The Bright and Breaking Sea (A Captain Kit Brightling Novel Book 1)
The Bright and Breaking Sea: Chapter 24

The carriage was white and gleaming, the horses nearly the same, and far enough away from the velvet seat that Kit decided it was safe to ignore them. For now.

They bobbed across New London and the Saint James to the towering stone gates that led into the garden, where dozens of carriages were depositing those who planned to meet lovers, or enjoy supper, or take in the night air with a few thousand friends.

Grant offered the gold coins for their entrance fee, offered Kit his arm.

“Purely professional,” he said, but she didn’t care for the glint in his eyes.

“Professional,” she agreed, and placed her hand atop his arm, could feel the heat radiating from strong muscle.

This is going to be a long night, she thought.

“This is going to be a very interesting evening,” Jane said behind them.

Lambeth was large, nearly ten acres of tree-lined walks, colonnaded salons, theaters, and boxes.

They strolled the main walk, bounded by standing lamps that spilled light through the darkness, and watched couples do the same. Their chaperones—looking mostly bored or envious—walked behind.

“What time is our rendezvous?” Jane asked, and Kit felt Grant’s flinch.

“I wouldn’t allow her to help us without understanding the risks,” Kit said.

“Ten o’clock,” Grant said after a moment. “The pavilion is on the other end of the park.”

“And a known location for illicit liaisons.”

“Then it’s a perfect location,” Grant said. “We’ve some time before the rendezvous. I suggest we work our way across the gardens just as any other visitors, and watch for anyone unusual.”

A harlequin ran past them, tossing an enormous hoop into the air and catching it on the run, to the applause of the viewers.

“More unusual than that?” Jane asked.

“Differently unusual,” Grant said, then glanced at Kit. “Is that plan agreeable to you, Captain?”

“I have no objections,” she said. At present.

They strolled leisurely down one tree-lined path and up another, pausing now and again to watch some spectacle presented for the visitors’ amusement. Tumblers, dancers, actors, a man who shaved ice from a block in a sling around his waist into small paper cones. The weather was perfect, the elderwood trees bright with green. And Kit saw no one who appeared to be a spy.

Kit had grown used to trousers and boots—the comfort and the practicality—and had forgotten the discomfort of thin slippers on stone paths, the necessity of constantly lifting one’s hem outside to avoid dragging it through dirt and puddles and mud. And being New London, there were puddles aplenty at an outdoor garden. The slippers would be a noble sacrifice to this evening of patriotism. It was unfortunate, Kit thought, that she hadn’t borrowed the slippers from Astrid, too.

They made pleasantly vague conversation while they watched the surroundings, shared a cone of pistachio nougats—most of which went to Jane in payment for her toils—before they made their way to the towering pavilion of brilliant crimson and gold tile roofs.

“Perhaps a bench,” Grant said, pointing to a small covered seating box a few yards away.

“That would provide a good view,” Kit agreed.

“And ample privacy,” Jane murmured as they passed another box, where a couple were very indiscreetly entwined. “Have they no homes?”

“They do,” Grant said, following her gaze. “But they’re both married, and their spouses would probably frown on it.”

They took seats on the bench, Kit between Grant and Jane, and Kit nearly sighed in relief.

“Problem?”

“Shoes,” she said, lifting a torn and soiled slipper. “Boots are better. But would have looked horrid with this dress.”

“It is a very becoming dress,” Grant said quietly. “And a very proper ensemble.”

Kit was glad they sat in half shadow and he couldn’t see the heat that she felt rise up her cheeks. It was enough that they were pressed leg to leg on the bench. She didn’t need the reminder of their . . . compatibility. Compatibility could not overcome their positions, their divergent fates.

“And you look nearly proper enough to escort a captain of the Queen’s Own,” Kit said, tossing back the volley.

“Well met, Captain,” he muttered, and stretched out his legs to wait.

At a quarter till ten, a man approached. The path had been quiet for some time, so while they kept their positions, Grant in his half-reclined pose, she could feel the tension enter his body again.

The man marched down the path, and as he passed beneath a light, she recognized his face.

John Stanton, the boorish man from the Foreign Office she’d met in the palace. The man Kingsley had protected her against. He nearly strode past them, and Kit was thrilled by the possibility they’d found one of their traitors—and he was a man she already loathed. Until he stopped, looked over, and peered at Grant.

“Well, well,” he said, and strolled closer. “If it isn’t the viscount, returned to New London.” His voice was slurred, his steps unsteady, and he smelled of the arrack sold in the salon. Her excitement dissipated. Unless he was a rather remarkable actor, this wasn’t their man.

Grant cursed, rose. Kit and Jane followed suit.

“Stanton,” Grant said, and the men bowed. “May I introduce Captain Kit Brightling and her sister Jane Brightling? Ladies, this is John Stanton of the Foreign Office.”

Jane curtsied. Kit didn’t move.

“We’re acquainted,” Kit said. “Mr. Stanton has thoughts about Alignment, and felt free to share them in the palace one day.”

“Oh?” Grant asked, and his tone had gone hard. “Does he?”

“Surprised to see you here,” Stanton said. “Didn’t know you were back in town.”

