phantom knights 04 - deceit in delaware (27 page)

Shoving with my legs, I rose, but Freddy stomped toward me and shoved me back down. “Stay,” he hissed, and then walked calmly into the great hall.

Luther rolled his eyes heavenward. “What now?” He followed Freddy into the great hall. I leaned forward, searching for the intruder.

It did not take long before he was shoved into the sitting room. Freddy forced Levi to sit on the sofa. Levi tried to jump up, but Freddy forced him down again. “As you can see, Jack is unharmed.”

“Let me go, you traitor,” Levi shouted as he wrestled against Freddy.

“I am trying to help you, boy, so be still,” Freddy hissed loud enough for me to hear.

“Levi, sit down. Freddy’s not against us,” I said calmly.

Levi’s wild eyes roamed over me. “You are unharmed?”

“As yet,” I responded at once.

He relaxed into the sofa cushion and began to peruse the room. “What an ugly room. This a product of your distasteful decorating, Widow Woman?” Levi asked snidely.

She did not deem to reply, but Freddy did, with a groan.

Luther stalked back into the room, and looked Levi over without much interest. “Your brother I presume, Jack?”

“Yes, sir. My younger brother. Levi Martin.” I did not see the need to upset Luther. Not until I had my mother and Charlotte away from the house.

“Not very mannerly, is he,” observed Luther.

“You want manners, go to a seminary.” Levi hocked up some spittle and sent it flying onto Luther’s polished boots.

My head fell forward as I shook it. The boy was quite wild.

“Guards!” Men rushed into the room. “Take these two miscreants to the chamber.”

The guards split and half grabbed Levi while the rest surrounded me. I rose without complaint and allowed them to guide me from the room.

Instead of taking us into some kind of lower room, they led us—or in Levi’s case, bodily carried him—up the wide staircase. When they reached a bedchamber, they forced us inside. One of the guards removed the rope from around my wrists and then slammed and locked the door.

“Have you gone quite mad?” I asked.

Levi grinned. “Got these though, didn’t I?” Levi pulled his hands from inside his coat where he held two pistols.

They kept us locked in that chamber for what felt like hours without food, drink, or visitors. I slept for a short time and when I awoke Levi was pacing the room just as he had been when I went to sleep.

“What do you make of this, Jack? Why is that pompous prince of poppycock living in this house?” Levi was striding about the room as if searching for a way out.

“I would say that this house belongs to the widow. Her accent is, if I have my guess, Bostonian.” I yawned as I stretched my arms over my head. Looking down, I groaned, for I was still without a shirt.

“His inamorata?” Levi sat down on the bed, his expression disgusted.

“That or his ally. We do not know what he has been having his guards do in their time in America. He could have a plethora of acquaintances prepared to assist him.

“Whatever the situation may prove, we should exercise extreme caution when in close contact with both Luther and the widow,” I instructed.

“Strikes you as a loon, too?”

The rattling of a key in the door halted any reply that I would have made. Levi and I both leapt to our feet, prepared for a fight, but when the door opened a young woman stood before us.

“Oh,” she said, her eyes widening. “Forgive me. I was told to feed the occupants of this room. I never suspected that it would not be—that is to say—we don’t usually have male visitors.” She broke off, reddening about the cheeks and casting down her eyes to the tray she was carrying.

She was a brown haired girl who stood even with mine and Levi’s height. She was dressed in a pale blue dress with an apron around her waist. Was this the servant who had assisted Guinevere and Leo? Guinevere had been tight lipped about her last night when I questioned her about the house and its occupants. Whoever this girl was, Guinevere was not sharing the secret.

Levi strode forward and gently took the tray from her. She also carried a basin, which she carried over to the bowl in the corner of the room.

She looked first at Levi and then at me. Her eyes ran over my state of undress before she quickly looked away. “I have brought you some water to wash the grime away. I know how they can be,” she broke off again, lowering her gaze and walking toward the door.

“Please,” I said in a rush, moving toward her with my hand held out. “Do not go just yet. Can you tell us what is going on below? What do they mean to do with us?”

