Grace flinched as the man halted their progress down the ship’s stairs, but said nothing. She bit her tongue until she could taste blood.
“It is, Comstock.” Marcus gestured for him to move aside. “And I will be sure to tell the King she was delayed by your curiosity.”
Comstock snarled but did as he was told, stepping out of their path.
“Last cabin on the left,” Crow muttered as Marcus led Grace past him and farther down into the prison ship.
Grace stared straight ahead, keeping her eyes focused on the narrow stairwell as they descended. The noise grew exponentially with each tread, as did the stench. She breathed through her mouth as they reached the ship’s lower deck.
“I must admit, this is not as terrible as I would have expected,” Grace whispered as Marcus pushed her against the wall in order to avoid a pair of Kingsmen running the other way.
He plucked her forward by the shoulders and set off again. “The prisoners are kept on the deck below us. That is the area we need to avoid.”
“I will try to remember that,” Grace said, ducking behind Marcus’s shoulder when a Kingsmen she knew appeared in the corridor.
“Well blow me down,” the squat, surly man exclaimed as he came closer.
Grace knew the man only as Four Fingers. Her husband had never bothered with his associates’ real names—something to do with Kingsmen protocol.
“The doctor’s wife?” Four Fingers asked, holding his hand up, palm out, in a silent command to halt.
“And here I’d believed up to this point you were stupid,” Marcus replied coldly, his knife clearly visible in his rock-steady grip. “Now move. We need to see the King.”
Four Fingers growled low in his throat. Grace watched the struggle between hatred and common sense playing out in the man’s eyes.
Eventually, common sense won and he stepped aside, making room for them to pass. “I’ll come lookin’ for you, Marcus. After we find what the King’s wanting.”
“You do that,” Marcus replied, not bothering to even look back.
Four Fingers reached over and grasped a lock of Grace’s hair that had come undone. “You, too, Mrs. Crowther.”
His sharp tug on her hair was painful, but then he released her, disappearing down the narrow steps to the level below.
“How much farther?” Grace asked, a shiver creeping up her spine.
“Not far at all.”
Marcus suddenly stopped and Grace bumped into his back. She peered around his shoulder and discovered they had reached the end of the hall. Crow stood just ahead of them, along with another Kingsmen, who looked to be guarding a door.
“ ’Bout time she was caught,” the guard said to Marcus, then gave Grace a black look.
Marcus reached behind him, caught Grace’s hands and pulled her forward to stand next to him. “Insightful as always. Now open the door,” he instructed impatiently. “Or should I?”
The guard pounded his fist against the heavy wood portal three times. “Marcus to see you. And he’s brought Crowther’s wife with him.”
A chair scraping against wood flooring could be heard from within the cabin. Footsteps sounded next. With each heavy tread, Grace willed herself to remain calm. Yes, she was about to see the man responsible for causing incomprehensible pain and misery to so many people. But crumpling before the man would do no one any good. It was time for Grace to play her part.
She locked her knees and straightened her spine.
A key rattled in the door’s lock. The hinges squeaked with effort as the heavy oak swung inward. And there stood a man.
“You are late.”
Marcus sighed with disgust, then shoved Grace into the chamber and followed after her. “I believe this shall more than make up for my tardiness.”
Grace tripped on her skirts and fell forward. She landed on her knees, the rough wooden flooring biting at her skin.
“No need to injure her just yet,” the King said, grabbing Grace’s elbow and yanking her up. “Have a seat, Mrs. Crowther.”
He pushed her down into a chair against the wall of the chamber, then walked to a desk opposite and tossed the keys at Marcus. “Close the door and lock it.”
Grace’s gaze followed her friend as he shut the door. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for the roles they both must play, as he placed the key in the hole and turned it. She sent up a prayer when he turned back toward her and eyed her with contempt.
“I always believed Mrs. Crowther to be a bright woman.” Marcus shook his head in derision. “Apparently, I was wrong. She believed your forged letter. Can you imagine a more stupid move?”