“I’ve some business,” Grant said. “Why are you strolling alone through the gardens?”

“Why are you escorting foundlings in the gardens?” Stanton shot back.

“Stanton,” Grant said sharply.

“I’m not wrong,” Stanton said. “Plenty of women of good breeding and character. And coin. I understand you need a bit of the coin.”

Grant glanced at Kit. “I see you were correct.”

“About?” Kit asked.

“The boorish behavior of the Beau Monde. I replace myself rather embarrassed to be part of the same class.”

Stanton snorted. “You’re barely clinging to membership, given the estate and your brother.” He looked derisively at Kit, gaze settling on her décolletage. “And she’s certainly got no money to enrich your coffers.”

Completely unperturbed, Grant cocked his head at Stanton. “You’re a very small man, aren’t you?”

“I beg your pardon?” Stanton’s tone was all outrage.

“Oh, I don’t mean in stature. I replace that anyone with such remarkable rudeness has made a very small impact on the world. Has contributed nothing of use to it.”

Stanton took a hesitant step forward, had to look up at Grant. “I ought to call you out.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Grant said, boredom in his voice. “And I’ve more important considerations. Be off, Stanton, before you say something you’ll regret.”

She could see Stanton considering it, debating whether instigating a fight with Grant would be worth the cost he’d likely pay. And apparently decided against it.

“Trash,” Stanton said. “The entire lot of you.” And he stalked down the lane.

“‘O goddess sighted,’” someone called out, and a man, tall with a mop of blond curls, emerged from the darkness. “‘In thine bower innocent, in thine profile divine.’”

Kit smiled at the man who made his way toward them.

“Kit Brightling,” he said, giving her a gallant bow. “You look absolutely ravishing.”

Dorian Marten loved women, horses, and money, if not necessarily in that order. And Kit considered him a good friend. In addition to reciting poetry, he’d built Marten’s, the coffeehouse where investors bought and sold the risk of sailing ships and the merchandise they carried, and he’d done it despite his Beau Monde father’s objections. His father, the earl, was opposed to Dorian having a trade, and disowned him for the effort.

“I know nothing about this week’s Crown transports,” Kit said. “So flattery will do you no good here.”

“Flattery eases the way socially,” he said, and glanced at Grant. “And I believe this man with the rather angry expression is Viscount Queenscliffe.”

“Rian Grant, Dorian Marten.”

“Marten,” Grant said.

“I believe I’ve seen you at the Seven Keys,” Dorian said, “although I’ve not had a chance to play you at indigo. I hear you’ve a very talented hand.”

Kit looked at Grant. “You play?” Indigo was the favorite card game of soldier and sailor alike. Thousands of hands had been played in the Diana’s forecastle.

Grant nodded. “I enjoy a hand now and again. Marten’s is an impressive establishment.”

“I prefer to think so,” Dorian said, gaze sliding behind Kit.

“My sister, Jane Brightling,” Kit said.

“Enchanted,” Dorian said, and bowed over her hand.

Apparently realizing, belatedly, that Kit and Grant stood together, Dorian cocked his head. “Have I interrupted a rendezvous?”

“A pleasant evening in the gardens,” Grant said smoothly, smiling mildly, but his gaze on the rendezvous point. “With an escort. Are you strolling alone?”

“I had plans to escort a young lady,” Dorian said, “but circumstances conspired against us. I decided to come alone, as one never knows what one might replace in the dark. And in this case, it was a captain and a viscount.” He studied Kit and Grant, and peered very carefully over his shoulder before turning back again.

“I have the sense I should continue discussing inane things while something important occurs.”

“That is exactly what you should do,” Kit said, keeping her own eye on the pavilion. “How is business?”

“Very well, thank you. I’ve a pistol if necessary.”

Grant’s brows lifted. “Why are you carrying a pistol?”

“One never knows what one will replace in the wilds of Lambeth Gardens. Other than snogging marquesses,” he said, and gestured in the direction of the amorous couple.

There were footsteps behind them. Grant put a hand at Kit’s back, fingers warm even through the fabric, and leaned toward her. If she hadn’t seen the approaching men—and they were men, or so it appeared—both in greatcoats over full dress—she’d have thought he was teasing her again.

“Do you prefer left or right?” Grant whispered.

She giggled—her first experience at the sport, and she found it unsettling—and watched as the two men neared the pavilion, eyed each other for a moment, then nodded.

“Right,” Kit decided, as she could more easily pivot in that direction.

“You’re so funny,” Jane said, apropos of nothing, but linking her arm through Dorian’s as if he’d just shared the most enjoyable anecdote. It hit just the right note, added just the right amount of show, and Kit decided her sister could join her for an operation anytime.

Kit nearly jumped when the first firework burst, light and sound filling the air. And she wasn’t the only one. Despite having planned to meet during the fireworks, the men jumped apart, looked around.

“Go,” Grant said, jumping toward the man on the left.

Eyes on the other one, Kit pushed off into a run.

This wasn’t his first time at Lambeth, Kit thought. She chased her quarry down the lane, where he dodged left and into the forest that covered the northern end of the gardens. Three acres of trees, streams, meandering dirt paths. If she lost him in the woods, he was as good as gone. Which was undoubtedly his plan.

