Read Online Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti - Free Book Online

think it was a bomb. Apparently the stripes are suspicious because the refinery blew up right at the stroke of eleven.”
    â€œYes, it did.” Taya remembered the clocks ringing the hour in Cristof’s shop. “Did they find any bomb parts?”
    â€œNot by the time the paper went to press.” Pyke turned a page. “I’ll pick up a copy of the Evening Dispatch tonight. Maybe they’ll know more by then.”
    Taya looked at the ink stains on his fingers and remembered Cristof. She’d thought the repairman’s dirty hands had meant he didn’t care about cleanliness, but his workshop had been neat, and he’d been annoyed by the mess her bloody hands had made.
    And he’d washed his hands as soon as he’d left the room.
    So, why had they been dirty in the first place?
    Could he have been walking back from the refinery?
    No. That was ridiculous. A thousand blessed rebirths did not produce a terrorist. An outcaste, maybe, but not a terrorist.
    Although there had been Decatur Neuillan’s treason…
    â€œHey, Taya!” An icarus with her wings folded down walked into the dining room, waving a letter. “Message for you!”
    â€œI’m here.” Taya stood, surprised. Mail was usually kept for icarii at the dispatch office. She took the heavy parchment envelope with curiosity. A large, painted wax seal and gold ribbon held it closed.
    â€œI brought it straight from the Octavus estate.” The icarus grinned. “I was told to put it in your hands. I’m glad you’re not out flying messages already.”
    â€œYou’re Ranelle, aren’t you?” Taya remembered the younger girl; she’d been a few classes after Taya’s.
    â€œYes.” The girl looked gratified at being recognized. “That was really amazing, what you did yesterday. Everyone’s talking about it. All the fledglings are begging their teachers to run rescue drills today.”
    â€œThanks.” Embarrassed, Taya turned the envelope over in her hands.
    â€œWell… I’d better get going.” The girl sounded reluctant. “Bye, Taya.”
    â€œFly safely.”
    Taya felt the whole room’s eyes on her as she sat back down. She put the letter on the table and stole a glance at her friends.
    â€œYou might as well open it here,” Cassi said pragmatically. “Whatever it says, it’s going to be all over the eyrie in a matter of minutes.”
    â€œIt’ll be a thank-you,” Taya guessed, picking up a butter knife and wiping it clean on a napkin. She eased the seal up, unwilling to break such a beautiful object.
    The letter was on vellum, inked in three colors; black for the text, red for the proper names, and gold around each capital letter. Cassi gasped, leaning over her shoulder. Neither of them had ever seen such ornate script before.
    â€œMust be nice to have that much time to spend on a letter,” Pyke remarked. Cassi elbowed him in the ribs. “Oh, sorry, the exalted didn’t have to spend any time on it. Some poor sap of a dedicate clerk did all the work.”
    â€œâ€˜To Taya Icarus, greetings,’” Taya read aloud for her friends. The rest of the dining hall fell silent as everyone listened. Even the cook stood in the doorway, drying a platter. “‘To offer thanksgiving and gratitude for your timely rescue of Exalted Viera Octavus and Exalted Ariq Octavus, and to celebrate perils overcome, you are invited as the guest of honor to Estate Octavus for a formal evening of dinner and dancing.’”
    The other icarii in the room broke into applause. Taya turned red, reading further. “Oh, scrap! What am I going to wear?”
    Pyke groaned.
    â€œI don’t believe that was the first thing to come out of your mouth,” he said with disgust. “How about an observation about the comparative value of dinner and dancing to the life of a wife and a child? Not to mention