Grace began to cry. It wasn’t hard to do. She was far more frightened than she’d believed possible. Though she knew Marcus was pretending, his feigned betrayal still sliced at her emotions. She felt weak at a time when she needed all of her strength. “You said you were my friend.”
“Marcus says a lot of things, Mrs. Crowther,” the King responded, crossing his ankles. “That does not make them true. I’ve even found myself questioning the man’s intentions from time to time. Fortunately, today he has proven himself to be a loyal Kingsmen.”
Marcus chuckled without humor. “You see, Mrs. Crowther, he knows me well. Unlike you.” He walked across the cabin to a large porthole. “Do you mind? Never have been able to abide the stench of prisons.”
“Nor I,” the King answered, nodding his permission.
Marcus unlatched the round window and pushed it open, a waft of briny sea air filling the room. “Now, what shall we do with Mrs. Crowther? And, more important, where is my reward for so loyally following your plan?”
“I admire your ability to focus on what is important, Marcus,” the King replied. “What would you say to freedom?”
Marcus eyed the man with deep skepticism. “Whose freedom, exactly?”
Grace watched the King re-cross his ankles. Something in his demeanor struck her as being off. He was the leader of a very powerful organization. The King had killed at will, taken whatever he desired, and ruled with an iron fist.
So why did he appear nervous?
“Yours, of course,” the King said, waving an impatient, dismissive hand at Grace. “You did not think I meant Mrs. Crowther here, did you? No, she will not see the outside of this chamber. But you? You I can do something for—something you’ve wanted for a very long time, if I am not mistaken.”
Marcus turned his back to the cabin wall and leaned against it casually, as though the King was not offering him a second chance at life. “As simple as that? You would grant my freedom in exchange for the woman?”
“I already have the woman, Marcus,” the King warned, uncrossing his ankles. “No, for your freedom I require one more favor. Mr. Clark will be coming for the Widow, here. And when he does, you will kill him. Then, and only then, will you be free.”
“Done.”
The round, hard end of a pistol muzzle jammed against Langdon’s back, just below his left shoulder blade.
“Listen to what I have to say. Then you may consider killing me. Agreed?”
Langdon knew that voice. It belonged to Marcus Mitchell. “Where is Grace?” he demanded.
The point pressed harder against his back. “Agreed?”
“Agreed, Marcus,” he begrudgingly told the man.
“I found your friend scouting on the north side of the ship. Unfortunately, he attacked me. I did not kill him,” Marcus said. “But he will be out for quite some time. Now turn around slowly. I want to see your face—talking to the back of your head feels rather unproductive.”
Langdon obeyed. Marcus was dressed all in black and nearly blended in with the night shadows, the brim of his hat pulled low over his brow, shielding his face. He held a cocked pistol in one hand and a bloodied knife in the other.
“Whose blood?” Langdon needed to hear him say it wasn’t Grace’s.
“Not your friend’s,” Marcus assured him.
“Or Grace’s?” Langdon aske
d, the question nearly sticking in his throat.
Marcus scowled at him. “Do you honestly believe I would kill the one woman I’ve ever loved?”
“I do not know what to believe about you,” Langdon replied, watching the man’s expression carefully. “If she is not dead, and she is not here with you, then where is she? Did you deliver her to the King?”
Marcus wiped his blade clean on his leather breeches. “She is with the King. A forged letter was delivered to Grace, asking that she come to my apartment. I knew nothing of this, nor that Crow and his men would be waiting for her. I had no choice but to go along with their plan. It was the only way for me to stay close to her.”
“How do I know you’re not lying?”
“I may hate you because she loves you, but that does not mean I would hurt Grace. She believed you would come. And here you are.”
So Marcus had not forced Grace onto the Resurrection. Langdon was relieved that she’d not been betrayed by a man she considered a friend.
Still, she was now the King’s prisoner. She was in danger. And Marcus had played a part in her capture.
“Why didn’t you fight for her?” Langdon asked, unable to keep the anger from his voice.
