Read Online Clockwork Heart: Clockwork Love, Book 1 by Heidi Cullinan - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Heidi Cullinan
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up at Cornelius, despondent through his thick handmade clockwork glasses. “Yes. God help us, yes , child—someone has stolen the heart.”
Cornelius did his best to look surprised. And innocent. “Are you certain?”
“Nearly. The door was blown open when I returned, and they forced open the lock on the heart’s special case as well.”
Cornelius paused. “So you found it like this? Everything strewn across the floor?”
“You think I would treat the contents of my vault this way?” He motioned impatiently to Cornelius. “Come. Help me put things to rights.”
“But who would do this?” Cornelius asked Félix as he replaced a battery pack made with gold and silver diodes. The connectors in that one device were worth hundreds of francs for the metal alone. Yet whoever had come here hadn’t taken it. Which yes, meant they wanted only one thing.
Of course, they could not possibly have found it.
“I have no idea who would be so beastly as to perform this atrocity.” Félix paused as he put a gold-plated differential into a bin. “Well…I do have some ideas. But nothing solid enough to go on.”
“We should tell the magistrate.” Cornelius hoped his blush was easily mistaken for high emotions over the destruction, not his traitorous biology giving him away. He told himself there was no way to trace the theft to himself, not of the heart or the other pieces. He’d tarnished Johann’s clockwork so it looked aged and worn, the way a real pirate’s stolen clockwork would appear, and he’d rebuilt every bit he’d taken for his own use.
All but the heart.
Félix snorted. “I’m not telling the magistrate about this theft when he’s at the top of my list of suspects.”
“ What? ” Cornelius put down the broken clockwork finger he’d been holding. “You think…the magistrate could have ordered this?”
Félix hushed him and scurried to the door, closing them in. It wasn’t an action advised for laymen, but a master tinker and his apprentice could certainly undo their own locks. Even after they were sealed in, however, Félix spoke in hushed tones. “Yes, I think he easily could have done so. He’s kept strange company of late. Rumors are wild he is in cahoots with an Austrian spy.”
Cornelius’s eyes went wide. “I was with him the other day, but I saw no spy. A friend of my father’s was there, however. Insisting I go work for him in Paris, at my father’s decree.”
“Savoy? He’s nothing but a popinjay. The magistrate, however, is more than he seems. That flustered imbecile posture is nothing more than an act. And I fear now he and whoever he works for has penetrated my most secure space with relative ease.” Félix grimaced. “I should have moved it then, but I wasn’t ready. Frankly, I’ve put it out of my mind as much as possible, unwilling to address the problem of its security. And now look what has happened. I should have been more cautious, especially after the attack on the western shore two months ago. I had too much faith in my locks.”
The attack which had brought Johann into Conny’s life was somehow connected to this? “What do you mean?”
“The rumor is that it was a suicide mission meant to distract our soldiers while something nefarious happened on the eastern side of town. English airships, Austrian soldiers. I’m certain now they must have been after the heart.”
The barge of dead soldiers with Johann dying on top drifted all too easily into Cornelius’s mind. That had been a suicide mission? Had Johann known? Had he meant to die?
What on earth had Cornelius done, bringing such a dangerous man back to life?
He’s not dangerous. He’s Johann .
The thought was pretty and sentimental, emotions Cornelius began to realize he could ill afford. Johann rattled off a story about pirates so neatly, it seemed entirely true. Who was it, exactly, lurking in Cornelius’s bedroom? Who had just kissed him so sweetly?
Was the magistrate not the only one
Cornelius did his best to look surprised. And innocent. “Are you certain?”
“Nearly. The door was blown open when I returned, and they forced open the lock on the heart’s special case as well.”
Cornelius paused. “So you found it like this? Everything strewn across the floor?”
“You think I would treat the contents of my vault this way?” He motioned impatiently to Cornelius. “Come. Help me put things to rights.”
“But who would do this?” Cornelius asked Félix as he replaced a battery pack made with gold and silver diodes. The connectors in that one device were worth hundreds of francs for the metal alone. Yet whoever had come here hadn’t taken it. Which yes, meant they wanted only one thing.
Of course, they could not possibly have found it.
“I have no idea who would be so beastly as to perform this atrocity.” Félix paused as he put a gold-plated differential into a bin. “Well…I do have some ideas. But nothing solid enough to go on.”
“We should tell the magistrate.” Cornelius hoped his blush was easily mistaken for high emotions over the destruction, not his traitorous biology giving him away. He told himself there was no way to trace the theft to himself, not of the heart or the other pieces. He’d tarnished Johann’s clockwork so it looked aged and worn, the way a real pirate’s stolen clockwork would appear, and he’d rebuilt every bit he’d taken for his own use.
All but the heart.
Félix snorted. “I’m not telling the magistrate about this theft when he’s at the top of my list of suspects.”
“ What? ” Cornelius put down the broken clockwork finger he’d been holding. “You think…the magistrate could have ordered this?”
Félix hushed him and scurried to the door, closing them in. It wasn’t an action advised for laymen, but a master tinker and his apprentice could certainly undo their own locks. Even after they were sealed in, however, Félix spoke in hushed tones. “Yes, I think he easily could have done so. He’s kept strange company of late. Rumors are wild he is in cahoots with an Austrian spy.”
Cornelius’s eyes went wide. “I was with him the other day, but I saw no spy. A friend of my father’s was there, however. Insisting I go work for him in Paris, at my father’s decree.”
“Savoy? He’s nothing but a popinjay. The magistrate, however, is more than he seems. That flustered imbecile posture is nothing more than an act. And I fear now he and whoever he works for has penetrated my most secure space with relative ease.” Félix grimaced. “I should have moved it then, but I wasn’t ready. Frankly, I’ve put it out of my mind as much as possible, unwilling to address the problem of its security. And now look what has happened. I should have been more cautious, especially after the attack on the western shore two months ago. I had too much faith in my locks.”
The attack which had brought Johann into Conny’s life was somehow connected to this? “What do you mean?”
“The rumor is that it was a suicide mission meant to distract our soldiers while something nefarious happened on the eastern side of town. English airships, Austrian soldiers. I’m certain now they must have been after the heart.”
The barge of dead soldiers with Johann dying on top drifted all too easily into Cornelius’s mind. That had been a suicide mission? Had Johann known? Had he meant to die?
What on earth had Cornelius done, bringing such a dangerous man back to life?
He’s not dangerous. He’s Johann .
The thought was pretty and sentimental, emotions Cornelius began to realize he could ill afford. Johann rattled off a story about pirates so neatly, it seemed entirely true. Who was it, exactly, lurking in Cornelius’s bedroom? Who had just kissed him so sweetly?
Was the magistrate not the only one
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