phantom knights 04 - deceit in delaware (15 page)

Dudley rose quite three inches under Hannah’s praise.

“Which means that he has been hovering,” Hannah went on to say.

Rose cast me a speaking look as if to ask if that was a slight on us. I shrugged, unconcerned.

“Well, come in, come in,” Jeanne said, bustling everyone into the large front parlor. “Be a dear and bolt that door, Leo.” Jeanne followed us into the parlor. After Leo had the door bolted he came in and took up sentry behind Rose’s chair.

Looking between Hannah and Jeanne, I failed to see the resemblance as I always did when I saw them in the same room. I supposed that it could be said that Hannah took after her father, but not truly. She gained her dark hair from Pierre, but that was all as far as looks went.

“What has happened?” Hannah asked as soon as she was seated.

Jeanne released a great huff of agitation as she ambled around the room, dusting this, and rearranging that.

Jeanne stopped before Rose and curtsied low. “My lady, it relieves my mind to see you again.”

Rose greeted Jeanne as if they were old friends.

“Where is Papa?” Hannah asked with a tremor in her voice. Dudley reached over and took her hand.

“As we were awaiting your arrival we received a message that some friends were set upon by those pesky men who call themselves royal guards.” Jeanne looked at Hannah. “Your papa went to lend them aid.”

“Jeanne, who is here?” came a voice from another room, thick with a French accent.

Arnaud moved into the room, and Hannah, Dudley, and I all rose to greet him.

“Milady,” Arnaud said to me first, bowing as much as his years would allow him. He turned to Hannah and kissed both of her hands.

“I ask your mama why she never tells me you are married to Dudley,” Arnaud said to Hannah, and Hannah and Dudley laughed as if it was an old joke between them.

Jeanne moved past me, but I heard her murmur, “I was hoping to forget.”

“Mother Beaumont is always delightful,” Dudley said as he moved straight toward Jeanne and kissed Jeanne’s cheek, much to that woman’s scowling.

Jeanne made a choking sound, causing Rose and I to laugh.

Once we were all seated again, Jeanne said that she did not know where we would all sleep, that the house was not large enough to accommodate so many persons. As if the house was not a mansion.

“There is nothing for it. Dudley,” Jeanne said to her son by marriage, “you will have to bed down upon this sofa. For I never shall. I have spent too many nights sleeping upon an uncomfortable bed.”

“Was your journey here truly awful?” Hannah inquired.

“Damp sheets,” Jeanne said with disgust.

“Jeanne, you know zat zere is room aplenty,” Arnaud said to her.

“Are bedchambers truly what is important?” Leo asked from where he stood before the window.

“You would not say that if you were the one sleeping upon damp sheets,” Jeanne chastised without reserve. There was no doubt that they had known each other for a long time, for no one chastised Leo.

“Let us move on to what is important. We have come to gain your assistance in defeating Luther,” Hannah announced.

Jeanne and Arnaud exchanged a glance.

“What do you know?” I put the question to them, knowing each of them enough to know that something was not right.

“We know where that villain of an uncle of yours is to be found,” Jeanne said.

“Where?” Rose asked eagerly.

Jeanne looked to Arnaud and when he nodded she spoke.

“Delaware. The same place that Pierre has gone. The same place that your sister is hiding.”

“That cannot be,” Rose said earnestly. “She is with Reverend Reid and Levi Martin.”

“That she is. In Delaware.”

My heart felt as if it sank to my feet. That meant that what Bess had said was true. My uncle had Mary Edith.

“There is one more chore we must do before we go on to Delaware,” Jeanne said, drawing my attention.

“What is that?” Rose asked.

Jeanne and Arnaud exchanged another glance before Jeanne said, “Rescue Betsy.”

CHAPTER 12

JACK

O
ne would think that with this many different personalities all trapped in close quarters for a three day journey would bring out the worst in people. That was not so at all. The captain and crew aboard the
Intended
were handpicked by Sam for their ability to sail one of the fastest ships on the water with just as much speed and ability. They swung along the lines like monkeys in trees.