She appeared a little bemused, but she did not run away. She looked out the door, and around the hall, then turned back to us, pulling the door closed behind her. “As far as I have heard, they do not mean to do anything with you. You are not the ones that they want. They want the princesses.”

“No!” Levi exclaimed.

The girl jumped.

“Forgive my brother’s outburst, Miss…”

“Please call me Melly,” she said simply.

“Melly. If I am understanding the situation, you are a prisoner here as well.”

“I am no one’s prisoner, sir,” she said icily. “What is it with you people? First that girl thinks I am a servant, and now you believe me to be a prisoner. I assure you that I am neither. I may be confined to this house, but I do not belong here.”

This was the girl that Guinevere was protecting. “We can help you, Melly. If you will help us.”

“You want me to let you escape, I suppose.” She sighed.

“No,” I said at once, and then I smiled. “At least not yet. First we need to speak with Princess Mary. Can you arrange that?”

She searched our faces for a few silent moments, and then she nodded. “I will do my best for you, but I cannot yet, for they mean to speak with you again.”

As if conjured by her words, the door opened and Luther’s guards were there. They escorted us back to the same sitting room, but this time they remained behind us with weapons pointed at our heads.

“What do you suppose this is all about?” Levi asked.

I leaned toward Levi to reply and was struck in the back of the head.

“If you kill my brother, I swear that I will have your head for the figurehead on the front of my ship,” threatened Levi to the guards behind us.

Someone laughed, a bubbling sound that made me think of trickling water. “You do not have a ship,” said the Black Widow.

“Much you know about it,” Levi retorted.

Fighting against the heat and throbbing pain in my head, I forced my eyes to focus.

“There is no need for dramatics,” the woman said.

“You have yet to see dramatic,” Levi assured her. “What do you want now, doxy?” Levi spat the word at her.

“What do you want with us?” I only asked it to keep her from attacking Levi.

The woman sounded amused. “With you? Nothing. For not the first time in your life, I am sure, you are a useable tool.”

“A tool for what?”

“Ah, ah, ah, no particulars,” she tittered.

“What do you hope to gain by holding us?” I asked.

The woman laughed. “I would think you would know that. Can it be? Does the great Loutaire not recognize me?”

How could I when she would keep to the shadows or keep her face masked by a black veil? I never knew someone could gurgle laughter until she released such an atrocious sound. I looked to Levi and he was frowning as he squinted, trying to see the woman through the veil.

“I am surprised that Loutaire and Hades have not guessed how Luther knows so much about the Phantoms.”

“Selling secrets? What do you receive in return? If you say physical favors, I swear to be ill upon this very carpet.” The dickens was goading her.

“He has been a necessary tool,” she replied.

“Giving away secrets, my dear?” Luther asked as he and Freddy walked into the room.

She gave that annoying tinkling laugh again. “Never.”

There was something off about her voice. I knew that she was masking it by speaking in low, throaty tones, but it was more than that.

“Will you be so good as to bring me what you have promised me? The hour draws near,” Luther said to the Black Widow. She left the room without another word.

“Where is your cousin?” Luther asked Freddy.

Freddy was staring straight at me as he replied. “Here she comes.”

Levi tried to get to his feet but the guards behind us grabbed him and forced him back down.

I felt Levi’s rage coming off of him like waves in the ocean. He wanted to know who this woman was pretending to be Mary Edith.

A beautiful blonde walked into the room with five guards surrounding her. When they moved to surround the sofa that she sat upon and I looked into her eyes, all breath stole from my body.

My gaze flew to Freddy’s but he was staring at the girl on the sofa.

“My dearest Mary,” said Luther regally, “the hour of departure is upon us.”

“Will you at least allow me to say goodbye? To give them a message to convey to my sisters,” the girl begged.

Luther looked between her and me and Levi. “To Jack, you may speak, but the wild boy must wait in the hall.” The guards forced Levi to his feet and he gave a great show of resisting, but he walked past the girl on the sofa with only a cursory glance. Luther halted beside me. “If you try anything, I will harm the one who has loved you the longest.”

