Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights) (32 page)

“I was ten. He was drinking
heavily. It was done swiftly.” My words were callous, spoken as if I did not
care, but my body felt only cold as the memories surfaced. He was Lucas’s
brother and as wicked as my uncle.

“After he was gone, I took my
sisters, the artifacts, two of our trusted friends, and we ran.” We had been
running ever since.

We took a boat to Denmark and then
sailed on to Margate in England, not knowing if our mother was alive or dead.

When we reached London, we went in
search of a man that my mother told us to find, but we discovered that he was
living in America. We left trails in England and paid trusted people to make
trails into Ireland, Scotland, and France. We sailed for America and fortune
was on our side, for when we arrived in New York that man was working there.

Leo was the one to locate him,
though I left out Leo’s name from my story.

After we had reminded the man of
his promise that he made to my mother years before, he swore his allegiance to
us and to our cause.

Jack wanted to call me a liar, it
was in his eyes, but there was enough in what I had said to show him the truth.

The pieces snapped together in
Jack’s mind for I saw the clarity in his eyes before he closed them and leaned
his head down. His fists were white at his sides.

“Why did you not tell me before?”

“It was a code of honor, Jack, and
I did not want to put you in danger should those men find us here.”

“Not put me in danger?” Jack
scoffed. “Danger is what I fight every day of my life. You do realize that the
royal guards murdered my greatest friend because they were searching for your
sister.”

As I swallowed the growing lump in
my throat, tears stung my eyes. “Yes, and I regret so much of what has happened
to you and your family.”

“What about my family?” Jack asked
with a voice that frightened me.

I did not want to tell him, but I
had to. “My guardian thought it best that my sisters and I be split up to
lessen the threat. Harvey was brought into our confidence, and his knowledge of
your father and the Phantoms led him to give Rose to your father to be trained.
Edith was too young, so Harvey took her, to raise her as his niece.”

“What about you?” Jack asked as he
moved off the bed, but not toward me. He walked to the window.

I was losing him, confession by
confession.

My head begged me to keep the rest
quiet, but my heart insisted that I tell him the truth. I looked away, out the
second window as I thought back to the day of discovery.

“They considered giving me to your
father to be made a Phantom,” Jack glanced at me, “but I showed too much
promise.

“Harvey confessed to me one night
when he was drunk. He told me that he had convinced my guardian to keep me, to
train me, and one day I would be a powerful servant for the Order.

“Harvey wanted the artifacts, he
wanted the power that they hold.” I felt hot tears making patterns down my
cheeks, but I did not care. “When he was sober, I went to him and struck a
deal. When the heir to the throne was ready to step forward, Harvey would be
appointed chief advisor, but until that day he had to swear to protect our
secret, to protect us from any who came in search of us.”

Jack stared at me, but his
feelings were masked. “So he made you the white phantom, to serve him, to be
under his thumb and rule until the day came that he could take what you have
and be done with you.”

Yes, and no, but that was not my
story to tell.

“What about Rose? Surely she would
not agree to a lunatic like Harvey being on her council.”

“Rose did what she must to protect
us and our country,” I said, though I may have persuaded her quite a bit.

Jack’s mouth dipped open slightly
as his eyes searched mine.

“You are my life now, Jack, and
she knows that. She knows that I am willing to abdicate to be—”

Jack’s face turned intense,
fearsome. “She
knows
? We were married a few days ago, Guinevere, so when
between then and now have you had speech with Rose?”

“Yesterday,” I whispered, and Jack
stepped back.

“I need some time to consider all
of this,” he said, and it was as if he had slammed a door in my face. The door
to his heart.

The ache in my chest as I walked
out of his chamber nearly broke me, and when he did not stop me as I left the
room, I lost control of my emotions.

Entering my chamber, the sobs
would not be contained. My hope that he would accept all that I had told him
and think nothing more about it, for it meant nothing next to him, was too
great.

For over a year, he had been
trying to convince me to trust him and tell him my secrets, and now he knew why
I had kept silent. He still loved me; he had to, for one could not stop love so
quickly. Love was a long burning fire and even if the flames died down, the
embers still burned. My hope was that I had not doused the embers, leaving me
with nothing but smoke.

If I could produce all of the
artifacts and prove my words I would, but they were a long way off. When the
members of
Levitas
said that the artifacts would
wield a power greater than they could ever imagine, it was true. What was not
known was that the power was the crown, and Ma
belle
had never been that far. As Harvey once said, ‘hide her in the plain view of
everyone, and they will never expect it is she.’

My door flew open and slammed
against the wall, making me twist around. Jack stomped into my chamber and
slammed the door closed.

“I have never considered myself an
obtuse person, so you must forgive my momentary lapse of perception. You told
me that there were three persons who accompanied you and Edith from your home.
One I understand is Rose. Which leads me to believe that I know the others.”

My stomach took a tumble at the
fire in Jack’s eyes. Never before had he looked at me in such a way and my hope
turned to smoke. “Jack—”

“Speak the truth, Guinevere! Who
was with you?”

“Martha,” I whispered.

Jack smirked. “That one I
expected. Who was your guard?”

“Leo.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed, and it was
like he was not only slamming the door to his heart, but locking it. “Leo?”

Grasping the bedpost, my words
came out in whispers. “He could not tell you, Jack. He swore an oath.”

“Did my father know the truth?”

