phantom knights 04 - deceit in delaware

by Amalie Vantana

  “How dare you!” Taking a step toward him, Bess would have struck him if William had not sensed what she was about and jerked back, putting distance between them.

  “You failed me—”

  “Say it again and see what happens,” Bess hissed.

  “—by not disbanding the Phantoms,” he said, and Bess’s anger dropped down a notch, for her shoulders lowered. “It was because I knew of your desire to leave that life behind that I made you my successor, Elizabeth. If you would have disbanded them as I was sure you would, no danger would have come to you.”

  We all knew what he was saying. Bess would not now have the Levitas brand on her back. Levi would not have been whipped and branded. Jack would never have been shot twice. Sam would not have been placed in that warehouse fire, but then, would Bess have ever met Sam? Would I have met Jack?

  “You should have disbanded us, instead of being a coward and slinking into the shadows, leaving me to lead in your absence,” Bess threw at him, but he was untouchable when he placed a wall of indifference around him.

  Words bounced off. He thought himself superior to everyone, he always had, but she was his daughter. His accusation was unpardonable, even if it was true, and that had been his plan. Bess had done her best with what had been forced upon her. Just as I had done my best, but my best felt empty. So much trial had been brought down upon them because I came to America and sought out William’s help.

  “Are you not at least a little intrigued by the lengths to which I have gone to achieve such a glory?” William asked Bess.

  “Intrigued?” She scoffed. “I am disgusted. Deceived. Furious. Grief stricken. Heart sick. My life is one large lie. I have lost Ben, Henry, Andrew, and my father. You and the Holy Order tried to steal my husband from me, but there you failed. Unlike you, my husband confessed the truth to me. Unlike you, my husband loves me.”

  William was leaning heavily against the chair before him, with his hands braced over the top. Bess glanced down at his hands and then back up at his face. A cruel smile curled her lips, and then she threw her knife. It struck the chair just beneath his fingers.

  “I have withheld my vengeance because I have entered an era of peace, but if you ever speak to me again peace be hanged!”

  That said, Bess stomped out of the book room, slamming the door shut behind her, much as she had slammed down the wall around her heart against her father.

  William was staring at where the knife had struck the chair, and in that moment I saw his pain. Neither Jack nor I moved as we each watched William reveal heartbreak, shame, and grief. All of the emotions flashed across his face like strikes of lightning. Gone as quick as they had come.

  When the book room door opened, Mrs. Stanton, Rose, Hannah, Dudley and an elderly gentleman entered the room. Seeing that man filled me with foreboding. His presence never meant peace.

  Mrs. Stanton laughed when she saw William. “Not the welcome you were expecting, I gather.” Mrs. Stanton looked at Jack and then back at William. “Is there somewhere in this house that we may speak in private?”

  “The kitchen,” I said, then showered Mrs. Stanton with an angelic smile.

  “This is no time for your humor, Constance. We have much to discuss before our boat sails.”

  “Whatever you have to say may be said before my son,” William told Mrs. Stanton.

  She shrugged as she seated herself on one of the chairs before the desk. The elderly man sat beside her.

  It was Dudley who offered introductions. “Jack Martin, give me leave to introduce Gustav Augustus of Sweden. My father.”

  The man bowed his head in a formal fashion, and Jack returned the bow before his gaze shifted to Mrs. Stanton, Dudley, and then to me. Taking his hand, we moved to stand before the wall of windows that took up part of the book room.

  It was Rose who spoke next. “He is also our uncle.”

  Watching Jack put all of the pieces together as his gaze moved about the room, I knew what he was realizing. Dudley was our cousin. Mrs. Stanton was our aunt.

  My uncle had not changed in the years that we had been apart. He was in every way unremarkable. Gray hair combed to the side. Simple elegance in his attire, haughty in the way he carried himself, but there was a fragile air surrounding him. He was nothing like his son.

  “How?” The one word was uttered to Rose, and she took pity upon Jack.

  “Aunt Johanna is … was … our mother’s eldest sister. She and her husband were in Lutania when Luther attacked our parents. His men kept everyone away from us for weeks so they did not know when we ran.” Rose stopped, staring down at her hands, her dark head bowed.

  “You are confusing the boy. Allow us to start at the beginning. I have known your mother for years, John,” Mrs. Stanton said, calling Jack the name that no one called him. “When I knew her first she was Eleanora. My sister and she were friends from their cradles. It seemed only natural that when Elisabeth went to Lutania to marry Eric that Eleanora went as her lady in waiting. It was there that she met your father. He was the chief guard for Elisabeth and her ladies. After he rescued Eleanora and Eric’s mother from an attack, he was knighted.”

  Jack stepped closer to the desk as if drawn to Mrs. Stanton. She was willing to answer his questions. “How have the girls been able to live here as long as they have? Would not the country send their own emissary to find them and take them home?”

  “Yes, and no, for the people of Lutania do not know that the girls are not there.” Mrs. Stanton spoke as if her words were nothing out of the ordinary.

  “How can they not know that their princesses are missing, and have been for eight years?” Jack’s incredulity was expected, but my aunt and uncle had made provisions.