My breath, my body, everything froze as his words registered inside me.

Once Luther, Levi, and the guards were in the great hall, I sat forward. “What the devil is this?”

Charlotte Mason sat forward. “We must be quick, Jack. I need for you to get word to my brother. Tell him not to worry about me.”

“Not worry about you?” I scoffed. “Did you know about this?” I demanded of Freddy.

“Believe me, Jack, that I have tried fruitlessly to bring her to reason,” Freddy said angrily. The storm in his gaze was directed at Charlotte, but there was also something more.

“Why are you doing this, Char? Why does Luther think you are Edith?”

“The woman in black and her guards captured us in Baltimore. When we arrived, Luther expected Edith to be with your mother, and saying that I was not she did nothing. So, I realized what I had to do. To protect you, and all of our family, Jack. This is my way of making amends for the terrible things I have done in the past.”

“No! I will not allow you to do this,” I said at once, beginning to rise. The guards stepped into the room, and I sat back with my hands held up in surrender. They eased back into the hall.

“You have no choice, Jack. If I do not do this, he will go after Guinevere next, and he does not mean to let her live.” Charlotte hissed out the words so that the guards could not hear.

“He will kill you, Charlotte, as soon as he reaches Lutania,” I replied in a pleading voice.

She was shaking her head as soon as I finished speaking, but it was Freddy who spoke.

“He does not mean to kill her, Jack. My father knows that he can never rule with or without the artifacts. He is taking her so that he can rule through her.”

“She is not the princess,” I hissed low as I watched the guards watching me. “What happens when he discovers the truth?”

Charlotte and Freddy exchanged a glance that spoke the words for them. They knew of the danger, but they were going forward with their foolhardy plan despite the danger.

If nothing I could say would change her mind, then I had to assure her of what I would do to aid her. “We will come after you, Char. You play your part and we will find you before he discovers the truth.” It pained me to no end to speak the words, but I knew that I had no other choice. Charlotte was doing what she thought was right, what she thought she needed to in order to assuage the blame she thought we harbored against her.

“Charlotte, we do not blame you for what happened in Savannah. We love you.”

“Thank you, Jack. Please, please keep Sam sane.” Charlotte rose, and so did Freddy.

Freddy turned her until his back was to the guards and she was facing him. He took her hand and drew it to his lips. He whispered something that I could not hear and Charlotte nodded. Everything that she felt was in her eyes as she stared at Freddy, and a whole new issue struck me. Charlotte had feelings for Freddy. God help Freddy when Sam discovered that truth.

Luther stepped into the room and Freddy quickly dropped Char’s hand. “The time is nigh, dear Mary. Come.” Charlotte looked at me as she walked toward Luther, her plea again in her eyes.

I rose and walked toward the door as Freddy moved to watch out the window. Levi was shoved back into the room, and then I saw why.

Our mother was being led by six guards toward the door to outside. She looked toward us, and both Levi and I leapt forward.

The guards caught us, and I saw Levi going for his stolen pistols, but Mother shouted at us to halt.

“Do not! Trust me,” she said, and then she smiled and allowed the guards to lead her from the house.

Levi ran to the window beside Freddy, while I stood beside Luther.

“If you harm either of those women, I swear on everything that you hold dear, I will find you and I will kill you.”

Luther smiled down at me. “I mean them no harm, for my dearest Eleanora was meant to be mine before your father stole her from me.” When I scowled at him, he laughed. “They did tell you of our history? It is finally being put right. But, Jack, should you think to try to stop me, your mother will be the first to go.”

With that said, Luther left the house with Charlotte and my mother bound for Lutania.

CHAPTER 21

GUINEVERE

J
ack had made it inside, but still Sam and Bess would not give the signal to attack. They were occupied with placing the Monroe guards, constables, and Rose’s men around the house, so they did not see when Levi ran across the lawn, broke a window, and charged into the house. William saw him, though, and from the expression upon his face I knew that he had put Levi up to that.

For hours we waited, and it was growing dark when Sam found me seated against the trunk of the willow tree beside where Jack had nearly been hanged.