Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights) (29 page)

Charlotte sobbed against my
shoulder and I felt a small amount of pity for the girl. She was a child who
had been deceived by a master in manipulation.

“Is everyone out to betray me?”
Charlotte cried. “I wish I was never born!”

“Do not say that, Charlotte.” My
words brought on a revolt.

“You do not know what it is like.
Being sired by an attacker, living your life knowing that you killed your own
mother by being born. Do you know that my adopted father d-died from grief?”

I could not see her, but I could
feel her anguish, and it brought tears to my eyes. For the first time since I
had met her, I wanted to hug her. I wanted to assure her that none of those
things were her fault, but she went on.

“M-my fault. Not even Sam wanted
me. He left me so he could make his fortune, but I knew the truth.” The
conviction in her voice was heartbreaking. “He could not stand to be near me.
That is why he made me live with Rose. Now Uncle George allowed L-Lucas to be
killed.”

Pity and shame twisted inside me.
Charlotte’s folly was great, but it sounded as if her life had not been full of
ease as I had thought. It was as Jack had said. Charlotte was searching for
love and approval wherever she could find it.

She began to sob again.

Wrapping my arms around her, I
thought about my own sister. Is that what Edith thought? That I did not want
her with me because I did not love her, and blamed her for our parents’ deaths?

As a tear slipped down my cheek, I
made Charlotte a promise, but it was also to Edith, wherever she was. “I am
going to get you out of here, you have my word.”

Her chest shook against me as she
sucked in air.

“Someone is coming,” Hannah said,
though her voice was thick with emotion.

A key scratched against the lock,
and the door creaked as it opened.

Frederick held up a lantern. “I
hope that you have come prepared for a fight, dearest, because the battle is
about to begin.”

JACK

W
e returned to the house in the
early hours of the morning after searching for Charlotte, and I was eager to
spend the rest of the morning with my wife.

It had been a long week, and the only
place that I felt like I was not fighting was with Guinevere.

Sam wanted George’s blood; Bess
was trying to keep Sam calm, Hannah wanted—well, only the Lord knew what Hannah
wanted, and Leo knew things he refused to speak of. The only person that I did
not feel had some secret plan was Dudley, but he was lost in his yearning for
Hannah.

At least with Guinevere I knew
what she wanted. To rescue her sister, destroy her uncle, and help the unknown
monarch reclaim their throne. All in all, another day in the life of a Phantom.

As we stepped into the house,
arguing with Sam that we could not break down the door of every abandoned
building in the city, Bess came hurrying toward us.

She gripped my hand, and my
mounting good mood plummeted.

Glancing around the foyer, I knew
what was amiss. “Where is my wife?”

“Dudley sent news that Charlotte
left with George and Edith. Guinevere and Hannah rode for Freddy. About twenty
minutes ago this was brought to the door.”

Snatching the parchment from her,
I read the formal summons. Turning on my heel, I ran out the open door into the
gray morning.

“Jack, at the least, take a
horse,” Bess called after me, but I could not stop. Frederick had my wife.

Leo, Sam, and Bess had caught up
to me by the time I was four roads over but none of them spoke as I mounted the
horse that they brought me.

Feeling like my head would split
from the aching, the worry, the fear, I pushed the horse into a gallop, needing
to see that my wife was unharmed. The ache in my chest that I had felt every time
that Guinevere ran from me resurrected. It was like morbidly welcoming an old
friend. I knew why she had gone, but it felt worse than all the other times
combined. The thought of losing her filled me with haste.

When we neared the temple, Leo had
edged ahead of me and was waiting for us beside someone whose presence made my
mouth drop open.

“What did you do, ride from
Charleston?” Dudley demanded as I dismounted.

“What the
dev
—”
Mrs. Stanton scowled, “—deuce are you doing here?”

“Rescuing our wives of course.
Didn’t think we would leave it all to you did you?” said Dudley as he
unsheathed a sword.

“Your wife?” Astonishment was
mine.

Dudley grinned and tapped me on
the chest. “I’ve been married for two years.”

Bess made a choking noise in her
throat, and Sam patted her on the back. “You are
married
to Hannah
Lamont?”

“Hannah Stanton,” Dudley said with
a wink.

“I am dreaming,” Bess gripped the
front of Sam’s coat, “please tell me that this is all a dream.”

Sam wrapped one arm around Bess, and
reached the other out to Dudley. “Sam Mason.”

“Dudley Stanton.” Dud shook his
hand with as much flourish as he did everything.

“Now that everyone is acquainted
shall we sit down to tea, or will you all behave as the situation demands,”
Mrs. Stanton inquired. “Unless you want that scoundrel to be off with your wife
and her sister.”

My perception was slipping, of
that I was certain, but there would be time later for explanations.

“Are there guards surrounding the
whole?” I asked as I moved in for a better view of the temple.

The temple had six men guarding
the door, and a few along the sides. Some I recognized as Frederick’s guards,
others I did not know.

“There should be another way in,”
Bess said as she stood beside me.

“If we spread out, we could take them
from all directions, giving Jack time to get inside,” Sam said as he pulled out
a pair of pistols.

“Children,” Mrs. Stanton
interrupted, drawing our attention, “watch and be educated. Dudley, if you
will.”

Dudley stepped forward and
whistled the song of a bird. Confusion rippled through me as Frederick’s men
turned on the other guards and began attacking them.

