Page 23 of A Game of Scandal

I dropped my arm to my side, muscles screaming.

“It’s you fancy ladies,” Maud scoffed. “You’ve got to practise lifting something heavier than cucumber sandwiches.”

“That … is offensive,” I said, lying on the floor. The cool, cool floor.

Maud came to stand over me, then bent down to pick up my fencing foil. She hadn’t even broken a sweat. After she had replaced the foils in the cabinet, I heard her approach once more.

“Now it’s time for the real work,” she said, looming into view, holding out a hand to me.

“Just leave me here to die,” I grumbled, but I placed my fingers in hers.

“Come on, Anne Bonny.” She hauled me up. “Let’s see what you can do.”

“Izzy taught me a few things. I did incapacitate a giant,” I said.

“That’s my girl.”

Maud and I moved through the exercises that Izzy had taught me, drawing a sound of approval from my new instructor.

“Fine,” she said. “But we can do better. I don’t reckon you’ll need to defend yourself; Ash will have it in hand, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.”

“What do you know about Ash?” I asked as Maud gently manipulated my arm behind me.

“Not much,” Maud admitted. “Now, see how I’ve got your arm here? If I pull up…”

I winced. “Yes, I see.”

“It’s likely that you’ll be smaller than the person you’re fighting,” Maud said. “You have to be clever. You can’t use brute force. If in doubt, always aim for the soft parts: stomach, nose, in between the legs.” She smirked. “Especially the last one.”

“So Ash is a bit of a mystery, then?” I said, taking advantage of the brief pause.

Maud’s brows arched. “Why are you so interested, Lady Felicity Vane?”

“I’m going to be working with him. Don’t you think I should be asking questions?”

She smiled at me. “That’s not why you’re asking, but I can’t blame you. If I were that way inclined, I’m sure I’d be the same. He’s a handsome man.”

“That is an objective fact,” I agreed.

Maud’s smile grew. “Piratical, in fact.”

“Well, he was in the navy.”

“Told you that, did he?” she asked. “To be honest, I don’t know much more about his past than that. I trust him, though. He’s a terrible flirt – had more affairs than I can count, but they never last long with Ash. Somehow he always manages to leave things on good terms – you’ll find few with a bad word to say about him, and plenty who’ll tell you he showed them a good time.”

“Yes,” I said, my interest sharpening. “I can imagine that.” I could imagine it very well indeed.

“He and Joe are tight,” Maud continued thoughtfully, “and they run that club like a well-oiled machine. They’ve helped the Aviary out many a time – Joe has a list of contacts you wouldn’t believe. They’re not always strictly by the book, of course. Joe is one of the best fences in town.”

“Fences?”

“A fence sells on stolen property. A sort of bridge between thief and buyer.”

“Oh,” I said, fascinated.

Maud nodded. “And Ash seems to be able to get his hands on anything. His old sailing pals, I think.”

“They sell smuggled liquor at the club,” I said.