The Charleston Chase (Phantom Knights Book 2) (35 page)

Sam collected the articles and the brown box then
assured us that he would do his best to keep Charlotte from
interrupting us, but he could not guarantee for how long. My mother
promised to regale everyone with tales of the early days of the
Phantoms and went off on Sam’s arm to the house.

When we were alone, Jack told me that he, Leo, and
Abe would be the only ones going after Harvey. Leo would never let
Jack go alone, and Abe had gone to Jack with a request to be
included in the search. We had captured ten of the Holy Order lords
along with fifteen of their guards. I had thought it a momentous
occasion, until Jack told me that there were three more branches
like Levitas that he had to uncover. Harvey could have joined any
one of them. Everything rested on Guinevere and her return with the
news of Harvey’s whereabouts.

We were seated on the stone bench when Jack held my
hand tight between his two. “Will you forgive me, Bess, for not
saving Ben, for encouraging Andrew, for not obtaining your release
from the Phantoms?” He breathed in sharply, “And for being the
source of most of your pain?”

Startled by the despair in his voice, my hand
gripped his. I had known that Jack blamed himself, but never to
that extent.

“Jack, you are not to blame. You did not kill Ben.
You did not make Andrew give me up. Staying with the Phantoms was
my choice, and do not regret my pain, for I do not.” Jack looked
over at me, and I smiled at him. “I would not have found Sam if it
were not for what I went through.”

Jack slowly nodded and blew out a long breath that I
knew he had been holding for nearly four years.

We sat in silence for a little while when I voiced a
question that had been burning inside me. “What are you going to do
to Harvey?”

“Find him, capture him, and turn him over to the
authorities.”

I looked at him, my surprise surely showing on my
face. That was not like him. With the knowledge that our father had
been betrayed by his close friend, I thought Jack would be seeking
vengeance.

“I do not want his blood on my hands.”

Pride streamed through me. He was growing in wisdom.
“What about Guinevere?”

Jack grabbed a blade of grass and started to pull it
apart. “She is trying to escape from him, Bess, and I am going to
see to it that she makes it no matter the cost.”

Fear coiled in my stomach, “And what if the price is
too dear to pay?”

His eyes locked on me. “I want what you have with
Sam. I can see the way he loves you, as if you are his very soul.
Well, my soul is out there, and I will fight for as long as I must
to have it returned.”

I sniffed against a rush of tears and looked away
from his intent blue eyes. “You have this annoying habit of making
me see your side.” I leaned my head against his shoulder. “Will you
make Charleston your home? I do not think I could bear to be parted
from you.”

He kissed the top of my head. “I like Charleston.”
He stretched his legs out before him and crossed his boots at the
ankles. “I will stay, though you understand that there will be
times when I am gone.”

“As long as you return when you have accomplished
your task,” I said, though it hurt to push the words out. I did not
want him to risk his life, but he knew what he wanted. When Jack
wanted something, he would fight through the mire of resistance,
and he had always come out victorious. I trusted that he would win
again. After all, he was Loutaire, and I was Raven. We were
Phantoms, and even when we no longer wore the masks; we would
fight; for freedom, for love, and for the right that every man,
woman, and child could choose their own path.

When Jack was ready to go back inside the house, I
told him I would join him soon. I wanted a few minutes to myself.
He nodded, knowingly, and went into the house, leaving me in the
lantern lit garden.

I leaned against the wall and breathed in the night
air. Some of the candles had gone out, but there were still enough
to see when someone joined me in the garden, but not from the
house. He stepped into the light from the direction of the front
gate.

My entire body stiffened with mingled rage and
disbelief. How dare he come here? I stood, ready to shout, but he
raised one hand, his face a mask of pain.

“Please, Elizabeth, I did not come here to harm
you.”

“As if I will ever again believe a word that you
say,” I spat as I stood on wobbling legs. “You have great nerve
showing your face here after what you have done!”

General Harvey sagged a little, leaning his good arm
against the tree. His other was in a sling. I had not known he was
injured, not that I cared. My hands were shaking, and I was
mentally cursing myself for not having brought a weapon out with
me; not that I would have ever thought Harvey would come to Sam’s
house. I should have screamed an alarm, but I admit that I was
curious why Harvey would risk his life coming to me.