  “For all they know about it, the princesses are not missing. When Luther’s siege of the palace was successful, he allowed no one in or out. He forced Arabella into a marriage with one of his lackeys, with the thought of controlling her. What he did not account for was the love and devotion of the sisters to their parents. Constance took Arabella’s place that night and poisoned the man who had planned to attack her.”

  Jack’s hands clenched at his sides. I had refused to think of that night for eight years and I would not begin now.

  “How did she do it? She was but ten years of age. A child,” Hannah asked, speaking up for the first time. I wondered how much of this she knew.

  “Never underestimate the power of a woman betrayed, no matter her age,” Mrs. Stanton said. “When the girls fled, my husband and I led a revolt against Luther. He was chased to the shores where he sailed away like the coward he is. We knew that if the truth of what happened with the girls spread, we would have a dilemma on our hands. We decided to apply the use of decoys. We placed my two daughters into the roles of decoys. At the memorial service for the king, the girls were seen as grieving, and it was made a proclamation that they be given time to grieve. They were not seen again for their two year mourning period, and when they emerged, no one knew the difference.”

  “Your daughters are still there?” Hannah asked, having been intently listening as if it all fascinated here.

  “Leah and Karen have dedicated their lives to this cause, just as Arabella and Constance have dedicated theirs to protecting their home. It is why they have remained here for so long. They knew that we would not survive a battle. And Luther has friends in other countries. His attack could have been large.”

  “Why did he not take the throne by force, if he had such great allies?” Jack asked.

  Mrs. Stanton’s lips twisted in a pucker of distaste. “He is not a complete fool. He knew that he could gain aid, but in the end they would claim Lutania for their own. Lutania’s crops have always been the finest, the soil the richest. They would gain twenty thousand farmers, shepherds, and soldiers. If that had ever been his plan. We have since learned that it was not.”

  My brows rose and as I looked at Rose, hers were doing the same.

  Twenty thousand did not sound like mu
ch when placed against a large country’s holdings, but for the greedy, like Luther, it would be enough.

  “Luther works by fear. Even as a young man. He would threaten those who opposed him, and the fear of what he could do was enough to keep the boldest at bay. He and his followers spread news of an attack against the princesses, but as he was unwilling to gain outside assistance, the only men he was able to gather were those who lost much in the war. We were able to get inside the palace and drive them out.”

  “While we were having our own war here, they were having one of their own there,” Dudley explained.

  “We lost much. Including some two thousand men. New treaties had to be made,” Mrs. Stanton said, pressing her finger to her temple.

  Though I had been apprised of the happenings in my country, my heart still ached for our loss. So many lives cut short.

  “Who is running the country?” Jack asked Mrs. Stanton. It was as if no one else was in the room, for they neither spoke nor moved as Mrs. Stanton replied.

  “My husband has been there all this time, as well as the council. They hold control until my niece reaches her majority next year.”

  “Why has he come here now?” Jack questioned.

  The man beside Mrs. Stanton spoke in his native tongue of Swedish.

  “Forgive my husband. He can understand some of the English tongue but he has never bothered with learning the language well enough to speak. He says that he has come because it is time for the princesses to return to their home.”

  The way Mrs. Stanton and her husband exchanged a look, and Dudley stared at his boots, I knew there was more to be said.

  “They will leave when I judge it best,” William said, causing a cold feeling to cover the room.

  Dudley’s father began speaking in a swift manner, words flying from his lips. Mrs. Stanton was the one to translate.

  “Gustav says that he has some things to say to you, Willem. You may believe yourself to be a saint, but we all know you to be a sinner. You knew that you should have brought the girls home years ago. When my wife arrived here, she told you as much, but you refused to release your hold upon them.”

  “It was agreed that they should remain here until Luther was no longer a threat,” William said in a causal manner. He was not explaining himself so much as stating a fact.

  “It was agreed because you forced your will upon them, in the guise of truth.”

  William smiled as he leaned back in his chair.

  “From the first that I met you, I said that your pride would be your downfall. I never expected you to ruin my nieces’ futures in your spiral.”

  William released a soft laugh, and everyone looked at him. “I have kept them safe, so I would say that I have accomplished what was asked of me.”

  “You call Constance having to fight men safe? You call Arabella being nearly burned to death safe? I will not go into the hell that Mary Edith has endured due to your carelessness.”

  The man was still speaking, and Mrs. Stanton was trying to interpret every word that he said, though some she looked hesitant to utter, as she should be. I understood Swedish, so I knew what he said. I also knew that if she uttered such words to William there would be a brawl in the book room.

  “You have forced your will upon them at every turn, but it ends now. They are to go home with me, and you will remain here. A decree has been signed by the council that states that you will neither now nor in the future hold any formal position in Lutania. If you should return, you will do so at your own cost. Your father’s land is waiting for you, but that is all.”

  “You cannot do that,” Rose said, and Mrs. Stanton told her husband what was said. “I have made a vow, one which I mean to keep. William Martin is a good man, despite poor choices that he has made in the past. He has kept us safe, and that is what matters.”

