Page 29 of A Dark and Drowning Tide

“What?” Adelheid looked genuinely taken aback. “That’s absurd.”

“Ludwig, I’m disappointed.” Heike put a hand on her hip. “I cannot believe you would give that poor man another questionable mushroom after what happened last time.”

“That wasn’t my fault,” he protested. “I just pointed it out.”

Adelheid sighed, digging her fingers into her temples. “Let us not discuss it again. Experiencing it once was enough.”

“As fascinating as this conversation is . . .” Lorelei glared at them. “What anomalies?”

“Environmental changes,” Adelheid said,“or—”

“We all knew this was risky,” Heike said with an almost feverish insistence. “Going through Herzin will add days to our travel time. I, for one, do not want to be on this ship a moment longer than I have to be.”

“You are steering us directly into the largest aetheric hot spot I have encountered in my entire career,” Adelheid said lowly. “I do not know what we’ll find. That is what disturbs me.”

“Well, I know what we’ll find in Herzin.” Heike gave Lorelei a speaking gaze. It said,People who want you dead. She twisted a lock of hair around her finger. The dreary sunlight had washed it to the color of rust. “So, what will it be, Lorelei?”

Lorelei hesitated. “Tell Emma to keep on toward Albe.”

“Yes, sir.” Heike’s smile was pure triumph as she sauntered off to the navigation cabin.

Adelheid gave Lorelei a speaking gaze of her own. It said,Coward. It stung more than she expected.

Ludwig folded his hands beneath his chin. “You two have been bickering even more than usual lately. What’s that about?”

Adelheid shooed him off her machine. “You have other things to do, I trust?”

“As charming as ever.” Ludwig winked at her. “Goodbye.”

Adelheid did not acknowledge him. With a resigned frown, she knelt beside the machine and began to fuss with some stray wires. It was simpler than Lorelei expected it to be: a long glass tube affixed to a wooden base. Inside was a set of metal wires that forked like the branches of a tree.

Lorelei considered leaving her to her work, but she could not pass over an opportunity to speak to Adelheid without theothers—especiallyJohann—looming.

“Will you show me how it works?” she asked.

Adelheid paused, clearly surprised, but did not glance up. “If you’d like.”

Cold prickled at the back of Lorelei’s neck. Then, a long shadow fell over her. Johann said, “Are you sure that’s wise?”

Lorelei whirled around to face him. “How long have you been standing there?”

His cold blue eyes bored into hers. “I’m always watching, Kaskel. You would do well to remember that.”

Adelheid regarded him with a touch of fond exasperation. “Peace, Johann.”

With one last, lingering look at Lorelei, he nodded and slipped away. Adelheid shook her head.

“He’s protective of you,” Lorelei said offhandedly.

“Yes. He thinks as ill of others as he does himself.” Adelheid turned a few dials without glancing up at her. “Are you well?”

“Exceedingly,” Lorelei said irritably.

When she closed her eyes, she could see Ziegler’s pale blue lips and the bloodshot whites of her eyes. She could still feel the boneless give of her arm when she turned her over. She drew in a long, slow breath, willing herself to stay rooted in her body. It had become too easy to desert herself, to be pulled back to the dark, close terror of that night.

Eager to divert the conversation away from her tenuous well-being, she asked, “Doyouthink ill of him?”

She winced as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Perhaps too direct.