The Kraken King by Meljean Brook Page A

she wasn’t bombarded with too many distractions.
    And if Zenobia spent most of her time working, she could avoid any awkward encounters with the governor.
    She couldn’t avoid him entirely, though. The town was far too small. Zenobia wouldn’t hide from him, in any case. She just wouldn’t explore the parts of town where he was most likely to be.
    Perhaps she should also avoid the parts of town inhabited by giant spiders.
    Her steps slowed. Disbelieving her eyes, she stared ahead. A rounded body with long legs approached along the shadowy street. She wasn’t imagining that.
    Pulse racing, she glanced back. Mara and Cooper strolled together, hand in hand.
    “It’s only a mountain walker,” Mara called ahead.
    A machine. Yet she couldn’t hear an engine.
    Fascinated, she pulled Helene to the side as it came closer, stepping into the faint spill of light from the nearby houses. The belly of the machine’s body stood taller than her head. From her angle, she couldn’t properly see the driver—she only had the impression of a dark figure sitting beneath the canvas canopy. A low thrum filled the air, so much quieter than any engine she’d heard before. A soft hiss accompanied every push of its hydraulic legs.
    She would have to ask Archimedes if he had ever seen one.
    They waited until it passed before starting off again. A few steps later, Helene gave a shuddering sigh. Since she had concealed her distress after the officers had left, Zenobia assumed the sound meant her friend was ready to talk about it now.
    “Helene?”
    “Oh, Geraldine. I asked again about leaving—and Lieutenant Blanchett is quite certain that we can’t go any farther until we are sent for.” Tears shimmered in her eyes. “And I love my husband so.”
    Stopping, Zenobia took her friend’s hands. As gently as possible, she asked, “Surely a few more weeks cannot make much of a difference.”
    “It will make all the difference.” Tears slipped over her cheeks as she admitted, “I’ve been such a fool. I missed him so. And his family is . . . they do not like me well.”
    And that was as close as Helene would ever come to saying why she’d gone to another man, Zenobia understood. “So you were alone at home.”
    “Yes.” Pulling her hands free, Helene began walking again. “I must go before the month is out. Or there will be nothing for me at all.”
    “No one at all?” Her friend hadn’t become pregnant alone.
    Helene glanced at her, then looked away. “It’s not possible. And I love Basile. I do.”
    And it wasn’t unheard of for a child to arrive early, and still be healthy. But not even the most besotted of men would believe that a child was his, if it was born six months after bedding his wife for the first time in a year. Even seven months strained credibility. “So you believe that if you arrive in the Red City soon, there will be no questions later.”
    A fierce look from Helene faded into a sigh. She nodded. “It has already been six weeks.”
    Not much time left. Two weeks at best. Even then, Basile Auger would have to be an idiot not to realize the truth.
    The question was: What would her husband do when he learned it?
    “Are you afraid of him?” Zenobia asked quietly.
    “Not that he will hurt me. He is such a good man. Not like your father.”
    As she spoke, Helene offered Zenobia an apologetic glance, but it wasn’t necessary. Zenobia knew exactly what her father had been—it was why she worried for her friend now.
    “Good,” Zenobia said.
    “I do fear Basile will cast me aside. Then what will I have? Nothing. And I won’t have him.” Tears thickened her voice again. “I considered consulting a surgeon. But then I remembered your mother and I . . . I was terrified.”
    Of hoping for help, then finding a butcher.
    The memory left Zenobia’s heart sick and heavy. “Perhaps we can ask here. Who are these women? Pirates, soldiers, and smugglers. I don’t think they have such difficulty finding help when