Free A Clockwork Heart by Liesel Schwarz Page B

way, as we touched, I hoped that she was comforted.

CHAPTER 8
    Clothilde shrugged her shoulders to loosen the stiffness that was building between them. She had been meditating on the roof of the monastery in the soft drizzle for most of the night. She spent the time in a deep trance, absorbing tiny fragments of energy off everything around her. She dared not seek to reach into the void for nourishment now. The encounter at the opera house had been too close for comfort. It has all started so innocently. She was an elemental born of air and water—always drawn to music—much like the sirens and kelpies of the sea and so she had decided to treat herself to a performance. While she was listening, the urge to feed from the barrier had come upon her. She had started feeding in public when she realized that Light dwellers were completely oblivious to her appetites. The fact that there was someone present who could tell what she was doing was utterly frightening. She knew nothing of the young woman who followed her, except that she was extremely powerful. Revealing herself had been a silly mistake to make, one that the Consortium would be deeply displeased to hear about. She would have to be careful from now on.
    But dawn was breaking and there was so much work to do. She sighed and stood to climb the narrow stairs off the roof.
    The Battersea Spark Monastery now lay within her power. This was the place where the electromancers practiced their craft. Here, much in the same way that bees worked in a hive, they harvested lightning and other forms of static electricity that they combined with their shadow magic to turn into spark: the blue liquid that powered the steam engines, which in turn ran the world.
    She let out a cynical laugh. When she had arrived at the monastery she had expected discipline and devotion as she had seen in the monks of her childhood. A time when spark had been used for healing and light. That had been a time before the brothers had sold themselves into servitude to the Light. A time before the steam of huge engines covered the earth. But the industrial revolution had come, and now she found nothing but laziness and repose while machines did all the work. These little men had become complacent. They were so shut up in their own little world that they were utterly oblivious to their importance. But that was all changing, thanks to her.
    Emilian was waiting for her downstairs with a dry set of robes. The peacock feather in his hat bobbed as he inclined his head when she stepped out of the shadows.
    â€œEverything all right, madame ?” Emilian was not one for airs and graces and his “madame” had a touch of impertinence about it.
    â€œWhy wouldn’t it be?” Her voice held a deep throaty resonance that men found irresistible. All men except Emilian.
    â€œHow was last night’s catch?”
    â€œI think your ladyship will like what we brought you.” Emilian flashed her a satisfied smile as if he was harboring a special surprise for her.
    â€œAnd why would that be, pray tell?”
    â€œBig fish. I think you will be pleased.”
    â€œIs that so?”
    Emilian nodded. “We prepared him, like you said we should if we found a special one.”
    Clothilde was immediately intrigued. She smiled at Emilian. “Well, then we had better go see this big fish of yours.”
    The monastery lay quiet in the early morning cold as she strode across the courtyard. The monks had been highly affronted by the Consortium’s directive. Even though the Consortium owned and financed the running of the monastery, the monks had protested at her taking command.
    There was so much muttering and disquiet that she had to step in and take action. The abbot had been dispensed with quickly. She did not like the idea of mutilating a monk, but sometimes an example can be most persuasive. He had made an excellent test subject—the first of her special ones. Since then, the monks had