“I would never have come here, but circumstances
have forced my hand,” he said, the gray tint of his skin making him
look ancient. “I require your help, Elizabeth.”

Staring at him, I knew my jaw was slack, but truly,
it was too much. “You are a fool if you believe that I will help
you!”

“I do not request help for myself, but for Edith.”
He pushed himself upright, wincing.

My heart was beating with more
force at the sound of Edith’s name. Whatever had happened to her
had to have
been serious if it forced
Harvey to come to me.

“Edith has been captured by the men seeking her
sister.”

That was too much for my shaking legs. I sank down
to the bench, staring at Harvey in astonishment, then disgust. How
could he have allowed such a thing? He knew what they were capable
of. They had killed Ben, so I knew they would not scruple murdering
Edith if it served their purpose.

“Why come to me?” I asked.

Harvey sniffed to my astonishment. My incredulity
rose when I saw tears glistening in his eyes in the light from the
lanterns above. “Because Guinevere will return to your brother, and
only you can persuade him to turn her over to them. Only her
surrender will save Edith.”

There were so many emotions spiraling through me as
I considered his words. He stood there watching me, and that
unnerved me to the point that I stood again, not liking him having
the high ground. He thought he could manipulate me into helping
him; he thought that I could be persuaded, and God forgive me, I
considered it. But, in the end, I realized something that Harvey
did not seem to consider. It was not my choice to make.

Opening my mouth, I did the only sensible thing. I
screamed.

SECRETS

IN

Savannah

Guinevere

25 April 1817

Charleston, South Carolina

Secrets have the power to destroy our world and the
power to save it. Secrets can be the key to success, or the
guillotine of failure...it all depends upon choices. Had I known
that by choosing to marry Jack Martin I was sentencing him to
death, I would have made a very different choice...

Standing on the edge of a hill that sloped down to
two ponds, my thoughts were nearly spiraling out of my control.
Every thought circled around one question. Was I making a mistake?
My heart cried no, but over the past nine years I had learned not
to listen to my heart, but to my guilt. My heart would lead me
astray, but my guilt kept me on my course. So it was with a mixture
of foreboding and relief that I faced the only one of my heart’s
desires that I had ever given in to.

“Marry me, Jack, right here, right now.”

His wonderful blue eyes widened, but the love in his
gaze filled me with assurance. We were doing right. He was right
for me. Lifting my hand, Reverend Gideon Reid approached us. Jack
turned to his friend and mentor, his look incredulous. Gideon
smiled like a fond father, and in many ways he had been like a
father to Jack since his own had died three years ago.

“I did not want to give you false hopes, you
understand,” Gideon said as he stood before us.

Jack had removed his hat when he had arrived so his
black hair moved with the breeze blowing over us. When we had first
met in Philadelphia I had thought him the most handsome man that I
had ever seen, but I knew to look beyond appearances. What I found
when I delved into the secrets that made up Jack Martin was a man
of honor, determination, and passion. And he loved me.

Jack took my hands into his and our eyes locked.
What we were doing would have repercussions, but together we could
face anything. As Gideon opened his book and thumbed through the
pages until he found the one he wanted, Jack’s gaze went a little
wide, as if only just realizing what we were doing. I pressed his
hands, assuring him with my touch that all would be well. If
only.

“One moment, if you please,” said a voice that
caused fear to slam into my chest, freezing my blood into shards of
ice.

Terror seized me in its grip and I felt myself
shrinking in, my body trying to escape from the vicinity of that
speaker. How he had found me, I did not know, but after nine years
of running, my past had caught up to me in the very worst way. My
eyes remained on Jack as my body began to shake. Jack’s black brows
slanted before he shoved me behind him, facing the man who I
loathed almost more than anyone else. Lucas Marx.

Jack had to have met the man, for he had paid court
to Jack’s sister Bess, until Sam Mason had won her affection. Men
ran around the plantation house and flanked Lucas. Fifteen royal
guards all wearing the serpent ring on their right hand. Loyalists
to the man that I loathed more than Lucas.

