Secrets & Sapphires

Lady Ada Averley leaned on the rail of the steamboat Moldavia, feeling the hum of the ship's huge engines through the steel, a rhythmic shudder like a giant's breathing. The black sea glittered with the reflection of the stars above her, and the wind tugged at her hat and loosened the dark curls that framed her pale face. Her features were a perfect mirror of her late mother's, but the gray eyes a...