Cinders and Ashes (30 page)

“
There!” Peter shouted, pointing towards the figure of a man
heading toward the tree line. Without hesitation he took off after
him.

“
Wait, she could be inside,” Sebastian gasped, jumping down
from his horse. Even from outside, the crackling of burning wood
was loud. Smoke billowed out of the rooms on either side of the
entrance hall, immediately encasing them in foggy heat.

The
acrid burning in his throat made his eyes water, but nothing could
deter him from searching the house for Amelia. Although he had
little doubt she had fled, there was still the possibility she was
inside, and they were trying to burn the house around her. If she
was there, he had to find her.

With
Dominic and Edward beside him, they entered the large hallway.
Orange flames were visible, flickering beneath the wooden door
leading to the back of the house.

Coughing
against the choking smoke, Edward began a quick sweep of the
downstairs rooms he could get into.

Dominic
and Sebastian headed for the stairs. As Sebastian reached the top,
muffled thumps and cursing blended with the popping and hissing of
flames that were steadily engulfing the house.

Despite
the thick fog of smoke, Sebastian turned towards the long corridor
leading to the bedrooms, and came face to face with Rat.

“
Well, well, well. If it isn’t my lord, the carriage jumper,”
Rat sneered.

“
Where is she?” Sebastian demanded his voice cold and
deadly.

“
She’s gone. You wouldn’t want her now, even if you could find
her.” He smirked lasciviously and tugged at the placket of his
breeches meaningfully. “She was good too. Screamed a lot, but took
us both.”

Sebastian fought the raw fury that rose in his throat. “If
you’ve hurt her, hanging will be a mercy,” Sebastian spat. “Where
have they gone?”

Rat
shrugged unconcernedly. “Somewhere.” He didn’t see the big man
move, and gasped when Sebastian’s rapier appeared at his throat.
His eyes popped wide with surprise, and his bravado vanished in an
instant.

“
You know what? I hope they hang you last so you can see the
fate that awaits you,” Sebastian ground out. “Get out of my
way!”

Rat
never saw the huge fist that landed squarely in the middle of his
face, and crumpled without a whimper.

“
Tie him up,” Sebastian snapped at Dominic, kicking Rat out of
the way and moving to the room behind him. The smoke was thickening
far too quickly. Time was short. He just had to know if Amelia was
in the house somewhere. Covering his lower face with his cloak, he
stepped over Rat’s unconscious form and pushed into the first
bedroom.

The
sight that met him made his knees shake, and he cursed fluidly. He
paused for a few moments against the doorjamb to steady himself,
his eyes filled with horror.

At the
foot of the bed on the floor lay Amelia’s dress. The bed, rumpled
and tousled, had two ropes at the head, clearly used to tie her
down.

“
Sweet Jesus,” Dominic whispered behind him, his throat husky
from the smoke.

Sebastian blinked back tears as he turned and began to work
his way down the remainder of the corridor. He took a small measure
of satisfaction at ferociously kicking each door open as he went.
Dominic began to search rooms on the other side, ignoring the
flames that met him when he opened the last three doors.

There
was no sign of Amelia.

With a
negative shake of his head at Sebastian, they made their way back
downstairs, bursting out of the house as the smoke became too thick
to see through. The mixture of the brandy he had consumed earlier
that evening, the thick smoke and the sight in the bedroom became
too much and Sebastian bent over, promptly losing the contents of
his stomach in the bushes.

“
There is nobody downstairs. Fire’s in the cellar as well,”
Edward reported with a cough.

“
They have torched the whole house. There is nothing we can
do, Amelia isn’t there.”

“
Which way did they go?”

“
The church, I think.” Edward nodded. “There was only one man
heading that way. Peter’s chasing.”

“
Ballantyne.” Sebastian spat the last of the bile out of his
mouth and ran to his horse. Within seconds he had mounted and was
thundering towards the tree line. He didn’t need to look behind him
to know that Dominic and Edward were following.

