The Serpent's Curse by Lisa Maxwell (read an ebook week .TXT) 📕

“It’s nothing but nonsense,” Kelly snapped.

“Give me that,” Viola said, finally taking the spyglass from her brother and lifting it to her eye. She was silent as she watched, her frown deepening. “I don’t understand. Cela wouldn’t risk such a thing. Something has happened.”

James agreed. Against his skin, the Aether shifted, swirled, opened new possibilities. Something was happening, indeed.

“May I?” he asked, and reluctantly Viola handed over the glass.

Sure enough, James could clearly see the flash of Cela’s mirror. He watched, counting the flashes—long and short—and then James started to laugh from the sheer absurdity.

“I can’t imagine what you find funny, Lorcan,” Kelly growled.

“I expect that you wouldn’t, considering that it’s your information that was wrong,” Nibsy told him, lowering the spyglass. They’d depended on Kelly’s sources to make their plan. One boat was supposed to dock at the specified time, and then the wagon carrying the Order’s treasures would cut one clear path through the city before sundown. But apparently Kelly’s sources had been wrong. “That girl isn’t playing any game. She’s using Morse code. She’s doing exactly what she’s supposed to be doing.”

“Which dock will it be, then?” Kelly demanded. “Where will the boat land?”

“It’s not a single boat as we expected,” James said. “It appears that there are three.”

“Three?” Viola asked. “You’re sure?”

James raised the spyglass again. “Positive,” he said, and he handed the spyglass back so Kelly could see for himself.

Kelly’s jaw clenched as the seconds ticked by. When he’d seen enough, he lowered the glass. “Why would there be three?”

“Clearly, the Order must have been expecting an attack,” James said. “They’ve made a move you didn’t predict, and now we have to play their game.”

“I’m not interested in any games,” Kelly snarled.

“Don’t worry,” James said as he reveled in the way the Aether bunched. “We’re not going to let them win.” He took the mirror to signal back to the girl on the roof that they understood her message. “The Order believes themselves to be clever, but they’ve made a tactical error. We’ll still win in the end.”

“How?” Kelly demanded. “Any one of those ships could be carrying the goods.”

“Or they all could,” Viola said, suddenly sounding unsure.

“I don’t think they’d take that risk,” Nibsy said, letting the possibilities unfurl around him. “Multiple ships mean more to guard and additional chances that some of their treasures might go missing. They lost far too much when Khafre Hall burned. They won’t want to sacrifice anything more.” He paused, letting the Aether vibrate through him, listening. “No,” he told them, feeling surer than ever. He understood then what he had to do to ensure his own victory. “The other ships are nothing but a distraction. The Order will keep the shipment together. One of those ships holds what we’re after.”

“But which one?” Viola asked, squinting toward the river. “What do we tell the others?”

“The train can’t block enough of Eleventh Avenue to account for multiple routes,” Kelly said, frowning. “If we choose the wrong place to stop it, the wagon we want could get through.”

“There’s three of us and three boats,” Nibsy said. “There’s no reason to choose.”

THE DEVIL’S MARK

1902—New York

Viola gave Nibsy a cutting look. She’d been against Jianyu’s idea that they go back to Nibsy for help. She’d come up with every possible reason why it was a terrible idea to trust Nibsy—Dolph’s murderer—to neutralize the threat that her brother posed to Cela and Abel, because she’d known that he would turn against them—they both had. But at the time, there had been no other solution.

“You want us to go separately?” she asked Nibsy, suddenly more than suspicious.

“We could each follow one of the wagons,” Nibsy said easily. “It’s the only way to be sure.”

But a single glance at the guileless expression on Nibsy’s face told Viola that he was lying about something. Not about the ships. No, that particular trick made sense. Theo had warned them that the Order was nervous and that they should expect the unexpected. This new complication with so many ships certainly counted. But Nibsy’s idea of each of them going a separate way? Viola didn’t like it. It was too convenient that Nibsy would want to be away from the threat of her knife and her affinity.

“You seem far too eager to be off on your own,” she said coldly as she narrowed her eyes at him.

“We’ll have very little time once the boats land,” Nibsy reminded them both. “We won’t have room for hesitation or indecision. If the wagon, whichever boat it may be on, reaches the new headquarters before sundown, we won’t be able to touch it. Splitting up makes the most sense. At least one of us is sure to reach the Order’s goods.”

Paolo had been silent for too long, a fact that made Viola wary. “And then what?” he asked now, his voice cold and calculating. “What assurance do I have that you won’t go back on your word and take more than your share?”

“You think I would dare to cross you, Paul?” Nibsy said with a surprised blink.

More lies. More deception. Of course Nibsy would cross Paolo. It had been his plan from the start, and both Viola and her brother knew it. Why else would Paolo have been so willing to accept Viola’s plan to go to Nibsy pretending friendship, if not for the fact that Paul thought he could use her to keep Nibsy Lorcan in line?

Both wanted the other out of the way. That fact seemed the only thing about the situation that worked to Viola’s benefit. Let them have their little pissing contest. She had no intention of getting caught in the crossfire. Viola cared only about retrieving the ring and stopping the Order from regaining so much as a foothold in the city. She cared, too, about making sure that Cela and Abel were not harmed by their decision to commit themselves to this