Page 37 of Unearthing the Smuggler's Heart
"It is late," Jade said quickly, reaching out for the book so that Mathias would pass it to her. "Tomorrow we can spend the day compiling knowledge, if that suits everyone? I find I am quite tired tonight. It has been a taxing day."
Reluctantly, the others agreed, none willing to voice the fact that the curiosity in the room was palpable enough to keep them all awake for many more hours.
Isabelle gathered up the fans, eager to inspect them with her newly learned cipher skills in her bedroom. Mathias carefully repacked the dresses and suits, the booties, and the blanket. He left the ugly teapot on the carpet, leaning against the portraits, propped against the wall.
But he kept the love letters, tucking them into his jacket with a shrug. "Who knows," he said wryly. "Maybe they aren't really love letters."
The trunk was left where it sat. Although she knew it would sit undisturbed for the remainder of the evening, Jade felt nervous to leave it. She closed it carefully and brushed her fingers over the aged wood, sending forth a silent thought of farewell before turning her back on the common room.
She scaled the stairs with the leather book clutched to her chest. Would she sleep tonight? How could she?
"Don't start without us," Isabelle said from the door to her room, glancing at the book in her arms. She gave a crooked smile, holding up the fans in her arms. "Although I suppose you can't without these."
"Indeed not," Jade agreed, watching as Isabelle nodded happily and vanished into her bedroom, tossing an absent wave and asleep wellover her shoulder.
Jade stood alone in the hall for a moment, bidding both men goodnight as they reached their respective doors. Charles bowed politely and returned the sentiment before entering his room. Mathias paused with his hand on his door, giving her a knowing smirk, and vanished silently into his.
She drew in a deep, steadying breath in the moment after he vanished, then turned and opened the door to her private room, passing into the embrace of solitude.
For the first night in weeks, a bed meant only for her awaited, in a silent, still room with the windows thrown open. Cool night air and starlight both enhanced the luxury of the space. If she could manage to build up an appetite for sleep, she knew that she would rest soundly in such a pleasant place.
She moved toward her bed to set the book down on the blankets, eyeing it warily. She unbraided her hair with quick flicks of her fingers, unwilling to turn away from it at first, as though it might vanish if she did. She crawled into bed carefully and lifted it with both hands, frowning at it, and then turned to set it on her nightstand.
That was when she realized something had changed.
Her clock was askew, tilted at an angle she never would have chosen, and there, on the bedside table, was a cream-colored envelope with her name written on it.
How curious.
Momentarily, she forgot the book, one mystery overriding the other, and set it aside in favor of reaching out to clasp this envelope. She sat back on her bed, turning it in her hands. It was filled with something springy, and was not sealed properly, with the flap only tucked into the inside of the interior.
She took her time opening it, curiosity buzzing in her body, and out sprang the ends of several satiny ribbons, leaping from the container like living things. They fell to the bed in a prism of hues, red and teal and emerald and ivory. What in the world?
She turned the envelope over on her comforter and let the insides spill out. There were a dozen ribbons in all, each of notably fine quality and in varying thickness and length. Inside was a little note from Mathias, reading "to replace the one I lost," and another sheet of folded paper besides.
Oh, she thought, draping the ribbons over her thigh with her heart fluttering, heat rushing into her body.
She withdrew the second document, trying to ignore the way her cheeks flushed at the thought of this gift, directly from her dashing sea captain. What else could he have included? What else could add to the perfection of this gesture?
She unfolded a list, written in blocky letters in a rough imitation of her schedule sheets. It took her a moment to comprehend what she was looking at, and then all at once realized that it was the captain's duties on theHarpy, separated by the hour.
Something in her heart tumbled apart, cracking right down the middle and landing in her stomach with a resounding thud. It was like a shell had split apart, releasing something hot and liquid into her body, shooting out through her limbs in a molten flow.
She was numb, holding this list. This thing he had done for her.
She did not possess a clear thought process of what she was doing. Somehow she had come to stand, retrieved the satin robe from the hook on the door, and tied it around her middle. She left the room directly, darting across the darkened hall to knock briskly at Mathias's door before she had any time to think.
He opened it almost immediately, rubbing a towel over his wet hair. His jacket was gone and his shirt hung open at the chest, untucked and loose around his glorious chest.
"Jade?" he asked, dropping the towel to his side.
She was frozen for a moment, unable to act or speak, staring at him wide-eyed.
He frowned, opening the door a little further. "Is all well, Miss Ferris?"
"Thank you for the ribbons," she said, her voice dry and emerging in a croak. She swallowed, and tried again, clearer. "I just wanted to say thank you...for the ribbons."
He began to smile, to answer her in some way, and instead of awaiting whatever pretty words the fool was about to put together, Jade lifted herself up on her toes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him as hard as she could.