Mrs. Stanton came up beside me,
and I was sure there was a smirk on her lips. “Do not stand there like a stump,
boy! Go rescue your wife.”

Snapping out of my astonishment,
Sam, Bess, Leo, and I ran into the open. The fighting did not spill over to us,
and we were able to reach the door unhindered.

Voices could be heard on the other
side, and I was about to throw open the door, but Bess stayed my hand. She
leaned her ear against the door to listen. After a moment’s hesitation, I did
the same.

“Now you see her, tell me all,”
George said.

Then I heard my wife’s voice, as
strong and demanding as ever, and a part of me released a great weight of
tension.

“I have yet to see her. How do I
know this person is she?”

Someone gasped loudly, and Bess
stiffened before pulling back the hammer on each of her guns.

“This was not our deal!” Levi
shouted, and that was all it took. I threw open the door, and Bess fired her
first pistol.

Edith screamed as the guard
holding her fell away. There was a black cloth sack over her head. Levi looked
at me for a second before grabbing Edith, lifting her over his shoulder, and
running through the open door to the antechamber.

Chaos broke forth as George’s
guards made as to attack us, but three of them halted when they saw me. We knew
each other. They were once Watchmen in Philadelphia.

Searching out all the faces in the
room, I found George standing beside Guinevere, screaming like a madman for his
guards to capture us.

They charged forward with knives
and guns and as they raised their weapons, Sam pulled Bess behind one of the
throne chairs. I ducked behind one on the other side of the room, popping my
head around the edge to fire my pistols at the guards.

Catching sight of Guinevere, one
of the guards had her arm and was pulling her toward the door Levi had
disappeared through.

Desperation overtook me, and I
jumped up, running into the thick of the guards to reach my wife.

Pulling a knife from my belt, I
threw it at one man, then shot one who tried to stab me with a dagger. Sam and
Bess joined me in the middle of the room, Bess with knives flinging, Sam with
his fists flying. I had a knife out and sliced at a man about my size who was
trying to hit me.

George’s three former watchmen
joined us in the fight against the other guards.

Using my knife, I deflected blows
from the guard I was fighting, my breaths puffing out in short spurts. My
strength in my left arm was not what it used to be, having not fully recovered
yet. I missed one of his swings, and his fist struck my healing shoulder. The
breath left my body as pain flew across my chest as if I had been shot again. I
fell forward, landing on one knee. The shouts, groans, and weapons clashing all
around me amplified in my ears. My body froze as flashes from war, from a
blood-filled battlefield played in my mind. I could see my friends, my fellow
soldiers falling all around me even though they were not truly here with me.

Looking up into the eyes of my
opponent, he pulled back his leg as if to kick me, and was shot in the back.

Hannah lowered her pistol as Leo
moved toward the door with his hand wrapped around Charlotte’s wrist. Frederick
had disappeared, but Guinevere was at the door. She kicked her guard between
his legs then wrenched herself free of his grip and ran toward me. I pushed
myself up and moved to her, catching her on my good side. As her body pressed
against me, she was shaking.

“I did not break my promise,” she
said at once.

Moisture burned in my nose at the
relief of holding her. She was well. I pulled back from where I was resting my
head against the side of hers. “Stay with me.”

She nodded, the fierceness on her
face assurance to me that we would win this battle.

A hand gripped the back of my coat
and pulled me away from Guinevere.

She shrieked my name as I was
tossed into another guard. He got his arm around my neck and held me against
him, choking me enough that I could not break his grip but not enough to render
me unconscious. My blood burned within my veins as I struggled against him, and
caught sight of George straight ahead of me loading a pistol. When he raised
it, I saw why the guard was holding me. I saw what was meant to happen.

“No!” Guinevere screamed, but the
pistol was not pointed at me.

Fear cut me as I threw myself
forward, but was pulled back. The pistol fired.

Guinevere hit the ground, with
Charlotte landing atop her. When they both made to sit up, I lost all
self-control.

Grabbing a knife from my belt, I
stabbed my captor’s leg. His shouts in my ear made it ring, but he released me.

I searched the room, until I found
George at the far door. He was staring at me with a gaze so unlike the man I
used to know, before turning and running.

My body began to shake with
uncontrollable force, and rage unlike any I had every felt, unlike the few
times my sister had been captured, unlike the time she was branded covered me.
This was hatred, dark and heavy.

Four guards blocked my path to
chase George. Pulling out a knife for each hand, I went to work.

One of the guards swung at me with
his own knife. I threw my arms up, crossing them to deflect his blade. He
pulled back, raising his knife for another attack. None came. His stunned eyes
were on me as he took a step forward. I dodged his form as he fell, a knife in
his back.

Frederick’s men ran into the room,
drawing all attention to themselves, and I was able to search for my wife.

She was not in the room.

Knowing my wife, she had gone after
her sister.

Running through the antechamber,
there was a door that led to the back of the temple. Outside, I looked at the
surrounding trees, but did not see her.

Sam came up beside me, fury on his
face. “Where is my uncle?”

A gun fired from beyond the trees,
and we both ran. The chills snaking up my spine, the fear in my mind and the
conviction in my soul pushed me on.

Someone had just been shot.

GUINEVERE

J
ack had not noticed when I slipped
through the door to go in search of Levi and my sister, nor did I wish to draw
attention to myself. I had picked up a knife and thrown it into the back of the
guard fighting Jack as I went, but I could not stop. Finding Edith was of the
highest importance.