Blair dribbled some health potion into Rip’s mouth, maintaining her balance on top of the moving train while fishing through her interspatial wallet. That revived him enough to gulp down the rest of it himself.

Carefully, they climbed down the end of the last carriage and entered the train there. It felt much safer walking through the cars instead of on top of them.

Finally back in their compartment, Blair looked at Rip’s face, still healing from the massive battering he took.

“What was that all about?”

“Luddites.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded, painfully. He wondered if he should take another potion.

“Same guns. Plus, the top dog was there. The same one who was at your father’s execution.”

Blair’s eyes sharpened with a seething rage she held under the surface. Seeing her response reminded Rip she sometimes had a very short fuse.

He said, “What happened to him, by the way? The big guy?”

“He got clonked on the head by a bridge. You told the chief inspector he was enhanced? I hope that was enough to kill him, regardless.”

“He is enhanced, but not like us. I think he’s tougher. Bullets can typically penetrate our skin at close range and we have to dig them out. With him, they seem to barely scratch the surface. He shielded his face with his arms while I emptied a drum on him, and they just poked out of sleeves. His skin must be like metal.”

“So, you’re saying he’s probably still alive.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it. Even after hitting his head like that.”

“What were they doing jumping onto this train? What are the odds Luddites would choose this one?”

“I’m going to bet you were their target.”

“Me? But they were headed to the front of the train.”

“To get in the first car. I’m sure they figured we’d be in first class.”

The rest of the trip was uneventful, though they tensed for a while whenever the train went under a bridge. Outside the city, though, it picked up more speed and chugged away through the afternoon countryside and through a rainstorm.

At last they came to the terminal in Ethinium. Rip and Blair kept their eyes out, looking for anyone in the crowd who might try something. After two encounters with the Luddites in the same week, they both were paranoid.

They hired a carriage to take them home, and made it without incident. Nancy was not there to greet them, since she stayed in Ravenwick another night. Rip went to bed early, picking the lock on his guest cottage out of habit. He still did not feel fully recovered.

The following morning, he accompanied Blair to the offices of Brooke & Company. There he shook hands with several people and met her father’s barrister, a man by the name of Elbridge Ballantyne.

Rather short, with a bald pate surrounded by patchy brown hair in a U shape around his head, Ballantyne looked like a traditional lawyer. He wore a sensible dark brown suit with pince-nez glasses hanging by a cord to his vest.

They found an empty conference room and Mr. Ballantyne opened his briefcase, pulling out several sheets of paper. He came right to the point.

“You are of course familiar with the laws of agnatic primogeniture. There are special exceptions, such as when we have only female heirs. In your case, with all of Sir Winston’s considerable fortune and properties, our firm is in the process of transferring them over to your name.”

Blair nodded.

This was almost overwhelming for her, Rip thought, watching her carefully. He did not have parents, growing up as a foster child, and consequently never had to go through the death of a relative. But, in one foster family he lived with, the father died in a car wreck.

He experienced the family’s turmoil. Afterward, his foster mother turned him back over to the state and he went to live somewhere else. But he never forgot the trauma she and her biological children lived through.

Now he watched Blair experience something similar with the loss of her father, and all those memories flooded back.

“This is, of course, highly unusual,” Ballantyne continued. “In fact, inheritance is just about the only way for a woman to own property.”

Ah, there it is, Rip thought, watching the storm clouds form in Blair’s face. That fact, a woman’s lack of agency in this society, bothered her tremendously.

She’s probably not the only one, he thought.

In this world, just as in the pre-modern era on his, women had few rights. They could not own anything, at least not in terms of real estate or something requiring a title. Nor could they vote in elections. The Suffragist Movement picked up in the 1800s on both sides of the Atlantic, but women did not earn the right to vote in all the states until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.

He was sketchier on his knowledge of British legislation, but felt certain they allowed universal suffrage sometime in the 1920s, too.

This world, from what he could tell, remained decades from similar societal changes. Right now, women still could not own real property, unless they inherited it. And then, it would go to the oldest daughter through primogeniture. So, the number of female property holders remained a very small percentage.

Like the barrister said, it was rare.

Ballantyne cleared his throat. He, too, noticed the expression on Blair’s face.

The fact this woman was enhanced and held a small arsenal of weaponry in her interspatial wallet, and could kill him a dozen times over, probably crossed his mind as well, Rip thought.

