Lady Doctor Wyre by Joely Sue Burkhart Read Free Book Online Page A

out of silk before she could cover the ceiling. Besides, she needed a reminder now and then of where she was, and the danger that awaited her.
    Here through the long, impossible winter months, she’d often laid awake through the darkest hours while winds howled about her cabin until they both shuddered with terror. She’d allowed a very dangerous fantasy play out in her mind.
    Britannia’s global shields were the finest in the universe and always locked down tight. It would be no easy feat to breach the mighty shield. Lord Regret had managed to flit in and out of Londonium port before Charlotte’s planned death event, but since, he’d never dared attempt re-entry.
    Even if one managed to slip inside the shield, Londonium now possessed an even tighter second shield, keyed, she suspected, to automatically scan DNA upon entry of every living creature. Once inside that shield, Raven Guards numbered in the thousands, and Queen Majel was rarely sighted outside Winsor, the most technologically advanced castle in the galaxy.
    Sig breathed deeply and rhythmically, surely asleep so his body could recover the trauma of their annual exchange. So she dared whisper a question she didn’t really expect him to answer. “If I asked you to kill Queen Majel…”
    “Yes.” His whisper was almost too low to hear, but she felt the word vibrate against her chest. “For you, I’d find a way.”

Chapter Five
    One of the benefits of being a famous and well-paid assassin was definitely the toys…er… equipment . Back at his ship, Sig settled into a much smaller yet luxuriously appointed skiff to make a quick trip to York. Of course, one of the negatives of said fame meant he had to disguise himself to avoid bounty hunters and fans alike.
    He needed information to confirm his hypotheses. Did Queen Majel truly suspect—or worse, know—that Lady Wyre hid on Americus? Despite the revolution, bustling York was more than big enough to house Royalists still loyal to the Queen, and as such, might be providing information to her. That river could flow both ways if enough pressure was applied, and he was an expert at finding points of weakness and pain.
    Of course he might have been able to find such an informant in Queenstown, but that might have taken him longer to find a Royalist with high enough clearance. He was not merely flying to York to avoid the sheriff.
    Sig grimaced at himself in the mirror one last time and called himself a fool. Not at all.
    The easiest solution, of course, would be to simply kill the competition. But then Charlie would probably never forgive him. On principle, she certainly wouldn’t then jump onto his catamaran and sail away with him to live happily ever after as he killed his way through the universe. So, cowardly avoidance it was, because he couldn’t afford to lose his temper and drop the bloody bastard with a bullet or blade to the groin.
    Although he’d hidden his trademark golden hair, he dressed the part of Lord Regret, which meant nothing but the finest attire in the galaxy. No Royalist would ever stoop to confide in a man not dressed like a gentleman. Of course he needed to speak to the ladies, not the menfolk on this colony, for Queen Majel would have picked her top spies very carefully indeed. The colonists might have relaxed the rigid rules of Society Britannia had placed upon her citizens, but the aristocracy would never forget, and it was exactly a blooded House that he needed in order to get close to the Queen.
    He especially needed a lady so desperate to return to Her Majesty’s good graces that she’d sell her own soul.
    In the late hours of the morning, well-bred ladies could be counted upon to be browsing at the finest shops. As though he owned the entire district, Lord Regret flew directly to the East End where he paid a boy to wipe down his skiff and keep vandals and thieves at bay while he strolled the streets.
    Within thirty minutes he was too disgusted to keep the curl of distaste from