Clockwork Heart: Clockwork Love, Book 1 by Heidi Cullinan Read Free Book Online Page A

well.”
    Conny, who had been sipping his sherry, nearly choked on his laughter. “How wonderful for you both. And how tragic, as I have no intention of leaving Calais.”
    Savoy’s smile became brittle. “I’m afraid it isn’t a request, child. Though don’t think of it as a command. Think of it as an opportunity.”
    Conny set the sherry aside, and his nonchalant façade as well. “If Archduke Guillory wishes to incarcerate me, he will need to send someone more adept than an unwashed bear to flash his lapel and drool onto my sleeve. Should either of you think you can by any means cajole me into helping your war effort, you are both so stupid I could cry.”
    Unfortunately this candor didn’t erase Savoy’s leer. “Such spirit. Mmm. ” He sipped his tea in a manner that managed to make Conny’s skin crawl, then set the cup on the table between his sofa and Conny’s chair. “Enough of what will be. Tell me instead about working with Félix Dubois. They say he has many inventive clockwork prosthetics, some which are downright miraculous.”
    “Master Félix is a genius, yes. He is currently attempting a clockwork liver, and his mechanical spine was sold for a handsome sum to the King of Sweden, who wanted it for his young son afflicted with palsy. Every day another letter comes from a university begging him to teach, or a factory offering an emperor’s ransom for his skills. But he wishes only to remain in Calais. Which is where I shall stay also.”
    “A liver? That would be something to see, certainly.” Savoy laced his fingers together and leaned forward, his greasy smile back in full force. “Has he shown you any other organs? A stomach? A lung?”
    “Of course. Lungs are entirely commonplace. Stomachs less so, but there have been a few.”
    “And what of a clockwork heart?”
    Conny should have seen it coming. But he’d been too busy being revolted by Savoy, and when the question came out of nowhere, he wasn’t ready. He startled, then quickly tried to steel himself, worrying it was too late. He did his best to channel his mother, hoping at least some of her acting ability was genetic. “Are you making a joke? Of course he doesn’t have a clockwork heart. We don’t have the technology for such a thing.”
    “We’re closer than you think. And the rumors are wild that Dubois has cracked the code. That he keeps it hidden and moves it from place to place so it can’t be discovered.”
    This was, of course, exactly the truth of what Master Félix had been doing. “Good God, you make it sound as if he is some kind of spy.”
    “How interesting you should bring that up. Because the rumors say he is that too. A spy for England.”
    A spy? Félix? Normally Cornelius would laugh, but given everything that had happened, he wasn’t certain what to put his faith in anymore. What he did know was he wasn’t sitting in this horrid lizard’s company any longer. Conny stood, retrieving his jacket from the arm of the chair. “Charming as it is to listen to your fairy tales, I believe I must be going. I’m sure I’ll never see you again, so I wish you the best of luck in finding a color of suit coat more flattering to your skin. Bonne continuation. ”
    He breezed out of the room before Savoy could force him to endure a response, managing to save his shudder for the privacy of the hallway. Much as he would have loved to vacate the house entirely, politeness dictated he find the magistrate first and bid him goodbye before taking his leave. Maddeningly, his host was indisposed, and Conny had to wait in the study for his chance at a brief audience.
    He poked about idly, running his fingers down the spines of some books on a shelf while keeping one eye on the door, hoping Tremblay would appear, worried Savoy would instead. There was no hope in finding something to read to fill the time, as the magistrate only kept dull books of record in here, saving the better titles for his library. Still, Conny amused