Biting my lip, I did not reply,
but the action was response enough.

For a moment, Jack did not move,
but then he turned on his heel and stomped toward the door. I dashed forward
and threw myself against the door as he pulled it open. It shut again, and Jack
took a step back without looking at me.

“We are not through, Jack. There
is more that you must hear.”

“Remove yourself, or I will be
forced to remove you.”

“Do not threaten me, John Martin!
I have fought you as the white phantom so do not think that I will hesitate
because I am now your wife.”

“Have you always been this much of
a termagant?” he demanded.

“Have you always been this much of
a stubborn mule?” I retorted.

“Oh, much worse, my dear,” Jack said
in a low, rather intimidating tone.

“So be it. What is your
preference? Swords, pistols, daggers, forks? I’ve used them all with sufficient
levels of success.”

His face softened as he fought his
amusement, but one side of his lips slanted up, and then he laughed. “Forks?
Truly?”

It was not such an uncommon
occurrence. Shrugging a shoulder, I said, “One uses what one must when accosted
in a dining parlor or kitchen.” Memory made me smile. “As you should know from
Richard’s house.” His dark brows rose. “It was you, was it not, who knocked out
the man in Richard’s house with a candlestick? I found your black feather.”

“One uses what one must when
accosted in a dining parlor or kitchen,” Jack returned, and the dangerous
moment felt as if it had passed. “What is it you wish me to know?”

Keeping my back against the door,
I spoke. “Your father was trusted with our secret as he had formed the Phantoms
and was a spy. He placed Rose in Charleston, and he allowed Leo to join his own
team.”

The next part would be the most
difficult thing I had ever confessed, but Jack had to know. It was his right.

“Your father looked in on me when
he could, and when he discovered the Holy Order and Harvey’s plan for me, he
went in to destroy them. He was trying to protect me.”

Jack ran a hand through his hair.
“My father died trying to rescue you?”

Nodding, my hope was returned when
Jack took a tentative step toward me. He reached out and touched my cheek with
one finger.

“That was my father’s greatest
sacrifice, for which I can never praise him enough.”

“Can you ever forgive me for my
transgressions?” I leaned into his palm as it pressed against my cheek.

His lips twitched. “I am not a
priest, Guinevere. If you will remember, you turned me from that path.”

“I would love you the same if you
were.”

He smiled, and I raised on my toes
to kiss him. His arms went around me, and my body sighed.

In eight years, this was the first
time that I felt both safe and at peace. My uncle was coming; we had a battle
ahead, but Jack was on my side.

A knock fell upon the door, and
Jack released me as I stepped away so he could pull the door open. Leo was on
the other side, and his fierce expression shook my newfound peace.

“Forgive me, Jack, but I have
grave tidings. Sam, Bess, and Charlotte were overtaken on their way to the
plantation.”

All sense of peace exploded into
thousands of tiny shards for there could be but one explanation.

My uncle had arrived.

JACK

W
hen Guinevere and I entered the
parlor, Dudley and Hannah were there waiting for us.

“What is the plan?” Hannah asked
as she and Dudley rose.

“My mother says to inform you that
she is a woman of her word and will meet us at the harbor,” Dudley stated formally,
his chest puffed out as if he were a court herald.

Leo came in with his arms loaded
with an assortment of weapons, and I stiffened. Leo did not notice as he laid
the weapons on the rug.

“These were all I could find in
the house, but Mr. Stanton assured me that his mother will have an arsenal at
our disposal once we reach the harbor,” Leo said, still not noticing the stiff
way with which I held himself. Leo began loading the guns and Hannah, dressed
in her finery, joined him.

How could the man be so calm when
his daily life was a lie? We had spent nearly every day together from the time
he became my valet two years ago until the Phantoms were disbanded. He was
perhaps my closest friend, or so I had thought. The man was a liar and an
impostor.

“Do we have a plan?” Hannah asked.

When I said nothing, Dudley
interposed, “Right you are. Best to scout out the place and know what we are
facing. I’ve my carriage at the door, so when you are ready we will set out.”

When the weapons were loaded, Leo
handed me my set of pistols.

“Anything amiss?” he asked.

Leo would know if I lied, so I
said nothing.

“I see,” he said grimly. “She has
told you.”

“Tell me one thing. Was this your
plan all along? Is that why you said she was like a Phantom? You wanted me to
seek her out.” I remembered Leo’s face when I told him that I had discovered
who the white phantom truly was. He looked as if he had been sentenced to
death.

“I never intended you to meet her,
but when she made it happen, your attachment to her seemed to me to be the simplest
way to protect her.” There was nothing in his face to say that he was callous,
to say that he had some master plan. There was nothing but regret.

“We will speak more on this
later,” I assured him before announcing it was time to depart.

The ride to the harbor felt the
longest of my life. If Guinevere’s uncle was as evil as she claimed, there was
no knowing what he had done to my sister. Especially if Lucas wrote of her
involvement in the Phantoms.

Arriving at the harbor, the
carriage pulled behind the row of warehouses where I had been held on the day
we first arrived in Savannah.

Dudley led the way into one of the
warehouses where we found Mrs. Stanton awaiting us with not only Frederick, but
twenty soldiers, constables, and guards.

Mrs. Stanton knew everyone of
importance in Savannah and had called in a favor from her friend, a captain of
the militia in Savannah.