Emma Holloway - A Study in Ashes

Time had no meaning in that state, but it felt as if she stared for a long time in horrified fascination. So many!

And then her dark power rose inexorably to feed—an impulse far beyond her control. It lunged, and she was suddenly immersed in a sensation that was both hot and cold, as if every nerve was overwhelmed with sensation. And it was delicious—a taste and smell that was intoxicating and yet had nothing to do with her external senses at all. It was like absorbing starlight, or bathing in the sound of rain. Most of all, it was ending starvation. After using so much magic to protect the ship, she had been drained without knowing it.

Cautiously, she took Nick’s hand, preparing to call their shared magic. For a seasick moment, she wasn’t sure it would work—perhaps her magic had grown too dark to summon that pure, brilliant light, or perhaps Nick would push her away in disgust now that he had witnessed her replenish her powers. Slowly, she looked up to see Nick watching her, his dark eyes carefully neutral.

“So that is how death magic works,” he said softly.

Cold seeped through her. With one word of disgust, he could blast her world apart as completely as any aether weapon. She began to shiver. “Are you appalled?”

“No. You saved my ship and crew. It would be churlish to complain now.” He kept his features still, making his thoughts impossible to read.

Evelina’s heart lurched, afraid of the worst. “Nick!”

Quickly, he squeezed her hand. “Evelina, I told you to make this power your weapon and your ally, and you’re doing it.” But the lines around his mouth were tense.

She swallowed hard. “It’s another thing to see it, isn’t it? You were raised by Gran Cooper, too. You can’t help being horrified.”

He shook his head, and his stiff expression melted into one of contrition. “Not horrified. Sobered, because now I see the edge you must dance. I don’t think I completely understood what you were going through. And I’m sorry if I treated anything with less weight than I should have.”

“Don’t be,” said Evelina, finally breathing again. “If you’d coddled me any more than you did, I think I would have crumbled altogether.”

At that, he finally stirred, taking both her hands and raising them to his lips. His dark eyes met hers for a long, languorous beat. Nick was Nick, always on her side, and the silver fire of wild magic burned bright between them even in the full light of day. Evelina squeezed her eyes shut, her entire body aching with relief and gratitude.

When she opened them again, his lips curled into a smile that mixed mischief, pride, and a vulnerable softness she rarely saw in him. For an instant she glimpsed the family man he might become. And then it was gone, and the captain was back. “You don’t crumble, Evelina.”

No, she just melted whenever he looked at her. She cleared her throat. “I think you were saying something about needing the devas again.”

When she opened her consciousness again—more gradually this time—she felt the familiar rush of spirits eager to join with the wild magic she and Nick shared. She caught them—this time dispensing even with the short verse she had used before. She made her offer wordlessly—more with mental images than anything else. The devas of earth and tree grasped her meaning at once. Too many of the city’s gardens had been swept away to make room for commerce, forgetting what was owed to health and spirit. They were willing to fight for their place in the metropolis.

They flowed into the machines, eager to turn the battle against the barons. But the nature spirits weren’t plentiful enough to subvert two entire armies, and Evelina searched further, drawing on Nick’s strength and the deep well of dark power. When it was firmly in her grasp, she delved deep into the earth and sky around them.

There were other kinds of spirits there, ones that barely had names—but the battle had stirred them to consciousness. At first Evelina thought them earth devas, but they were more than that, and less.

Who are you? she asked.

At first, they didn’t know how to answer.

Where do you come from? asked Nick, who seemed to be able to speak to these creatures as easily as she could. Where do you live?

Here , they said, and suddenly Evelina’s mind was filled with images of alleyways and iron gates, churchyards and cellars. There was the song of bells and the splash of fountains, the hidden waterways and the whisper of wind in the high places. We are London . And then came angry images of the ramshackle rookeries and sickness, and she understood that these city spirits were every bit as furious with the steam barons as the country devas.

She felt Nick’s intake of breath at the same moment as hers. These devas were something new, something neither Gran nor Magnus had spoken of. And yet it made perfect sense. When a city grew old enough, it began to have devas of its own. These were babies compared to the devas of Dartmoor, but they were there and willing to help. Best of all, there were thousands of them.

The dark power rose like a tide, lifting them all. Evelina felt the mass union of magic and machine almost as an audible click in her mind. It wasn’t so much a spell as opening a door between possibilities, permission asked and received.

The devas poured into the war machines of the steam barons, destroying them from the inside out—or turning them on each other. When the foot soldiers saw the artillery developing a mind of its own, many threw down their weapons and ran.

Evelina laughed, but it came out more like a gasp. The magic had left her ringing like a bell, joyous and somber at once. She reached up to realize that her face was wet with tears.

“That should keep them busy,” Nick said under his breath, still grasping her hand.

Too soon, the intimacy of the spell was broken. The prince joined Nick and Evelina, a number of airmen ranged around him like a guard. He was tense, the muscles of his jaw jumping. “I need a report. What’s going on out there? What is that caterpillar doing?”

Nick answered. “The air devas say the forces with the caterpillar are holding the King Coal’s rolling spheres on Waterloo Bridge.”

“How? They can’t be anywhere near as strong.”

“Through sheer cheek and a handful of sharpshooters, from the sound of it.”

A cluster of men broke through the fighting and ran forward. Nick and the other airmen drew weapons, closing ranks before the prince, but Evelina cried out in pleasure as soon as she saw who it was. It was half a dozen of the cavalrymen in their blue coats, a lieutenant in the lead, and in their midst walked two figures in civilian clothes. She’d never thought she’d be glad to see Lord Bancroft, but there he was with Bucky Penner. Both men were bruised and dirty, but wore triumphant smiles as they bowed low before the prince.

There was little time for more than the barest formality. Both men nodded a surprised acknowledgment to her, but Bucky quickly unslung a sack from his shoulder and knelt before the prince, Lord Bancroft at his side.

“Your Highness,” said Bancroft. “Here are devices that will disable the Gold King’s war machines. We brought them to you through the underground, but you should know that from this point west, the tunnels are filled with enemy soldiers.”

“How did you get through?”

Bancroft blinked, as if not quite sure how he was still alive. “The men who are in company with my son found us. Not all of our rescuers made it back.”

“Your son?” the prince asked.

“The one on the caterpillar.”

Tobias? Surprised and yet not, Evelina craned her neck, trying to see over the crowd, but she couldn’t see him.