Free Eros Element by Cecilia Dominic

only image she got from it was of a pair of gloved hands tearing open a packet of powder, which was poured into a drink. She tried to see if the gold box, which was the size and shape of a flattened cigar, could be opened, but it was impossible with her fingers as sore as they were from prying apart its hiding place. It was either stuck or had some sort of catch she couldn’t find. She slipped it into her pocket after checking to ensure there were no holes, closed the stone, and placed the volcano egg on the shelf where she found it.
    Interesting. I need to figure out what the symbols on the box mean so perhaps it will tell me how to open it. She looked at the books on the shelves with renewed interest in finding something that would give her a key to deciphering the box’s symbols, but she shook her head to clear the sense of waking from a vivid dream where reality blurred with imagination. I can play with it later. I need to prepare for the journey first.
    Iris returned to her sorting and organizing, but a thunk against the window drew her attention and set her heart thrumming in the spot below her throat. The curtains were drawn, so she was sure no one could see in. Still, she paused, her senses on high alert.
    Another thud and a series of scratches made her race for the fireplace poker and brandish it toward the windows. Like most gentlemen of the age, her father had inherited guns and pistols, but they were in the sitting room, not his office, and she wasn’t sure she would know how to shoot one if she could find them. She counted a hundred breaths before she dared move, and she doused the lights. After her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she peeked through the curtains. No intruder or creature could be seen, but a circle with a box inside had been etched on the glass pane.
    Iris suspected she and her father might share a special talent, but it hadn’t occurred to her that others might also be able to sense objects. Now it became apparent they could, and someone knew she’d found the box. As for who and what they wanted with it—or her—she didn’t know.
    Iris slept with the fire poker and one of her father’s ancient swords in the bed beside her.

Chapter Seven
    Haywood House, 10 June 1870
    Edward woke with a sense of dread and looked at the clock beside his bed, which the early morning light illuminated. It told him it was five thirty, and he rolled over, relieved he had another two hours to sleep. He’d been having an awful dream of having to pack his things for a journey he didn’t want to take, and a woman whose dark blue eyes bored into him and gave him the feeling she could read the tale of his failures with Lily. Thankfully he could look forward to a productive day at the office with his new aetherometer, and—
    A pounding on his door roused him.
    â€œCome on, Edward, it’s time to get up,” Johann Bledsoe, who must have risen earlier, called. “The train leaves in an hour.”
    The memories of the past few days rushed in with the inexorable force of a large engine. Edward’s reality wasn’t a quiet, productive summer free of teaching responsibilities and clumsy students. It was a horrifying journey including women and the possibility of him losing his position and indeed his beloved Aetherics department if he didn’t go.
    Edward rolled out of bed and dressed without assistance. He was sure the servants were busy packing last-minute things, whatever that might include, and he didn’t want to call for anyone. He suspected these would be his last few moments of quiet for a while.
    He packed a couple of books, the last two he deemed necessary, in his valise before someone knocked on his door for his personal trunk. He allowed the two burly servants to take it but held on to his own travel case so at least he would have his books and important notes with him. He saw his niece Mary’s paper on earthworms and grabbed it as well. It would