the gala. She wondered again what prompted the attack.
“But wouldn’t someone with more...” Amelia searched for the
correct word, but it eluded her. “Talent, maybe? Experience? – be more
suitable? I’d never been on an airship until last night! Surely someone else
would better meet your qualifications.”
“Forgive my bluntness, but yes, we would prefer to employ
someone with more stellar credentials – any credentials, really,” Colonel Pell
said. “But our candidate has turned out to be less acceptable than we hoped.”
“So you prefer to train someone?” Amelia asked.
“Navigation, weapons, self-defense, those skills come with
practice and training. No one can teach a person to have a quick mind and an
adventurous spirit,” Pell replied. “Those come from the marrow.”
“Mister Graves has both, and then some,” Amelia said.
“He doesn’t know how to interact with persons of rank,” Pell
said. “You do.”
Amelia and Alexander shared a look. Her husband made no move
to influence her decision, and she knew he wouldn’t, even if she asked.
“I suppose asking for more time to consider is out of the
question,” she said.
“We await your leisure, of course,” Pell said, running a
thumb along the edge of his tea saucer.
That’s a first.
She sighed, looked again at Alexander. “Well, then, Darling,
I suppose we should take a short walk.”
