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Authors: Emma Jane Holloway
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the bracelets allowed the Yellowbacks to track her, but she’d had no idea they could deliver this kind of pain. Growing stubborn, Evelina took another step forward.The pain intensified until it seemed swords stabbed her through the elbows. She jumped back with a gasp, cradling her arms. Sudden, frantic panic surged up. It was one thing to be forbidden to leave, quite another to be caged. She rushed toward the gate, desperate to hurl herself against the barrier, to break through to safety. Agony blinded her before she gained two strides.
Evelina staggered back, sweat turning chill in the autumn air. She was shaking, sickness rising inside her, but it was hard to say how much was physical shock and how much was anger.
“Miss Cooper?”
Her head snapped up. It was Juniper—Moriarty—standing outside the gate. He had a walking stick in hand as if on his way out for a carefree stroll. He turned and came her way, the sleek malacca cane swinging as he walked. “You look rather peaked.”
Her words came out almost as a snarl. “What have you done?”
His eyebrows went up in mock surprise. “Me?”
It had been bad enough being confined to the entire university campus, but now she was stuck in an area one-twentieth the size. As her nausea faded, fury came to the fore. “You might have warned me that the bracelets would keep me locked up inside the Ladies’ College!”
He stopped a few feet away, the cane elegantly poised. “Testing our limits, were we?”
“Are you amused?” she snapped.
“Not really. None of this was my doing. I would be far more interested to see what you might accomplish unshackled. But that was the short-term compromise Mr. Keating reached with the chancellor until your ultimate fate has been decided.”
She seethed in silence.
“No one told you that your, uh, restraints had been altered?”
“No.”
“It did not occur to you that this might be the case?”
Evelina looked away, angry with herself for not anticipating more betrayal. “I just wanted a copy of the Bugle .”
He made a sympathetic face. “I’ll have one delivered.”
“Thank you.” But she didn’t care about the paper now. Her mind was too busy scrambling to grasp the implications of her shrinking prison.
Moriarty cocked his head. “I understand that the restraints are painful?”
“Quite.”
“Interesting. They are quite ineffective unless one is born with inherited powers.”
That caught her attention enough that she met his eyes—and then she regretted it. There was an avid sharpness to his expression that made her feel like a bug in a jar. “How do they work?” she asked. “They look like plain silver. That accounts for some of the reaction, but not everything.”
Though metal and gems often absorbed magic—especially gold—silver and the supernatural were a poor mix. No one knew why. Of course, that was precisely the sort of overlap of science and magic she wanted to research, and Camelin’s archive of books on magic had made the Ladies’ College her first choice. Little had she known that attending a university was no guarantee of the education she’d desired.
He went on. “I’ve never examined the mechanism, but both clockwork and magnetism are involved, as well as a rare element that reacts with magical energy to produce a chemical discharge. Only someone with inherited talent will trigger them.”
“Do you know how to get them off?” she asked.
“Alas, no. All that I know I’ve gleaned from the letter your patron wrote to Sir William, and Mr. Keating omitted that detail.”
“How unfortunate.”
“I concur.”
Moriarty took her arm and began slowly leading her toward the residence. Evelina forced herself not to shrink away. Common sense said that he might be as dangerous an ally as he would be a foe, but she wasn’t in a position to be choosy.
“I count my blessings that I aligned myself with King Coal and not Keating,” he said. “Your patron is too fond of absolute
Evelina staggered back, sweat turning chill in the autumn air. She was shaking, sickness rising inside her, but it was hard to say how much was physical shock and how much was anger.
“Miss Cooper?”
Her head snapped up. It was Juniper—Moriarty—standing outside the gate. He had a walking stick in hand as if on his way out for a carefree stroll. He turned and came her way, the sleek malacca cane swinging as he walked. “You look rather peaked.”
Her words came out almost as a snarl. “What have you done?”
His eyebrows went up in mock surprise. “Me?”
It had been bad enough being confined to the entire university campus, but now she was stuck in an area one-twentieth the size. As her nausea faded, fury came to the fore. “You might have warned me that the bracelets would keep me locked up inside the Ladies’ College!”
He stopped a few feet away, the cane elegantly poised. “Testing our limits, were we?”
“Are you amused?” she snapped.
“Not really. None of this was my doing. I would be far more interested to see what you might accomplish unshackled. But that was the short-term compromise Mr. Keating reached with the chancellor until your ultimate fate has been decided.”
She seethed in silence.
“No one told you that your, uh, restraints had been altered?”
“No.”
“It did not occur to you that this might be the case?”
Evelina looked away, angry with herself for not anticipating more betrayal. “I just wanted a copy of the Bugle .”
He made a sympathetic face. “I’ll have one delivered.”
“Thank you.” But she didn’t care about the paper now. Her mind was too busy scrambling to grasp the implications of her shrinking prison.
Moriarty cocked his head. “I understand that the restraints are painful?”
“Quite.”
“Interesting. They are quite ineffective unless one is born with inherited powers.”
That caught her attention enough that she met his eyes—and then she regretted it. There was an avid sharpness to his expression that made her feel like a bug in a jar. “How do they work?” she asked. “They look like plain silver. That accounts for some of the reaction, but not everything.”
Though metal and gems often absorbed magic—especially gold—silver and the supernatural were a poor mix. No one knew why. Of course, that was precisely the sort of overlap of science and magic she wanted to research, and Camelin’s archive of books on magic had made the Ladies’ College her first choice. Little had she known that attending a university was no guarantee of the education she’d desired.
He went on. “I’ve never examined the mechanism, but both clockwork and magnetism are involved, as well as a rare element that reacts with magical energy to produce a chemical discharge. Only someone with inherited talent will trigger them.”
“Do you know how to get them off?” she asked.
“Alas, no. All that I know I’ve gleaned from the letter your patron wrote to Sir William, and Mr. Keating omitted that detail.”
“How unfortunate.”
“I concur.”
Moriarty took her arm and began slowly leading her toward the residence. Evelina forced herself not to shrink away. Common sense said that he might be as dangerous an ally as he would be a foe, but she wasn’t in a position to be choosy.
“I count my blessings that I aligned myself with King Coal and not Keating,” he said. “Your patron is too fond of absolute
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