Ned nodded. There was really nothing to say when the captain began quoting his ill-fated birth father. At least it was better than when he began quoting his own poetry. Ned tried not to shudder at the very thought. Glancing over the man’s shoulder, he saw that Alex had finally left. Something spiky moved in his heart. Damn that anyone should take a pirate at his word. But he’d gone into this venture alone, and really a friend would only get in the way. He looked back at Morvath coolly.

“What about Miss Darlington?”

Morvath’s face darkened. “I don’t care about her,” he growled. “Just Cecilia. Understand?”

Ned set down his whiskey and turned a smile—hard, sharp, uncompromised by humor—to the older man. “Your servant, sir.”

“Excellent,” Morvath said. “Soon, Edward, very soon, England will burn. It’s going to be a beautiful thing.”

3

a botanical adventure—the influence of ghosts—the wisteria ladies’ society—miss darlington surrenders—preventative measures—a bandit, a skylark—a verbal sally—miss bassingthwaite—the halfpenny bridge—another sally: lunn—cecilia approaches the library

It was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles that was the cause of Cecilia’s annoyance that morning, but the honeysuckles embracing her ankles as she tried to walk through the field. Flowers were altogether charming things, giving her hours of occupation as she arranged them in vases and pressed them in poetry books, but this indiscreet manner in which hedges overflowed and rambled all through the grass was decidedly uncouth.

Of course, she would not be trudging through them had the house gone into the actual city of Bath as it was meant. Pleasance could not explain what had happened.

“The compass was accurate,” she had averred. “The incantation was incantateded just right. I did all the math forward and back. It came out perfect.”

And yet here they were in a field of cows and feral flowers, half a mile from the city.

Pleasance had dismantled the wheel, searching for a cause, which was pointless since the steering array was not attached to anything mechanical, merely serving as a conduit for the spell to provide direction. She had inspected the navigation tools. She had also held a conference with the old ghosts and villains who plagued her penny-dreadful consciousness, demanding they leave her in peace while she was flying.

Cecilia was privately inclined to believe therein lay the problem and could not understand why Miss Darlington persisted in allowing Pleasance the helm. But she also could not understand why she herself, and indeed all young pirates of her acquaintance, were forced through a long training regime—studying thaumaturgical physics, writing essays, taking countless elocution lessons, running a mile in full bustled gown—before being allowed their wings, and yet servants were just handed a copy of the highly secret, highly powerful spell and told to have it memorized by the end of the week.

She did not argue, however, because if the matter was examined too closely other questions regarding servants might arise, such as Why don’t you wash your own dishes? and Why don’t you dress yourself for parties?, and Cecilia was careful not to be too clever for her own good.