As he
rode, Sebastian blinked the sting of tears out of his eyes as he
considered what Amelia could have been subjected to. His precious,
wonderful Amelia. Ballantyne was depraved and twisted at the best
of times. As he rode, Sebastian swore that whatever they had done
to her, as long as she was alive, he would be there for
her.

He just
had to get to her before Ballantyne did.

At the
tree line, Sebastian drew his sabre and tore through the dark
overhang of branches towards the direction of the church. He
glanced at Dominic, Edward and Peter, who all appeared silently
beside him.

“
Psst.” Sebastian turned and looked at Peter, who flicked his
ear.

“
Come out; come out, wherever you are,” the sing-song voice
chanted from the graveyard.

Silently
they moved forward, listening as Ballantyne chanted time and again,
trying to frighten Amelia into coming out of hiding. Sometimes
louder, sometimes barely a whisper, it was eerie in the silence of
the night.

“
I know you are here somewhere, and I will find you. I won’t
be happy when I do, and you will pay.”

Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief. Amelia was at least alive.
He shook his head, and focused on the graveyard now visible through
the trees. He could see the dark shadow of Ballantyne slowly moving
amongst the gravestones, but couldn’t see any sign of
Amelia.

He felt
proud of her. Wherever she was, she had hidden well.

Sebastian began to circle the gravestones, keeping a careful
eye on Ballantyne while he searched for Amelia in the darkness. He
was aware of his brothers fanning out around the graveyard, and
silently disappearing into the trees.

Sebastian needed Amelia to know he was there. “Lost her
again, Ballantyne?” Sebastian shouted, hoping Amelia heard
him.

“
You took your time, Cavendish,” Ballantyne replied, his eyes
scanning the trees suspiciously. “I wondered how long it would take
you to find us.”

“
You should know there is nowhere you can hide from me.”
Sebastian slowly drew his sabre. The sound of steel sliding upon
steel echoed threateningly around the graveyard.

“
Oh, Amelia knows about paying, don’t you Amelia?” Ballantyne
murmured, as a lascivious grin suddenly lit his face. “She was good
too. Took a bit of convincing, but took everything we gave her in
the end.” His laugh was loud and high.

Sebastian wondered if the man was actually sane. Depraved and
twisted definitely. Insane? Maybe.

“
Amelia, stay where you are, darling. I will find you,”
Sebastian shouted through the gloom, catching sight of Dominic
approaching slowly and silently from the side of the
church.

“
Ah, isn’t that sweet. He will find you, Amelia,” Ballantyne
sing-songed. “He won’t want you when he realises what we have done
to you, but he will find yooouuuu!”

Sebastian suddenly had a thought. “You are going to the
gallows for murder, Ballantyne, you know that. Unfortunately for
you, nobody will buy your claim to insanity. You are greedy. You
are a callous, depraved murderer, but you are not
insane.”

Ballantyne turned hard, feral eyes on him. All traces of
mirth vanished in an instant, leaving Sebastian in no doubt that
before him was the cold, hard murderer who had ruthlessly
slaughtered an innocent servant. Then sent an innocent man to the
gallows.

“
You have nothing on me,” Ballantyne spat, his voice devoid of
humanity.

“
Oh, but I am afraid we do. You see, we have people who will
testify against you and letters confirming your trickery from the
people who were your victims.” Sebastian paused when Ballantyne
snorted.

“
Of course you do. They are all dead,” he shouted, holding his
arms wide. “Nobody is alive to implicate me, because they are all
dead!”

“
Unfortunately for you, they all knew how low you could really
go, and wrote letters confirming what you had done before they
died.” He watched Ballantyne hitch a breath to interrupt and
continued.

