Chapter 33
It was Alice, in the end, who found Tamsin and the princess.
When Signor Neri had broken from their crew, his clandestine tasks had included the hunt for one dreadful Italian greyhound. He had done it—he and Lamentation and half a dozen other Monfalcone representatives in London had scoured the city until they’d located Zenobia, barking furiously at the London Docks near where theDelphiniumfloated at anchor.
They had taken the dog to the ambassador, in search of Ruby and Archer—and, outside Ruby’s former home, they’d come face-to-face with Cassandra instead.
It was Cass who’d brought them to Penney’s townhouse. And it was Alice, cautiously petting Zenobia where she nestled in Gerry’s arms, who had figured out where to go next.
Very slowly, Alice had lifted her hand from Zenobia’s muddy coat. She’d gazed incredulously at her fingers and blinked two or three times in quick succession.
And then she’d looked up. She’d turned the force of her immense cerulean eyes on Ruby and Archer and said, very deliberately: “Surrey.”
“Surrey?” Ruby repeated.
“Yes,” Alice said. “They’re in Surrey. I know they are.”
Ruby had stared at Alice in astonishment. And Cassandra had said, instantly: “I’ll bring the carriage round.”
They piled hastily into the viscountess’s barouche—the Enys boys excepted, who gleefully elected to remain with Penney and ensure his continued state of insensibility. Alice had, with some reluctance, relinquished her carving knife.
The moment they set off, Ruby leaned forward. “Alice,” she demanded, “what do you mean, ‘They’re in Surrey’? How do you know?”
Alice looked somehow both modest and enormously pleased with herself. “Well,” she said, “it was not so difficult to figure out. It was the eggs, you see.”
Ruby wondered if she’d run mad. “The eggs?”
“The butterfly eggs,” Alice clarified. “On Zenobia’s coat. They were Camberwell Beauty eggs. I recognized them.” She looked proudly around the carriage and then deflated slightly at their looks of befuddled consternation. “The Camberwell Beauty does not lay its eggs in England,” she explained. “It’s not native to our shores. They arrive sometimes on ships in the harbor, but they cannot lay in this climate except under very specific conditions.”
They stared at her.
“Conditions,” Alice said, “that have been re-created at the Aurelian Society’s butterfly house in Surrey.”
There was a general silence in the carriage.
Alice regarded them calmly. And then, very slowly, her mouth curled into a grin.
“You three,” Gerry said fervently, “are thebestladies-in-waiting.”
* * *
Ruby’s heart was in her throat the whole of the carriage ride down to Surrey. It wasn’t far from the docks where they’d found Zenobia—it seemed possible that a determined and vindictive little dog could have made the trip on her own.
They’d been in the carriage perhaps a quarter of an hour before Lamentation spoke. “Cap,” he said, “I’m so sorry.”
Archer shook his head. His arms were wrapped around Ruby, who’d been forced by virtue of the crowded coach to nestle in his lap. “There’s nothing to apologize for. You were right about the admiral. All this time, you were right.”
Regret carved itself in little lines around Lamentation’s mouth. “I was right about the admiral,” he acknowledged. “But—Cap—” He looked at Gerry beside him, and then back to Archer. “I was wrong about you.”
“You weren’t wrong.” Archer’s voice went rough, and his grip on Ruby’s waist tightened. “I should never have lied to you. To any of you. I’m sorry, Lamentation.”
Lamentation’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. Gerry’s arm had come to rest across his shoulders, and Lamentation’s body fit against his beloved’s as though he belonged there. “You shouldn’t have lied,” he agreed. “But Penney—and your wife—it’s not the same. The two situations were never alike, and I shouldn’t have pretended they were. It was only that I was angry, Cap, and hurt. And—scared, I think. Of losing you.”
“I know,” Archer said thickly. “I understand. But Lamentation, the fault—” His voice cracked. “The fault was in me, all this time. Not in you. Not ever.”
Lamentation lifted his chin and looked his captain in the eyes. “I shouldn’t have left,” he said. “I should have had your back. I would follow you straight into Hell, Cap. You know I would.”
“Oh God.” Archer laughed—a hoarse torn-off breath, very like a sob. “I can’t think what I’ve done to deserve that kind of faith.”
