Artemis Files 0.5: Lexington Read Free

blonde curls like a halo, hiding the bleary red-rimmed eyes from his sight.
    Taking a deep breath, she regained her composure after the outburst. “Listen, daddy called when you were in the bathroom. He’s popping down in the morning. Apparently, it’s all over the news-streams.” She lifted her own glass of brandy and drank large gulps of the dark amber fluid as if quenching a parched throat. “He was ready to send all his marines down as well, bless his heart.”
    “ Honey, I’m sorry.” He said, taking a measured sip from his glass. “I know it was my idea to go with the governor tonight, but if I had known there were….”
    Poised, with a hand on her hip, she regarded him through that piercing stare her family seemed to have mastered. “It’s not as if it was your fault… however daddy told me what they’re saying. Those assassins had Britannic military issue weapons and they knew the route we were taking… so everyone is speculating that an insider helped them.”
    He felt his chest go tight as her words sank in, knowing what she was going to say next. In a cold voice, he spoke before she did. “And because I’m from Galway and was involved with the rebels when I was a kid, they’re thinking it was me?”
    She shook her head, gulping down more of the brandy. “That’s what the news-streams and gossip columns are saying. It has daddy mad. He wants me to come with him when his ship returns to Britannia, before we all become caught up in the lies and scandal. Honestly, we can’t drag my uncle into this, not at the moment.”
    He stared at her, disbelief in his eyes. “Your uncle? What the blazes has the king got to do with this? We don’t know anything about the attackers yet, whether they were after you or the governor, or even me! Don’t forget, we were a last minute addition to the party, so it’s more likely it was the governor they were after.”
    Reaching for her again, he softened his tone. “Ciara, this is just another of the random, disorganised attacks that’s been going on for the last fifty years. You know me, and after what we went through in the Ukie prison camp with our escape. Surely you can’t believe I’d be involved in something like this.”
    She nodded and let him pull her close. “I know, but it’s the media. Everyone’s so afraid of scandal at the moment, what with the Ukies rattling their sabres again and all the other disgraces breaking out about government corruption. Daddy is worried about our family name being dragged into ill-repute through misinformation and indiscretion.”
    Stunned, he visibly paled at her words. “I’m an indiscretion?”
    Gulping large amounts from her brandy balloon, she nervously twirled a lock of the blonde curls he loved to stroke with his fingers.
    “I didn’t mean it like that… don’t get upset. Oh, dammit!”
    Her eyes searched for his in the pregnant silence, locking on and keeping him fixed in the stare. He was stunned by her words, feeling cast aside and betrayed.
    Her family had never liked him and especially his background. An orphan from Galway that was once implicated in the rebellion and given the choice between prison or serving twenty years in the navy, he had none of the blue blood or pedigree the Royal Family preferred for their offspring. No matter that his father had been a well-respected inventor and his mother a distinguished biologist. The simple matter that he’d risen through the ranks and not been a member of the gentry excluded him from many of the Royal Family’s private engagements. Ciara saw through all that, ignoring his past and the whispered accusations. At least he thought she had until now.
    “Oh, dammit. I need a shag… now!” She announced suddenly, rubbing her body against his and forcing him to step back. With a hungry movement, she pushed him backwards to the bedroom, casting aside the brandy balloon as they passed a bookshelf. “Take me to bed or sleep on the sofa… it’s your choice,