Steampunk Carnival (Steam World Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

inside its sleeve. She wished the others would hurry up. The carriage would not leave without Irina and the charwoman. Irina would not leave the food stall until every pot and inch of counter had been scrubbed to the highest standard. Katya looked over her shoulder as she passed the Beast. The three cooks remained busy inside the stall, not one of them having stepped a foot outside.
    Katya heard a familiar voice up ahead that slowed her pace almost to a stop. She pulled her mind away from the notebook, trying to pick out the words in Mr. Lieber’s terse expulsions. She did not know more than five words in German, but she understood his tone perfectly.
    The carriage waited just past the gates, almost centered between them. The driver sat stiffly in his seat, his eyes pained in a blank expression. The whip hung limply in his hands. Mr. Lieber stepped into Katya’s view from where the ticket booth had obscured him. She only saw his face for a flash, but his neck strained with taught muscles.
    Mr. Lieber continued his tirade in English. “I’ve seen you look at her. Do you think she even sees you? The driver of a women’s carriage?”
    The driver interrupted politely. His English accent was one Katya rarely heard, the vowels loose and slurred between softened consonants. “Mr. Lieber–”
    The German raised his hand in a swift jerk. “Mr. Davies, I don’t think I need to argue that I have the more commanding stature. Women’s eyes are drawn more to me than they are to you.”
    “I haven’t been–”
    Mr. Lieber reached up and wrestled the whip from the driver’s hands. He swept it up above his shoulder, holding it high. “Are you calling me a liar?”
    The driver grimaced and raised his arm in self-defense. “No.”
    Katya stopped walking, her stomach tightening in a sickening knot. She lingered twenty feet from the ticket booth, hoping that if Mr. Lieber turned, it would partially hide her from him.
    Mr. Lieber shrieked at the driver. “Have I not caught you looking at her?”
    “Maybe,” Mr. Davies agreed. “She is a human being. My eyes might have fallen on her without knowing it.”
    Mr. Lieber screamed at him. “I should think you would know. Do you pay no attention to the things you see? Are you saying she’s unworthy of being looked at on purpose?”
    “No, sir.”
    “Do you see me now?”
    The driver nodded, his voice fumbling. “Yes, Mr. Lieber.”
    “Do you see this whip in my hand?”
    “Yes.”
    Mr. Lieber strode away, disappearing behind the ticket booth and soon retracing his steps. He raised the whip higher, the tips of its falls dangling against his back. “Do you see me whipping your horse?” Mr. Lieber cracked the whip down hard in front of him.
    Katya jumped aside so the ticket booth obscured Mr. Lieber’s actions. She shuddered uncontrollably, hunched over the jacket in her hands.
    The driver interjected again, desperate and forceful. “Mr. Lieber–”
    “Mr. Davies, do you or do you not see me whipping your horse?”
    The whip slashed the air and cracked when it landed. The horse whinnied, and Katya covered her mouth to keep from crying out.
    “I see you,” the driver hissed.
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes, I’m sure.”
    Mr. Lieber cracked the whip twice more.
    The driver leapt down from his seat. Katya hid herself completely behind the ticket booth. She could barely hear anything aside from the whip slicing the muggy summer air and the horse reacting in protest. Half a minute pounded past before the whip fell silent. Four boots stomped and dragged in the dirt.
    “Give me the whip,” Mr. Davies demanded.
    Something or someone slammed into the side of the carriage.
    Mr. Lieber’s voice picked up again. “Pay more attention to what you’re looking at, or I’ll whip your eyes out of your head.”
    A pair of boots landed nearer to the ticket booth.
    The driver called a little louder. “I should’ve known getting me fired was an empty threat. That wouldn’t be good enough