Page 118 of Heart of Iron
He lifted his hand and she flinched.Will froze, then slowly reached out and brushed his fingers under her jaw, tilting her face toward him.“Somebody threatened you?”The words were soft.Dangerous.
Lena trembled.“I told them I didn’t want anything more to do with it.”
His brows drew together.“Lena, I ain’t gonna hurt you.”His fingers tightened on her cheeks.“I’m gonna smash someone else’s head into a wall, but I would never hurt you.”
Relief welled up like a sudden flood.A hot tear leaked down her cheek.“I thought you’d be angry with me—”
“Christ.”He grabbed her roughly, enveloping her against his chest.“No more secrets ’tween us.Promise?”
She nodded, breathing in his familiar scent.Her fingers clenched in his shirt.
“You’re mine,” he murmured.“Foolish plots and all.”
Stroking the sticky hair off her face, he lowered his head and brushed his mouth against hers.Lena kissed him desperately, clinging to his shirt.
Behind them someone cleared their throat.“What, precisely, is going on?”Honoria asked.
They were all four staring at her.Blade examined the situation, his eyes narrowed.“Someone came in here, took one of Charlie’s toys, didn’t they?Took a lock of his hair?”
Charlie clapped a hand to his head, as though searching for the lack.
Will took a deep breath.“Lena?You may as well tell ’em.Blade’ll need to know, if we’re to keep the boy safe.”
Lena slid her hand into his and locked her gaze on Honoria’s.“Promise me you won’t yell.”
Honoria crossed her arms over her chest.“I wouldn’t want to make a promise I might break.”
This was the price of keeping secrets.Lena squared her shoulders and told them everything.
When she’d finished, everyone was looking at her.Honoria’s mouth was a hyphen, but at least she wasn’t screaming.
“Humanists,” Blade muttered.“Like your father?”
Honoria nodded sharply.“I assume this has something to do with the cipher-text Will wanted me to decode?”
Lena breathed a sigh of relief.“Yes.I thought it was only times and dates for them to meet.Information.”
Her hopeful look died when Honoria’s gaze skittered away.“I tried an auto key cipher, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of it,” Honoria said.“So I asked Leo.His colleague, Lord Balfour, has this wonderful machine, based on one of Babbage’s uncompleted designs.It’s an electro-mechanical rotor cipher machine and—”
“The message,” Blade interrupted with a slight smile.
“‘Project Firebird aborted.Suspect sabotage from within, holding off and awaiting orders.Mechanists under hand once more.Await further instructions.’”
“What does it mean?”Lena asked.
Honoria shrugged.
“Firebird,” Will muttered.“The draining factories?”
“But Ros… Mercury claimed they had nothing to do with that.”
“Then she lied,” Will said.“Or someone else is sendin’ these messages from the humanist faction.”
“Bloody politics,” Blade muttered.
Honoria frowned.“What I want to know is why you kept all of this to yourself.Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I told you,” Lena stammered.“I didn’t realize—”
