Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights) (13 page)

As I entered the
building, I was not surprised to see that it was a temple. There were many such
buildings in America, but what did astonish me was that it was a branch of the Holy
Order.

The throne
chairs along the walls that were the same in all Holy Order temples were
occupied by twelve men. The men looked the same as the ones in Philadelphia
had, with scrolls on their coats and pantaloons, and capes with hoods. There
was one throne chair on the dais, and it was unoccupied.

Only half of the
guards followed us into the temple, and that gave me a seed of hope. We could
fight our way out if the need arose.

We were placed
in a line, but as a wall slid apart behind the dais and a man stepped out, all
thoughts of fleeing vanished. Surprise splashed through me, and a great desire
to laugh.

Glancing at
Jack, his lips were parted and his eyes wide. Leo let out a low curse, and that
humored me almost more than the man smiling down at us. Only Hannah was not
affected, for she did not know that before us stood Frederick Nolan, the former
leader of the Washington Phantoms.

“Jack, how good
of you to accept my invitation. It truly has been too long.”

“Not long enough
to suit me, I assure you. What the devil are you doing here, Frederick, and
what is this all about?” Jack’s look promised a fight if only he could get
close enough to Frederick.

Frederick sat
upon his throne, and the realization caused my gut to twist. Harvey had done
it. He had succeeded in one of his life’s goals. A Phantom had turned sides.

“I am the new
leader of the Savannah branch of the Holy Order.”

Jack and Leo
both leapt forward, but they were knocked back by the guards.

“You despicable
turncoat,” Leo spat.

“Leopold, one must
be a part of something in order to be considered a turncoat, and as the
Phantoms no longer exist, I betrayed nothing.”

“What did you
give them to acquire this position, Frederick?” Jack demanded.

“Nothing in the least,
Jack. Are you so naive that you still believe that Harvey does not know it all?
Ask her what Lord Harvey knows if you do not believe me.”

Jack did not
take his gaze from Frederick, but Frederick spoke the truth. Harvey did know
all. More than Jack even. When your greatest friend was the founder of the
Phantoms, secrets were shared, ones that were not forgotten.

“Which leads me
to why you are here. I trust that your arrival means that Lord Harvey has sent
you to me,” Frederick said to me, which explained why I was left unbound. He
thought I was still the white phantom.

“You are
mistaken,” Hannah spoke up for the first time. “They are on their wedding trip,
and she is no longer a part of the Holy Order.”

Frederick’s eyes
narrowed on Hannah for a moment before shifting to me. “A fine attempt, Mrs.
Lamont, but the white phantom can never leave the Holy Order.” His gaze shifted
to Jack, and he grinned as one full of understanding. “I see now why you
allowed her to escape last year.” His eyes ran up me, making me feel as if a
hundred worms were on my skin, but I did not cower or flinch. I was used to
such looks from lechers. “She is exquisite.”

“If you do not
stop ogling my wife you will not be seeing much more of anything,” Jack said
with a calm voice that held a promise of menace.

“She is the
white phantom. She belongs to the Holy Order, to Harvey, and now to me.”
Frederick would not be long for this world if he believed that he could make me
follow his orders. He was a fool if he thought he could succeed where even
Harvey had failed.

“Mrs. Lamont and
Jack speak the truth. Harvey released me from the Holy Order. Reverend Gideon
Reid married Jack and
I
two weeks past,” I said,
feeling only a twinge of guilt over lying about a minister. “You remember your
former leader, do you not?”

Frederick glared
at Jack, his look shouting of his disgust. “Is there anything that you have
kept sacred from the enemy?”

“I find that
rather ironic considering where you are sitting right now,” I retorted.

Frederick smiled
and inclined his head. “One can see why you married her. Though I find myself
nonplussed over why she would marry
you
.” His words were meant to shoot
barbs at Jack, but he had chosen the wrong man to insult.

“If you are
going to insult my husband, I suggest you call in more guards for those trivial
few will not be enough to protect you from me.” The promise in my words caused
Frederick’s eyes to narrow and one of his guards to step toward me.

Frederick held
up his hand to stop the man. “Forgive me,
Mrs
.
Martin. I meant
no insult, as I am sure Jack knows. It is our way.”

“Perhaps, but it
is not my way to allow worms to insult my husband.”

Frederick turned
his attention back to Jack, smirking in a way that had me itching to hit him.

“Will you allow a
mere female to fight your battles for you? Oh, yes, you always have. First with
your sister, and now with your wife.”

Jack did not
make a move or a reply toward Frederick, but I could see his white knuckles as
his hands were fists behind his back.

Frederick leaned
against the arm of his throne and rubbed his chin. His gaze was on me alone,
and I stared back. He did not alarm or threaten me, but I did not like the look
in his eyes or his self-important attitude. His appointment to the position of
leader of this branch had been done without my knowledge. It was unnatural, and
it meant that Harvey was planning something. Something against the Phantoms.

When Frederick
looked away from me, my body relaxed, but it was a brief feeling as he nodded
to one of his men and all of the members rose. The door behind me opened, and a
group of men entered to make a half circle around Jack, facing out and blocking
him from me and Leo.

Bumps rose on my
arms, and I knew I had to act at once, but before I could move, two men flanked
me.

“Do join me,”
Frederick said and the men gave me no choice but to obey.

As I stepped up
to the throne, Frederick rose. He was taller than Jack but not as tall as Leo.
He looked more suited to a ballroom than a battlefield, but I knew to withhold
judgment until he told me what he wanted from me.

“May I call you
Guinevere?”

“No.”

He laughed.
“Delightful.”

