There was something at work in Alice’s soul that she did not understand, but she suspected pretty strongly was horror. At the sight of Snodgrass’s grinning face, she lost all grip on rationale, since what else could be happening but that his dreadful ghost had arisen to seek vengeance against her?
The only flaw in this conclusion was that Snodgrass was not rising but descending—and, as Alice stared, he continued to do so, slowly but surely, until she realized he was clinging to a rope net. And this net originated from the window of a brick cottage that was gradually filling her view through the window, replacing the sight of Snodgrass. She glimpsed Cecilia Bassingthwaite through a gable window and blinked dazedly as the pirate woman nodded a greeting to her, before the cottage lowered further—
And then her soul sighed.Thisfeeling now, she understood.
Daniel stood on the roof of Puck House, one shoulder leaningagainst its chimney, ankles crossed, hands in his trouser pockets as he looked calmly across at her.
“Fiddlesticks,” Alice whispered with love.
Daniel waited until Alice had opened the flight window, then he smiled. “Sorry I’m late.”
Alice gave him a pale, sober look. “Did you remember the bread and milk?”
“No. I can go back for them—?”
“That’s fine,” she said. “I should probably save the world before having breakfast. Snodgrass left a bomb here, inside the crate. It’s set to detonate as soon as the cottage touches down. I plan to fly south and ditch the building in the sea. I’m ready to dutifully sacrifice my life for the sake of England’s safety, and ask only for a small mention in the next intra-agency gazette as my reward.”
“Hm,” Daniel said. “Or—just brainstorming, you understand—you could jump over here and we’ll shoot the building down into an empty field.”
Alice shook her head. “What if some girl is lying unseen in the long grass, thinking of her wedding day and wishing it was going to be with the butcher’s son rather than the wealthy but heartless viscount?”
Daniel stared at her. “What?”
“What?” she echoed defensively.
He gave it up. “Very well. Instead of crashing the house, I’ll come over and dismantle the bomb. If I fail to do so, we’ll revert to Plan A, and just hope gentlewomen in Hampshire are still a-bed.”
She considered this for a moment, then shrugged her mouth and nodded.
“Good.” He smiled at her, warming himself with the feeling of love in it. “Say‘circumroto sinistram.’ ”
“Circumroto sinistram,”she echoed.
The cottage spun port-wise in response to the line of incantation, groaning with the effort and shedding a few roof tiles. As the door aligned with Daniel’s view, Alice opened it. With her disheveled hair and red petticoat, she seemed almost piratic.
“That Latin gave me a headache,” she complained.
“I’m sorry. Come over here and I’ll make it better.”
She disappeared inside the cottage, and a few seconds later re-emerged, running across its threshold. She seemed to soar between the buildings, her petticoat billowing, her face serene. Landing midway up the roof of Puck House, she climbed easily to the ridgepole.
“Nicely done,” Daniel said as she arrived beside him. She shrugged mildly, and in response he pushed her back against the chimney, grabbed her face, and kissed her.
Puck House jolted like a horrified chaperone, but Daniel barely noticed. Alice clutched his shoulders, trying to pull him even closer. Her petticoat swirled around them in the cool, gold-lit wind, and Daniel felt his heart’s blood swirl too. He could not restrain his anger that she’d been in danger, and his relief that she was safe now, and his vast, bright love; he almost thought he might step off the roof with her and the force of the emotions would hold them up, defying gravity. Every nerve and muscle in his body began to prickle. It was what he’d always feared, this loss of emotional control.
Damn.If only he’d known how glorious it would feel, he’d not have wasted so many years being frightened.
Breaking the kiss at last, he gave Alice a fierce look. She gave him one right back. Her skin was flushed, her eyes vivid, and if she had saidKill the world, he would have done it for her in that moment, he would have done anything; she had become his new and forever obsession.
“Headache gone?” he asked.
“I have a head?” she said dazedly in response.
He laughed. “Go downstairs and let them know our plan. But be warned, they’re friendly pirates, which is a great deal worse than fiery ones. I’m afraid nothing is going to stop Ned Lightbourne from giving you a warm welcome.”
She frowned. Daniel wanted to kiss her again, to taste that wonderfully prim disapprobation and take it with him across the sky, but the A.U.N.T. cottage rocked and groaned in a manner that suggested it was going to fall at any minute.
“Right,” he said. “See you soon.”