“Crow, the man sent to fetch Grace, is not someone to be trusted. He’s killed many whom the King had insisted be taken alive. I wanted her alive and she wanted justice. And Grace wanted justice—for herself, of course. And for you.”
“You endangered her life for justice?” Langdon countered, believing Marcus lied. “Is that what you are telling me?”
“She promised me you would come,” Marcus said simply. “I’ve seen many women who’ve needed so desperately to believe in something that they’ve trusted men they bloody well knew did not deserve the honor. But Grace? She does not need you—nor me, nor anyone or anything. Grace is everything strong and good in this world. Still, she chose you. She believes in you. I saw it in her eyes. I heard it on her lips. That is what convinced me. And if you fail her, I will breathe my last breath with my knife in your back. Do you understand?”
Langdon looked hard at Marcus, willing himself to be angry with the man. But something in him would not allow it. Marcus loved Grace, that much was clear. He understood who she was and what made her so special. He might be a member of the Kingsmen, but he was also Grace’s friend. And the only other man on the planet who came close to understanding how Langdon felt about her.
“I will not fail her.” Langdon held out his hand and waited. “I cannot. Not with your help and that of the men who ride with me. You have my word.”
Marcus reluctantly took Langdon’s hand in his and firmly shook it. “I am glad to be fighting on the same side, Clark. But it does not mean we are friends.”
Langdon returned the firm handclasp then turned toward the Resurrection. “God, no. Never.”
“What is it that you are afraid of?” Grace asked the King. She fidgeted with the rope that bound her wrists, the coarse braided hemp cutting into her skin as she attempted to loosen the knot.
Marcus was gone. And still, there the King sat, one leg crossed over the other as he tapped the heel of the boot on the floor.
“I will ask the questions, Mrs. Crowther,” the man replied, his tone taking on a slightly desperate quality that had not been there before.
“Question, you mean,” Grace corrected him. This was not what Grace had expected. She was glad, of course, to still be alive. And the longer she kept the King engaged, the more time it gave Langdon and his men to arrive. But something was off. The infamous leader of a criminal organization did not waste time. And yet, it felt as though that was exactly what he was doing, as he asked her just one question, over and over.
“Why would I want you dead?” he asked for what seemed the thousandth time.
Unfortunately, the repetition was not helping jog Grace’s memory. “I have never been good at guessing games, I am afraid. Not even as a child. So you will need to be patient with me.”
The man uncrossed his legs and stood, impatience flushing his face with ruddy color. “Do not play coy with me, Mrs. Crowther—you will not like the results. Tell me now and there is a very real chance you might survive the night. Keep the truth to yourself and we will both assuredly die a very painful death.”
Rather cryptic, Grace thought to herself. As if he had forgotten why he wanted her dead in the first place.
Or as if he’d never known.
“If I tell you, my life will be spared?”
“Then you do know? Ha!” the King barked and slapped his thigh with one meaty hand. “I’ll bend that bitch to my will yet.”
Bitch?
Grace felt the pressure against her right wrist ease and continued to work at the knot with her fingers. “Then you promise to free me, unharmed?”
“Yes, yes, of course,” the King replied impatiently, turning to his desk and gathering up what looked to be nothing more than odds and ends. “Now, tell me what you know.”
Something powerful slammed against the cabin door. The King dropped what he was doing and spun to look at Grace with wild eyes. “Now, woman. At once. Or I cannot promise you anything!”
The door took a second blow and crashed inward, wood from its center panel splintering around the shape of a man as he stepped through it.
The deafening noise from the chaos below poured into the cabin as the man stopped just over the threshold and turned back to offer someone his hand.
“Jesus Christ,” the King swore as he backed up against the outside cabin wall. His gaze darted about the room, most assuredly looking for a way out.
“I am afraid your God will do you no good now, Adolphus.”
Grace’s gaze flew to the doorway. The man who’d acted as a battering ram only a moment before stood inside the cabin, a woman at his side.