The way he
looked at me, I knew that he thought he was charming. Men like Frederick were
all the same. They saw themselves as charming and so expected everyone else to
view them the same way. If anyone did not, they were the ones in the wrong.
Frederick thought he could win me over with his charm, wit, and good looks. If
that failed, he had more nefarious ways to accomplish his goals.

Harvey had acquainted
me with every variety of man. It was a game with him to leave me to the wolves
to fight, trick, charm, or talk my way out. Every ilk had a weakness, and it
was my job to learn that weakness and use it to my advantage.

Frederick
motioned to one of his guards and the man brought out a pistol and placed it
against Jack’s head.

Breath had
stolen from my body for an instant before I sucked in a large gasp. Seeing Jack
held at the end of a gun barrel never failed to ignite the worst part of me.
The part of me that had no conscience and acted without remorse. “What is
this?” I began moving toward the men around Jack.

Frederick
intercepted me, wrapping his arms around me and locking mine against my sides.
Jack jerked forward, but he was forced back as the man beside him pulled back
the hammer on his gun.

“What is the
meaning of this?” I demanded louder.

“
Shh
,
shh
,
shh
,”
Frederick whispered against my ear, and I threw my head back. It only clipped
his chin as he lurched backward. His arms tightened painfully, and I cringed at
the crushing force. His strength was something I had underestimated.

He chuckled as
his face neared my ear again. “Try that again and your husband will be nothing
but a mess upon my floor.” His face touched my hair and he inhaled. My teeth
clenched hard as I fought for control over my urges to destroy Frederick.

“Do it,”
Frederick said, and his guard nodded. He looked down at Jack, his finger on the
trigger.

My insides were
twisting into a braid of anger, but my clear thoughts broke through. “You will
not kill him. You want something from me, and this is your tactic to be sure
that I do whatever it is that you want.”

Frederick
laughed, and released me. “My, but you are sharp.”

I ran to Jack,
but when I reached him, I paused. The man who had been holding the gun to
Jack’s head was placing it in his holster, and he was smirking. I waited for
him to look at me. When he did, I slammed my fist against his cheek.

Pain shot
through my knuckles, and I hissed out something I should not say. The other men
laughed, but they stepped back to allow me to reach Jack.

As I helped Jack
to his feet, I kept my hands on his arm. It was done more to keep myself from
killing Frederick than to restrain Jack.

“What do you
want, Frederick?” Jack asked in a voice of longsuffering, as if he had dealt
with Frederick’s tricks many times before.

“Nothing too
difficult. For your wife, it should be a simple task.” Frederick reseated
himself and slouched as if his role as leader meant nothing to him. “As I am
sure that you know, General Harvey is on his way to Savannah. When he arrives,
Guinevere will bring him here, where she will put a period to his existence
before this court.”

A sigh slipped
from my lips. He was a fool. Harvey would never step into a trap, and I would tell
him what was afoot long before I would lead him here. I may want free of
Harvey’s rule, but that did not mean that I wanted him deceased.

Frederick’s eyes
held a large amount of assurance. “I can see that you mean to try to best me.
Allow me to paint a portrait for you. You tell Harvey what is afoot; I
disappear, but not before I drop my cards. Tell me, how much do you care for
your husband’s family? Dear Nell, lovely Bess, her new husband Samuel, his
vivacious sister, the beautiful Rose Eldridge. Even Leo and Mrs. Lamont.
Everyone that you have ever cared about, all gone. Snuffed out like the
simplicity of putting out a candle.”

Frederick
presented a threat greater than Richard Hamilton had been. With the knowledge
that he possessed of both the Phantoms’ whereabouts and those of the Holy
Order, he could make good on his threats, and I would be powerless to stop him.
Unless I got Harvey on my side. Together we could dispose of Frederick, but
that meant breaking my word to Jack and going back to the Holy Order for aid.

“Now, let us say
that you follow through with your end of our bargain. Not only will you keep
your beloved alive, but you may have the reward of calling upon me and my men
whenever those beasts from your past crawl from their hole.” Frederick smiled
his most charming, and that single act told me all I needed to know about him.
He was at his most dangerous when he knew that he had won. “Consider it this
way, Guinevere. You will be ridding our world of Harvey and those pesky royal
guards, and live a life of peace with Jack. What other option do you have?”

There were two,
but they were more implausible than what Frederick proposed, and I could use
his aid when my uncle arrived.

“Do we have an
accord?” Frederick asked.

When it was all
considered, aligning with Frederick was the lesser of two evils. For no matter
how ruthless he thought himself, he was nothing in comparison to Harvey. I
would do what he instructed, and let the cards fall how they would.

“Yes.”

Frederick
ordered our release but as we reached the door, he called out to Jack.

“Jack,” as we
turned to him, he smiled, “when the ones that you trust betray you, remember
the oath.”

Jack

A
s the next few days passed,
Frederick’s words stayed with me.
Remember the oath
.

It was not
something that could be forgotten.

“Jack, your
greatest battle will come at the fall of one of your brothers. That is when a
choice will come. For when one of you fall, another will risk all.”

My father’s
words had been with me from the moment that Frederick had spoken. My father had
told me that when the time came to choose a side, I must choose with my head,
not my heart for it would lead me astray. If only it were as simple as my
father made it sound.

Guinevere, who
was seated beside me in the parlor, turned a page in her book, seeming
oblivious to all else. It was the morning of the Stanton’s party, and while she
read I spent my time between writing letters to Jericho and Bess, and admiring
her. Leo was out spying, and Hannah was somewhere in the house. With
Frederick’s words about the oath, it was time to speak of the Holy Order.