Corvus (Stars and Sails, Book 1)

Twelve

Jade received two important letters on Monday morning. One was from the Admiral of the Fleet, Sir John Baines, stating that he urgently desired a discreet meeting with her at his townhome. The second letter was from Silas Noble. He anticipated the arrival of the Coronis' first crew member in four days' time and wanted her to prepare a room for him.

Both these letters made Jade wish she'd never stopped by the post office. But what could be done about it now? Not a damned thing.

Sir John Baines' townhome was situated centrally among a row of other colorful houses. His was yellow and out front, a gardener was busy promoting the growth of an ivy plant up around the parlor window of the house.

Jade sighed. The door knocker of Sir John Baines' home was shaped like a lion's head. He was a great devotee of King Atlas, the sovereign ruler of all of Duranta. The House of Garnet's ruling constellation was Leo, meaning that the heir would always be the family's first-born Leo. King Atlas was the father of seven daughters, and at one time, Baines had his own aspirations that his only son would marry the heiress, Princess Merope, but the match never came to be. His son was apparently very involved in the Navy. Jade had never met him, although he was expected to be as unpleasant and persnickety as his father.

An older man opened the door. He was on the plumper side, but he was dressed and groomed impeccably. He ushered her in quickly without saying much.

"Miss Harris, Good afternoon," he finally mumbled. He shut the door behind her. Locked it. Baines must have given him clear orders to have her in quick, so as not to have any piratical mischief seen loitering about his exquisite townhome.

And exquisite it was. Even to Jade's rather dull, no-salt-and-pepper kind of taste buds. But the girl couldn't have a nice thing. Without a thought, she knocked a clod of dirt off her boot. It got trapped in the fibers of the ornate rug. The butler's face became pinched. He tugged her onto the tile where she dusted off her trouser leg. There was some sort of gunk on it. Tar. She covered half the rigging—and herself, it seemed—in protective blacking.

"What am I here for?" she asked.

The butler knelt down with a handkerchief and tried to get the dirt out of the rug by manner of dabbing furiously. He dampened the cloth with water from a vase on the parlor table. "His Transcendence will be among us briefly."

The floor was of marble. On almost every surface was fancy Northern pottery and decorative Janwalan carpets.

Jade heard a rustling at the top of the stairs where Sir John Baines was robed in a much longer cape than usual. It trailed behind him on the floor. He grabbed the railing with his bony hands and began to wobble on emaciated legs. He raised the back of his hand to his forehead and sighed.

"Must you crawl about like that, Mr. Billingsly?" he whispered in a grating voice. "I am mortified with you crawling about like this. Lady Seiryu Baines and I will most unquestionably be the talk of the town if word gets out about your habits."

"Yes, of course, your Transcendence." Mr. Billingsly abandoned the stain and took his place by the door.

Baines reached the bottom of the staircase and leaned against the wall with glassy eyes. "I am overworked. I am fragile. It is all too much for me," he said.

"I'm afraid I cannot help you with that, sir," Jade said, turning for the door.

Baines narrowed his eyes. Nonetheless, he continued walking, just fine now, changing the leg he favored. "Come now," he said. "Come along." He walked out to the sitting room. He fluffed out his long cape and fell into a blue wing-back chair. Mr. Billingsly covered a seat in an old blanket so that Jade wouldn't stain it. She glowered at him and sat down with her knees apart. This distressed Baines, but Jade felt uncomfortable sitting with her knees together or whatever it was she was supposed to do. Didn't care for the pose.