A Clockwork Fairytale Read Online Free Page B

books, and headed for the large leather folios stored in deep shelves at the far end of the room. In the last three years, when he wasn’t walking the skyways, he’d spent every evening studying the contents of the library. One of his most useful discoveries was a collection of royal dictates and proclamations going back decades.
    He walked his fingers down the folio spines until he found the folder dated fourteen years ago, pulled it out, and placed it on the reading lectern under the gaslight. Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He hadn’t slept for nigh on twenty-four hours, but his mind wouldn’t settle until he’d checked the records.
    The clock on the mantel ticked into the stillness of the early hours. As the sun rose, streaking gold across the page, Turk finally found the announcement for which he’d been searching. The whole sheet was devoted to one topic—probably the most notable royal event to happen in his lifetime. He’d been five at the time, his every waking hour consumed with finding food enough to survive, yet even he’d heard this news.
    He carefully detached the page from the metal clips and brought it to his favorite chair beside the tall window overlooking the canal.
    His gaze settled on the picture of Queen Juliana with her three-year-old daughter Melbaline in her arms. The heading filled a quarter of the page: PRINCESS MELBALINE STOLEN FROM ROYAL PALACE. The tiny girl in the picture had blue eyes and blond hair like Mel; and Mel’s delicate features, now indelibly etched on his mind, bore a striking similarity to those of Queen Juliana.
    And then there was the matter of her feet.
    Few people knew that the royal Ferilli family had six toes on each foot, although Turk wasn’t sure if the abnormality was unique to the royal family and could verify Mel’s identity.
    Even though the princess was presumed dead, the reward for her return had risen each year until it now represented a fortune. If Melba were the lost princess and Turk returned her for the reward, he could use the coin to build a refuge for the children who scavenged a living on the city’s trash, as he had before the Shining Brotherhood rescued him.
    The possibility burned away his tiredness. First, he needed to speak with Melba; then he had some important questions for old Master Maddox.

    ***

    Melba woke sitting at a table with her head rested on her folded arms. For a moment, the sight of the grand kitchen confused her. Then she remembered she was in Master Turk’s house. A flash of determination woke her fully. Today she must persuade him she would be a good spy even though she was a girl.
    Silence filled the house and there was no sign of Gwinnie, which gave Melba an opportunity to look for her old clothes and her pledge stone. She’d be in for it if Master Turk asked to see the starlight stone and she didn’t have it. Master Maddox had thrashed her when she lost his pledge.
    Melba crept across the huge cold flagstones past the bathhouse to the back door. She opened the bottom bolt, then dragged an empty wooden crate to the door and stood on it to reach the top bolt.
    A service lane ran along the back of the palaces. A few deliverymen trudged past, pushing handcarts loaded with vegetables, coal, and wood. She found Master Turk’s waste barrel tucked behind a wall, waiting for the trash man to empty it. If Gwinnie had thrown out her old clothes, they’d be here.
    She rootled through the mess on top, coating her hands with soggy tea leaves and coffee grounds. A grin spread across her face as her fingers brushed fabric and she hauled out her jacket, scattering potato peelings across the path. She dug in again, searching for her breeches. They were more important because that’s where she’d hidden her pledge stone.
    Her hand closed around an apple. Why would Gwinnie throw away a perfectly good piece of fruit? Master Maddox didn’t have the coin for apples so Melba normally had to steal them from the