“So, in short, you are now the owner of all your father’s properties, including the two townhouses here in Ethinium. I realize you purchased the one with your own money, but it will be in your name, now. Moving on . . .”

He avoided her glare as he replaced some of the papers in his briefcase and focused on others.

“We have a slight dilemma in regards to Brooke & Company holdings, but it is not insurmountable thanks to the good people your father hired.”

“A dilemma?”

Blair’s tone was decidedly frosty, but at least she did not bite the barrister’s head off, Rip thought.

“Yes. As with all companies, the shares may not be owned by a woman, even through inheritance, sad to say. As per the company charter, which is a standard proviso. Your father’s shares, the controlling stock in Brooke & Company, must now perforce transfer back to the company. The board will decide how to distribute them at their next scheduled meeting.”

Blair’s expression changed from outrage to shock. She looked at the man, speechless.

Rip glanced at her, then at Ballantyne.

He said, “Are you saying she will lose control of the family business?”

Ballantyne shifted his attention to Rip, grateful for the distraction.

“It is possible the board could assign the shares to someone else in the family, or a family friend. Provided they were male, of course. That individual would need to present himself at the board meeting and make his case.”

He quickly shifted through some papers, holding the glasses on his nose.

“I am not aware of any male relatives, however. Is that still the case, Lady Blair?”

She had a vacant look in her eyes now, and a touch of sadness.

Resignation is starting to sink in, Rip thought.

“No. No one.”

“Ah. It is as I presumed, then. You may of course present your own designee, such as Sir Coulter here. if you like, to the board. But it will be their decision.”

Rip thought about this for a moment. He decided to ask a question.

“You’re the lead barrister. Who do you think they’ll choose?”

Ballantyne leaned back in his chair and removed the glasses perched on his nose.

“Well, I think it’s quite obvious that Sir Winston’s second in command will take over, Mr. Thurmond Threadgill. He’s served at Lady Blair’s father’s side for years.”

“Threadgill?” Blair snapped, the anger surging back. “That pompous arse is going to take control of the company?”

“Obviously, nothing has happened yet. The board has not met to decide. But yes, unless you make a viable case as to why someone else should receive your father’s shares, a male someone else in good standing the board will accept, then yes. I believe the members will assign the outstanding controlling shares to Mr. Threadgill.”

She glared at him.

He cleared his throat nervously and spread his hands.

“It’s the logical choice, Lady Blair.”

This statement was met by silence.

Rip said, “When does the board meet to decide, Mr. Ballantyne?”

“Tomorrow night at six. In this boardroom.”

Rip glanced at Blair. The anger in her face had shifted again. She now looked resigned. And sad.

He said, “We’ll be there. I take it you’ll be there, too?”

“Indeed.”

“And if we have an alternative, you’ll propose that person, that man to the board?”

“I will.”

The look Ballantyne gave him suggested Rip would not be a good alternative. He was from another world, and everyone knew it. Still, with no male relatives in the picture, Rip seemed a reasonable alternative.

“I feel compelled to mention, Sir Coulter, that the decades of service Mr. Thurmond has given this company will weigh heavily in his favor.”

“I understand.”

“Very heavily.”

“Got it.”

Ballantyne placed all the remaining papers back in his briefcase, shutting it and closing the latches with a click.

He stood up, and Rip stood too. Blair remained seated, staring vacantly at the wall.

“Should you have any other questions, or if there is anything I can assist you with, please contact my office. Otherwise, I will see you both here tomorrow night.”

Rip shook his hand and the man walked out, closing the door behind him.

When Rip sat down again, he put his arm around Blair’s shoulders. She glanced at him, and a tear trickled down her cheek.

“First I lose Father. Now I’m going to lose his company. The estate is next.”

Rip said nothing. He just held her.

“The company feeds into the estate. The estate makes nothing. It barely breaks even some years, and loses money the rest of the time. Without the company, I can’t guarantee the salaries of all the servants. I can’t continue pouring money into the village like he did. I’ll lose it all. And all those people . . . their lives will be changed. Disrupted.”

The tears flowed freely down her face now. Rip had never seen her so vulnerable before.

He squeezed her shoulders.

“I have an idea that I think will fix this.”

She wiped her face and looked up at him.

“Do you trust me?”

Blair nodded.

He smiled and whispered in her ear.