“You thought you could escape me,” Lucas said to
me.

My body shrank a little more. If he was here then it
was only a matter of time before the man that he served arrived and
forced me into a fate worse than death.

Gideon stepped around us, and I stiffened.

“Sir, I do not know what you are about, but I will
have you know that this is a private affair.”

“You are the priest, yes?” Lucas asked and Gideon
gave a short nod. Lucas turned to the men surrounding him and said,
“Gem den præst.”
Save the priest.
Thanks were in my mind,
until Lucas looked at Jack and said, “Skyde den anden.”

“No!” I screamed as I stepped around Jack. He
reached out for me, but I kept away from his hand. Shielding Jack
with my body, I tried to bargain with Lucas. “Jeg vil gå med dig,
men du skal skåne hans liv.” I meant every word. I would go with
him if he would spare Jack.

Lucas sneered at me for a moment, the same loathing
I felt for him was reflecting in his eyes. “Love? How...” he paused
as he stroked his square chin, “disappointing.”

Lucas snapped his fingers and six guards moved
toward me, but I had come prepared. I pulled my dagger from beneath
my cloak and swung at the first man who reached me. Red appeared on
his arm where my blade slashed him, and the second guard received a
graze across the back of his hand. A gun fired from behind me, but
the sound did not halt me. Two guards charged me together. My blade
cut through the coat of one, but the other got a hand on my arm.
Throwing my hand toward him, he caught my wrist an inch away from
his eye and forced my hand and the dagger down. Another got behind
me, but I kicked the one holding me, then threw my elbow into the
stomach of the second guard. Jack was throwing punches against the
face of the man he was fighting, and Gideon was aiming two pistols.
The first shot he fired at a man who was running toward me and the
second toward Lucas, but one of his guards jumped before him,
taking the shot meant for Lucas. A man raised a gun, pointing it at
Gideon and I started toward him, my thoughts screaming at him to
stop, but it was Lucas who shouted.

“No! To kill a priest is to burn in hell’s fires.”
He took the gun into his own hand as five men circled me.

They knew better than to take me on one by one so
they inched their way toward me together. Hitting one in the groin
while stabbing the man beside him in the shoulder was as far as I
got before the others captured my arms and wrenched the dagger from
my grip. They threw it away from me, but I kept fighting, throwing
my head against one of theirs, kicking out, and jerking my arms
around until more guards helped restrain me. They fell against me,
and my heart ached, for I knew I was caught. When my gaze fell upon
Jack, terror took hold, for he, too, was being held, as was Gideon.
Jack’s focus was on Lucas, as Lucas took two steps toward Jack. He
was still ten feet away, never one to engage in a fight, but he
knew that he had won the battle.

That set me to thrashing against my guards. I could
not allow Lucas to win.

“Enough!” Lucas shouted, and my thrashing halted as
Lucas was pointing a pistol at Jack.

Jack’s gaze shifted to me and held. I bit my lip as
tears began to fall from my eyes. Jack and I both knew what was
about to happen, and I was helpless to stop it. His gaze was full
of sorrow and love.

“Farewell, John Martin,” Lucas said, and the gun
exploded.

Jack’s chest jerked forward and then back, crimson
spread across his chest with alarming rapidity. The pain that took
hold of my body was the same, yet worse than when my parents were
murdered before my eyes. My mouth started screaming, but my ears
were ringing too loud to hear what I was saying. The guards holding
Jack released him and he fell forward, his head striking then
bouncing off the hard ground. The seven guards surrounding me
lifted me, but I fought against them, screaming and throwing myself
around. Tears were clouding my vision, but I blinked them away
fighting for a view of Jack. The guards were carrying me toward the
house and then around, but I saw him. He was on the ground, his
eyes open, but not blinking, not rising. All senses revolted.
Growling and then screaming, I pulled against my captors and got
one hand free. I did not waste my moment of freedom, but broke the
nose of one of my captors, pulled a handful of hair from another,
and hit two others against the jaw. My fighting only ceased when
Lucas appeared before me, placing the barrel of a gun against my
forehead. We were at the front of the house where two carriages
were waiting.