  Uncle Gustav frowned his disappointment at her. “Would you rather have a man at your side that you claim to be good and only rarely shows signs of evil, or a man claimed to be evil who enacts good turns? For that is what stands before you with Willem and Luther.”

  “I say, that is unfair,” Jack said, but William touched his arm. William was no longer smiling. We could see that he wanted to fight his own battle.

  “He has harmed every person who he claims are important to him. His wife whom he deserted. The children who he forced to perform terrible tasks more suited to grown men. To his daughter who was branded and attacked. To his son who does not fully understand his father’s duplicity. Finally, to my nieces who he restrained in America when they should have been in their own country, with their own people.”

  There was nothing that I could say in William’s defense. Why was I considering defending him? Dudley’s father spoke more of the truth in twenty minutes than William had in three years.

  “All of his faults I could have overlooked, for he did, as he says, keep you safe, if it were not for his most atrocious strike against our family.” Gustav’s gaze shifted to me. “The marriage of his son to my niece.”

  “He had nothing to do with our marriage,” I said hotly, taking a dangerous step toward my uncle.

  Uncle shook his head, speaking to his wife.

  “He has ensured that his lineage is tied with yours, and in so doing acquired himself a place on the council for the rest of his days.”

  Glancing at William, there was a wicked glee in his brown eyes. It almost looked as if he were viewing Dudley’s father as a worthy foe. A man above others who finally comprehended some of what William considered his own genius.

  Which meant that he had lied. Again. He had a hand in orchestrating my marriage.

  It took gripping my hands together to keep me from lashing out.

  Gustav leaned forward, staring at William with great hostility. “Your manipulations have failed. Constance and Arabella will return home with me, where we will see to it that Constance’s marriage is found void. You will have no hold over them ever again.”

  “The devil you will!” I shouted, advancing toward my uncle.

  Mrs. Stanton clicked her tongue, and Hannah stifled a laugh.

  “Language, Constance,” Rose chastised calmly.

  Jack wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me against him and whispering in my ear for me to remain calm.

  I nodded, taking deep breaths, and when I stepped forward I was calmer. “You may return home with Arabella, but I will be remaining here with my husband. You may believe that William is a vile, heartless man, but I assure you that his son is not. My husband is greater than any of those prancing princes that you would have tried to force me to marry.”

  Mrs. Stanton was smiling by the end of translating that speech to her husband.

  Uncle Gustav spoke to me alone, and Mrs. Stanton did not need to translate, for my mind translated the words for me.

  “You would choose him over your family and your country?”

  Yes. I would. I nodded and moved to stand beside my husband. Uncle Gustav rose without another word and marched from the room. Mrs. Stanton followed him to the door, halting only to press her hand on Rose’s shoulder.

  Dudley and Hannah did not follow them out.

  “We are here until the end,” Dudley said when I looked my inquiry.

  Once my aunt and uncle were gone, I felt keenly the decision that I had made. I only hoped that it would not result in a mistake.

  CHAPTER 6

  JACK

  My father walked out of the book room and I followed on his heels.

  Once we were in the parlor, William walked to the cold fireplace and straightened his blue waistcoat by tugging it down, and then he flicked a piece of fluff from the sleeve of his dark blue coat. He was just as he had been three years ago, except for the scar.

  “The scar is real?” I said.

  William flicked his finger against his cheek. “The scar, unfortunately, is real.”

  “How did you come by it? Give it to yourself to make your disguise all the more real?” I asked snidel
y, for it was something that my father would have done.

  William smiled, not at all angry over the disrespectful tone I had adopted when speaking to him. William Martin knew that he had lost all respect from his children, and he was not the least bit contrite.

  He ran a finger down the length of the pink scar. “This was given to me by Richard Hamilton.”

  Startled, I said nothing. William went on without prompting.

  “I wanted to see for myself how far Richard and General Lewis had gone in the destruction of Levitas. I disguised myself as one of their members, but Richard saw through my disguise. He wanted to know my name, but I would not speak. That enraged him. He had his guards hold me down as he gave me this.” William touched the scar for a long moment before meeting my gaze. “Pierre was tasked by Richard to give me the poison that would have ended my life. Arnaud disguised himself as the doctor and came in to pronounce me dead. Then he and Pierre carried me out of Stark Manor.”

  “And you decided to remain dead to everyone but your inner circle,” I said, placing the pieces together.

  “William Martin died and Lucius Harvey came alive,” William said matter-of-factly.

  “Why could you not trust us with the truth? Were we not loyal to you? Were we not spending our lives doing your bidding?”

  William sighed deeply. “My son, it was for your protection. Remember what happened to your mother and sister when Richard discovered they were my family.”

  Richard had sent his people to capture my sister while Richard had my mother. He had branded my sister and brother with the mark of Levitas.

  “The brands that your sister and brother suffered at Richard’s hand would have been pleasant compared to the things he would have done to them if I had not sent Guinevere there to stop him. Bess may have received the brand, but she and your mother would have lost their lives if Guinevere had not secured a vow from Richard to leave Nell alone.”