“
Martha, the maid you murdered with your brother, had told her
sister that you were both raping her. Passing her around at orgies
and so forth. Her sister told her to leave, but she daren’t be cast
out, especially as she was carrying your child. It was yours,
wasn’t it Ballantyne? You had slept with a servant and stupidly got
her with child.” Contempt coloured his voice. “But that wasn’t
enough. You had to get rid of Hawksworth when he saw you slit
Martha’s throat, didn’t you? You knew that when he sobered up, he
could remember everything and go to the authorities. So you framed
him.”

“
Stupid oaf. Always drinking. Even with the most beautiful
woman at the orgies, he couldn’t get it up. Instead, sat in the
corner in a drunken stupor. Drinking and watching. Stupid bastard
woke up while we were trying to clean up the mess. Damned maid bled
like a stuck pig. Hawksworth became agitated, so we plied him with
more drink. It was easy to lie him down in the bed next to the
whore’s body, and put the knife in his hand. He couldn’t remember
anything he saw when he woke up. He was easy to
convince.”

“
Until he did sober up in gaol. By that time it was too late,
and nobody would listen to the ranting of a drunken murderer.”
Sebastian was unsurprised when Ballantyne made no move to
contradict him.

“
You didn’t count on Hawksworth writing to his family seeking
help, and revealing everything though, did you?” Sebastian added.
“Sending a letter to his cousin that clearly detailed everything he
knew. Telling everyone you were the one holding the knife. He could
remember the events he witnessed that night clearly enough to
recount specific details. When nobody would listen to either his
true identity, or the name of the real murder, he wrote a true
account of events and sent it to his family. Especially when he
knew he was going to be hung for a crime he didn’t
commit.”

For the
first time Sebastian felt a little empathy for the drunken
Hawksworth, who for no other reason than his own weakness, had
found himself living on the fringes of society. A society that
parcelled him up and handed him over to the hangman’s noose without
mercy.

“
Nobody has any firm evidence. Your aunt claimed she had a
letter, but who would believe her? I am now Lord Ballantyne. Nobody
can accuse me of anything. Especially some mad old bat who was
behaving oddly anyway. Nobody has any evidence that can convict me
of anything.” The arrogant contempt in the man’s voice made
Sebastian’s skin crawl.

“
You have no wealth,” Sebastian contradicted loudly. “You
spent it all on whores and gambling. Your estates are about to be
claimed by your creditors. Your family name is blackened by your
debauched lifestyle. You can fire a house, but the evidence isn’t
there, Ballantyne. I have it. Montague has the rest.” He watched
panic enter the man’s eyes and wondered just how far he could push
him. “You are finished, Ballantyne. The hangman’s noose is going to
be the easy way out.”

“
My family name is not besmirched,” Ballantyne screamed, and
he drew his sabre, lunging at Sebastian with an epithet.

“
Keep back,” Sebastian shouted to the others, as they all
moved out of their respective hiding places at once. “This is
between me and him.”

He
lunched forwards with a parry that took the smaller man by
surprise.

With
astonishing dexterity, Ballantyne returned the volley and sparks
flew.

The
fight was on.

Amelia
couldn’t see anything from her hiding place behind a huge
gravestone, but could hear the clanging of steel upon steel as the
two men fought. Once or twice, she thought she saw sparks fly into
the air but daren’t look.

Despite
knowing Ballantyne’s attention was on Sebastian and their fight,
Amelia daren’t stand up. She was so cold, she wasn’t sure she had
the strength in her legs anyway. Her feet were so bloodied and
bruised from running through the woods, it was painful just to sit
with them resting on the floor. Instead, she tried to block
everything out and curled into a tight ball to wait.

If
Sebastian was there, the chances were Peter, Edward or Dominic was
there too. She couldn’t see them and she didn’t want to distract
Sebastian by appearing like a ghost from behind the crypt. So she
had to sit and wait, and hope that if Sebastian became at risk, his
brothers would step in and finish the job for him.

Shivering and terrified, she curled into a tight ball and
began to pray.

Sebastian fought for Amelia. Not for the physical pain of the
beatings they gave him, or his attempted murder. But for everything
they had subjected Amelia to.