“I sent Marcus to fetch you,” the King blurted out.
Even Grace, who knew very little about the man, could tell he was lying.
“Are you certain of that?” the woman asked, her crisp, proper, distinctly upper-class voice surprising Grace. “According to the guard outside, Mr. Mitchell was ordered to lock the door and go in search of Mr. Clark. No one mentioned anything about informing me. Which is odd, considering you took Crowther’s whore a day earlier than we’d agreed to.”
“Isle,” the King addressed the battering ram, “listen to me. Crowther’s wife knows something that could put an end to the Queen. Help me and you will become second in command. You have my word.”
Isle eyed the King with patent suspicion. “You think I am as stupid as they say, don’t ye?” the man asked, then walked forward, all menace. “But I am not. You’d lead the Kingsmen straight to hell. You’ve not got the bullocks to pull it off. And I’ve no interest in seeing hell any sooner than I need to.”
Isle’s tree limb-sized arm moved with surprising speed. He grasped the King’s neck with one hand and lifted him off the ground.
“Eloquently put,” the woman said, gracefully crossing the cabin to join Isle.
She drew a knife from within the folds of her skirt and pointed the tip at the King. “I never cared for you, Adolphus. You are intelligent, yes. But too ambitious. Dealing with you has become quite tedious. I must thank you, I suppose, for giving me a reason to kill you.”
She drove the knife point into the King’s heart, sinking the steel to its hilt before pulling it free. Blood gushed from the wound and the King cried out, clutching his chest. The woman attacked once more, this time twisting the knife until his entire body convulsed, then stilled.
Isle released the King’s neck and the dead man landed with a thud on the wooden floor.
“Clean this,” the woman instructed the battering ram as she handed over the knife, then reached inside her reticule and produced a hanky.
Isle kicked the King’s lifeless body, then spat on him.
Grace slipped her fingertips between the two pieces of the knot and twisted back and forth, the rope loosening more quickly.
“Do you know, your mother and I were quite good friends,” the woman addressed Grace as she wiped drops of blood spray from her hands. “The best of friends, some might have even said.”
Grace froze. Then she forced herself to look away from the King’s corpse. With a calmness that surprised her, she managed to meet the woman’s gaze without flinching and studied her patrician features. “Is that so? I apologize, but you are not familiar to me. Have we met before?”
“Long ago, when you were only an infant,” the older woman answered, tossing the soiled handkerchief to the floor.
Grace watched the delicate fabric float downward, the salt-scented breeze from the open porthole catching the square mid-flight. Fluttering, it changed direction and finally settled on the King’s limp, lifeless arm.
“Odd,” Grace said, examining the woman’s fine dress and reticule. “I cannot recall my mother ever speaking of a woman with such an unusual hobby.”
Grace’s gaze reached the woman’s face, where a cold, hard, slightly eerie smile played upon the woman’s lips.
“Killing?”
“Not specifically, no,” Grace answered, the hairs on her neck lifting with unease. “I refer to your connection with the Kingsmen—though murder is a most unexpected pastime, to be sure.”
Grace could just fit her entire finger through the loop now, which gave her some small measure of comfort.
“Connection, is it?” the woman asked, her voice sharper.
Grace shivered at the change in her demeanor. Something shifted within the woman. Even Isle, who was now fishing in the King’s pockets for God only knew what, stopped what he was doing and looked up at her with concern.
“Leave us,” she commanded the giant.
Isle looked only too happy to oblige. He hefted his weight upward and stood, turning for the door.
“Wait outside,” she added impatiently. “Let no one in.”
He stepped across the cabin threshold and closed the splintered door behind him, leaving Grace alone with the woman.
“Do you know why your mother never told you about me?” she asked Grace, walking around the desk and claiming the King’s seat. “Because she believed I’d gone mad. And she was not the only one. And do you know, they were all correct. I had lost my mind—in a manner of speaking, that is.”
The Wicked Widow Meets Her Match Page 21