Read Online Nero's Fiddle by A W. Exley - Free Book Online

scent. “I want to know why Nate seized control here.”
    He gave her a steady look, his head to one side as though assessing her, and then he made a noise in his throat. “You don’t think he was motivated by altruism and the desire to give us a better life?”
    Cara laughed. “I love him and I have seen him do selfless things, but they also advance his own goals in some way.”
    “Doesn’t matter if people make their living on their back on their feet, we all pay our tithe to the overlord, whether it’s Brandt or Lyons.”
    “Then what’s the difference?” she asked.
    “Ah.” He tapped the side of his nose. “The difference is what they do with it. Brandt lined his own pockets and squeezed us for more. Lyons cleaned out the drains, organised gangs of men to check every building had a roof that could keep out the weather and then he set up kitchens to provide one hot meal a day.”
    Cara stood on the edge of understanding. On the surface his motives still seemed like the noble philanthropist helping the less fortunate. Scratch the surface and there would be a deeper reason that advanced the Lyons Empire.
    “Look around, Lady Lyons, and what do you see?” Liam asked.
    As they walked, she scanned the faces on the street and saw a predominance of men standing on the corners. The older ones talked and joked. The younger ones sparred with each other, their moves critiqued by their jeering friends. Young men with idle hands and no direction in their lives.
    “Men.” She breathed the syllable as the purpose behind Nate’s altruism hit her. “Men loyal to the person who puts food in their stomachs and gives them something to do with their hands.” Nate had an army at his fingertips, should he ever need one.
    Liam nodded. “Now you get it.” He escorted her to the edge of his territory and then shook hands with Brick. “It’s been a pleasure, Lady Lyons.” Another bow, and he headed back down the street, whistling.



1809, twelve years old.
    ummer warmth filled the study and the elderly tutor at last succumbed and slumped over his desk, fast asleep. The soft snores rose and mingled with the drone of the bumblebees surrounding the lavender outside the window.
    Nan set down her pen and crept out the room. Free at last from her lessons, she escaped and went in search of her best friend. She dashed down the servant’s stairway to avoid meeting her mother on the main stairs. Her feet ached to run across the meadow, not mince in the ballroom to the latest dance. She burst into the sunlight and paused to take a deep breath of fresh air after so long in the stuffy nursery. Rounding the side of the house, she heard Nessy’s laughter ring out in the courtyard.
    Curiosity aroused, she sneaked toward the stables and peered around the side of the old stone barn. Her constant companion stood chatting with the stable boy, Roger. Tall, lanky, and handsome, the stable lad was nearly eighteen. Nan had decided he would be the one, her first kiss, if she could only work up the courage to broach the subject. He never showed any interest in her, despite her persistence and constant presence in the stables. Such a gentleman, worried about my reputation .
    He displayed no such reservations with Nessy. The two stood so close their arms brushed as they talked. His skin darkened by the sun, Nessy as pale as moonlight. The intimacy kept Nan hidden in the shadow, even as it grated that flirting came naturally to her friend. It wasn’t fair, no one worried if the common girl talked with the stable boys or gardening lads. She even practiced on the tinker pedalling his clockwork devices. Nan was wrapped in protective layers and barely allowed to say a word to anyone. Some days, she was convinced she lived in a glass bell jar and, scream as loud as she might, no one ever heard a whisper from her lips.
    Roger couldn’t tear his eyes from his buxom companion. With the arrival of spring, her figure blossomed in all the right places, giving