Kit followed him through a copse of hackcherry trees, their white petals a carpet across the ground that sent their fragrance—vanilla and musk—rising into the air. Another firework whistled, casting green light upon the landscape and the man fifteen feet in front of her.

The man glanced back, and she saw the flash. Kit darted left, but heard stitches tear along her sleeve, then the thwack of the blade hitting behind her. She turned, found a blade still wobbling in a tree trunk. “You bastard,” she muttered, but pulled out the knife, spun it in her palm, and took off again.

His legs were longer, but Kit was faster, notwithstanding the dress and slippers, both of which would undoubtedly be ruined by the experience.

She decreased the distance between them to twenty feet, then fifteen. He darted to his right, running around a small pool and fountain. Kit followed him down the stone path that surrounded the pool, leaned forward, pushed harder, narrowing the gap to ten feet, and threw the blade already in her hand. She gauged her distance and flicked her wrist, sending the knife spinning through the air.

It struck him in the calf. He screamed, limped twice, pulled out the blade, and tossed it aside. Then he darted into a tallgrass meadow that lined the south side of the path.

“Oh, bloody hell,” she said, hearing Grant’s voice in her head.

The grass was easily five feet tall, and impossible to see through. She stood at the border, worked to slow her breath and catch the sound of footfalls, of movement, of shifting pebbles or scratching leaves.

She heard nothing.

The man was gone. Swearing, Kit walked back to the spot where she’d hit him, picked up the man’s knife, and slipped it into her reticule.

Kit followed the same path back to the pavilion, found Dorian waiting with Jane, and Grant emerging from another path.

“Nothing?” Grant asked.

Kit kept her gaze steady. “Dorian, could you escort my sister home?”

Jane lifted her brows. “Am I being excused?”

“I believe we both are,” Dorian said. “My carriage is waiting, and I’m happy to escort Ms. Brightling, although I’m very disappointed I won’t have the details on”—he gestured at Kit and Grant—“whatever this is.”

“The nation’s business,” Grant said.

Jane looked at Kit, who nodded. “It would be best,” Kit said, “while we finish things here.”

“All right,” Jane said with a sigh. “But I’m owed a good adventure.” She looked at Dorian, who held out his arm, and then placed her arm in his.

Dorian smiled at Kit. “I’ll call soon, if you’re to be in town for a bit?”

“For now,” Kit said.

“What do you know about the dionic acids?” Jane asked as they strolled back toward the entrance.

“Nothing at all,” he said. “Enlighten me.”

“You and Marten are friends?” Grant asked when they were alone again, a rather steely tone in his voice.

“We are,” Kit said lightly. “And will continue to be.” Since she was entirely uninterested in pursuing that line of discussion with Grant, she gestured toward the pavilion. “I didn’t see his face. Did you?”

“No,” Grant said after a moment. “Mine was in shadow.”

Kit nodded. “Mine wasn’t quite as tall as you. Pale skin—I saw his wrist between coat and gloves, but nothing identifiable. Except that he was wearing a Guild token.”

Grant’s brows lifted. “That was bold.”

“Or stupid, given it implicates the Frisian consulate.” She pulled out the knife, offered it to Grant. “He’ll also be hobbling, favoring his left leg.”

Grant’s eyes widened. “You stabbed him?”

“He threw that at me. I threw it back.”

Grant’s smile was wide and pleased. “Well done, Captain. I’ll have it delivered, along with a report, to Chandler. And I expect the queen will want to speak with us tomorrow.”

“May I confess something?” Kit asked.

Grant placed the knife inside his coat. “You’re disappointed Stanton wasn’t our man.”

Kit looked up at Grant. “Terribly disappointed. It would have been so satisfying to see him dragged before the queen. Next money’s on Thornberry.”

“It’s not Thornberry.”

“He’s an ass,” Kit said.

“Inarguably,” Grant said. “But they rarely make good spies. They aren’t nearly charming enough, and can’t keep their mouths shut long enough to obtain information.”

That made a certain disappointing sense.

A plink echoed in the silence, the sound of a droplet hitting the earth. Kit looked down, and saw crimson against the stone, and the trail of blood along her fingers from the gash in her arm.

“You’ve been injured,” Grant said, and pulled Kit bodily into the light, turned her so the wound was visible. Red striped her biceps in nearly the same position he’d been injured at Finistère.

“He got my sleeve,” Kit said, turning to look, “but I only heard the seam rip. I didn’t feel anything. It’s not so deep.” But she began to feel it now, as if awareness had deepened the injury.

“It’s deep enough,” Grant said. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, rolled it, tied it around her arm. Tightly.

“Ow,” Kit said.

“Now you know how it feels,” Grant murmured, then added a second knot. “You need a physick, but our town house is faster. It’s just over Lambeth Bridge.”

“I have a handkerchief,” Kit said. “Hetta can take care of the rest.”

“Oh, definitely not,” Grant said. “I’m not turning you over to Hetta so she can run me through for getting her daughter sliced up.”

“Afraid of my mother?” Kit asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Let’s go.”