Chapter 25: The Eye of the Enemy
I didn't say anything immediately. I kept my eyes on the road, wrestling the vibrating tiller as we made a U-turn in a wide field and headed back toward the estate.
The return trip was quieter. Lucas was still grinning, buzzing with adrenaline, shouting ideas about armored plating and mounted crossbows. But I was cold. The image of that glinting spyglass was burned into my mind.
We roared back through the estate gates and skidded to a halt inside the workshop. The engine sputtered and died, leaving a ringing silence in our ears.
Steam hissed from the radiator cap. The smell of hot oil and burnt leather filled the air.
"Magnificent!" Lucas shouted, hopping out of the passenger seat and patting the hot steel frame. "Did you see their faces, Asher? The guards looked like they had seen a dragon! We need ten of these. No, fifty! We will crush the competition."
He turned to me, expecting a high-five or a celebration.
Instead, I stayed in the driver's seat, gripping the tiller.
"Lucas," I said, my voice low and serious. "Stop."
Lucas froze. He saw the look on my face. The smile vanished instantly. He walked over to me, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"What is it? Is the engine broken?"
"The engine is fine," I said, stepping out and wiping the dust from my goggles. "But the secrecy is broken."
Lucas narrowed his eyes. "Explain."
"When we turned the corner near the East Woods," I said, pointing back toward the road. "I saw a reflection in the treeline. A spyglass. Someone was watching us test the prototype."
Lucas's face went dark. The playful, excited young master disappeared. In his place was the cold, ruthless head of House Ven Dor Hoven.
"The East Woods..." he muttered, pacing the floor. "That vantage point overlooks the main road. It's a perfect spot for scouts."
"Who was it?" I asked.
"There is only one family bold enough to spy this close to my walls," Lucas spat the name out like poison. "House Blackwood."
He slammed his fist against a workbench, making the tools jump.
"They know," Lucas hissed. "They don't know how it works, but they know we have a horseless chariot that moves faster than the wind. They will not sit idle, Asher. They will come for the plans. Or they will come for the engineer."
He looked at me, his eyes intense.
"You are no longer safe in the guest wing. Tonight, we move your quarters to the inner sanctum, next to mine and Seraphina's. And the workshop..."
He looked at the open garage doors.
"Triple the guards," Lucas commanded the approaching butler, Alfred. "No one enters this wing without my direct permission. If you see a face you don't know... shoot to kill."
I looked at the car—my creation. It was supposed to be a tool for progress. Now, it was a target.
"The race hasn't just started," I murmured to myself. " The war has."