Page 85 of The Secret of Drulea Cottage

Briony closed her eyes and tried to sense the heat that had come upon her so suddenly before. If she could just control it, she could—

There!Briony willed the heat to spread across her skin, down her arms, and into her hands.

Alves gasped and let go of Briony’s wrists, gaping at her in shock. He lifted his hands only to see that his fingers had turned bright red.

“What’s the problem, Alves?” Cardoso called from inside.

The man replied with a startled shout in Portuguese.

“Nonsense! Skin can’t burn someone.”

Briony heard the commodore rising from his chair and rolled her eyes.Am I finally worth standing up fer?

When the man appeared in the doorway, he placed his hands on his hips and stared Briony down as if he was scolding a child. “Now what’s the real problem here? Did you not understand that you need to leave?”

Briony’s eyes narrowed at his condescension.Maybe ’tis time fer something worse than a simple burn.

She turned her attention upward to the brilliantly blue sky, which she could just barely see beyond the stairs. She set her mind upon creating a—

“Senhorita Fairborn! Senhorita Fairborn!” The unexpected voice hit Briony’s ears, distracting her from her task before she could truly begin. She blinked and saw Adriano Rodriguez scrambling down the staircase toward her, urgency written all over his face.

When he reached her, he leaned close to her ear and whispered, “I must speak with you, senhorita, about Senhor Mendes.”

As he pulled away, Briony gave him a sharp nod. She turned back to the navy men with a grimace. “Be glad Mr. Rodriguez arrived when he did.”

“That sounds dangerously like a threat, senhorita.” Cardoso crossed his arms and took a step toward her. Alves, on the other hand, was still just gaping at her as if he was looking at a ghost.

“O’ course na, Commodore,” Briony purred, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Come along, Mr. Rodriguez. I’m na wanted here after all.”

Briony gripped Adriano’s arm and spun the confused sailor around. Adriano looked back and forth between her and the enraged commodore several times, but he said nothing as she gestured for him to get going.

The two of them climbed up the stairs to the deck outside. A drizzle had started, so Briony adjusted her headscarf and moved a little faster. Adriano didn’t look back at her once as he crossed the gangplank and then took her through the market area.

When they came across some of Cardoso’s sailors at the bottom of the hill, Adriano stood a little straighter, and Briony tried to do the same. The men only briefly glanced at them, so she hoped that meant they didn’t look suspicious.

Once the sailors were out of earshot, Briony stopped and checked to make sure no one else was nearby. “What was it you wanted to tell me?”

Adriano eyed her strangely. “What happened just now on the ship?”

Briony shook her head. “It does na matter right now. Tell me why you were looking fer me. Do you know something about the charges against Mr. Mendes?”

“Aye. It is hard to say in English, but I will try. Last year, two men tried to kill him. To kill the king. We weren’t supposed to know, but people hear things. He was going home at night, and they tried to kill him. Their names were Antonio Alvarez Ferreira and Joseph Policarpio.[23]They got caught, but Policarpio got away. People saw the Mendes…carruagem…” He trailed off with a look of frustration. “What’s the word? You sit, and there are horses to pull you?”

“A carriage?”

“Aye, a carriage! People saw the Mendes carriage the night Policarpio got away. The Mendes family does not live there, so why would the carriage be there? Then Capitão Costa tells us we have to leave soon, but it was not time to leave. We—”

Briony’s lungs tightened in dread. “Are you trying to tell me Mr. Mendeswaspart o’ all this? That he wanted to kill the king after all?”

Adriano’s eyes widened, and he waved his hands in front of him. “Nay, there’s more you need to know!”

The man’s volume had risen to a shout, and he looked about wildly to make sure no one else was listening.

The street was still deserted, save for Gareth Peterson sitting on the ground outside the tavern in a drunken stupor. Briony doubted he even knew what day it was, so she wasn’t worried about him overhearing. “Continue.”

“I didn’t know why we had to leave. I asked the crew, and they thought Senhor Mendes did something bad. They thought he helped Policarpio. I didn’t think so. Senhor Mendes is too good to do that.

“Then I heard shouting. They were so mad. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Then Senhor Mendes came out. But there was the storm. We had to save the ship. I had to do my job or we would die. The mast was…what’s the word? I knew it would fall. I saw that it would fall. He pushed him, and Senhor Mendes fell under it. The mast was on his leg, and he couldn’t move.