On our second day at sea we discovered that their abilities extended to soldier training. Each sailor was a former soldier, gifted in combat. Sam had stations set up on deck for knife fighting, swordplay, and archery.

William always chose his own cunning devices, and Bess excelled at hitting targets every time. Freddy played with each weapon, but not truly trying with any.

Sam and Freddy took up swords for a duel. I had seen Freddy fight a few times so I knew his skill, but I was not prepared, and neither was Freddy by the scowl on his brow, for Sam’s skill.

Within four minutes of their duel, Sam feinted a pass that deftly removed Freddy’s sword from his hand. William stepped up when Sam asked who was next.

Bess came to stand beside me, a smile on her lips, and a softening in her eyes.

As their blades hissed, I was certain I heard her sigh.

“Sam and I gathered as many weapons as we could and had them stored in the hull,” I said to Bess, drawing her gaze away from the duel.

Bess’s smile fell as her eyes drifted out over the water. I knew that she was thinking about the same as me. About the loss of Abe. He had always been the one to create their interesting weapons and their masks. Sam had wanted to go see the burial site but there was not enough time before we had to sail from Charleston. Abe’s loss had sparked a new desire in everyone, especially Sam, to complete this mission. To see Guinevere’s uncle pay for his crimes.

As a sword clashed against the deck, we glanced down to see William without his sword. Bess’s mouth drooped as William bowed to Sam.

“Well, we shall see about this.”

When Bess took up a sword against Sam, I leaned against the rail near the helm to watch, excitement bubbling within. Freddy joined me.

As the blades clashed and hissed, Freddy leaned forward. Bess parried a lunge from Sam, and followed it up with a timed thrust. Sweat glistened in Sam’s hair, on his sun tan forehead. He was dressed in his shirtsleeves, but the heat of the south, even on the water, was humid.

Bess advanced with quick hisses of her blade, forcing Sam to retreat against the rail. His eyes widened before narrowing. They had been training frequently after what had happened at the plantation. It appeared that Bess had been a more apt student than Sam had anticipated.

Forte met foible as he tried to force her back, but she countered, and her lunge went home, glancing up his blade. He released his blade rather than be pinked by hers.

Perspiration rolled down his temples as he smiled and bowed low before Bess. It was the first smile I had seen from him since arriving in Charleston.

William stood stunned, his mouth agape. After a moment, he began to clap and laugh.

“I must admit, after seeing that, I am grateful that she and I never engaged in swordplay,” Freddy said with a smile directed toward Bess.

I laughed. “She is a force for certain.”

“Two fierce soldiers,” Freddy admitted. When he turned toward me there was concern in his expression. “Luther will know when we arrive. He will send his guards to capture me and the artifacts, and his followers will kill any who stand in their way.”

“I believe it is time for Luther to suffer some disappointments in his life.”

“Infinitely. But he will not be alone. Where he is hiding is where all of his soldiers will be gathered. He will have an army awaiting us, but he is a man full of pride. He will never consider a surprise attack. I can get us into his sanctuary, take him unaware.”

“No.”

“What do you mean no?” Freddy asked, his brown brows snapping together.

“I do not want to hide. I want him to know that we are coming. I want him to gather all of his lackeys to him, so that we can destroy them all at once,” I said, and did a fine job convincing him of my earnestness. That it was all a lie was something that I was keeping to myself. I would be facing Luther alone.

Freddy watched me for a long minute before huffing a grunt. “You are going to do something foolish.”

“I am a Phantom. We all do foolish things, but we know how to succeed. We know how to conquer. We know how to contrive.”

Freddy said no more about it and we continued on our journey with little issues.

The ship sailed up the Potomac River toward Washington and when we docked, Bess hooked her arm with mine as we disembarked. It had been over a year since we were last in Washington together and so much had changed.

Once horses were procured, we rode straight for the ‘tree’ which was the house that my family owned for the use of the Phantoms. Sam had never been to this house, and Bess was rather thrilled to be able to share it with him. It was a great piece of our past. Of our lives as Phantoms. When we halted before the unremarkable house, I was the first one to dismount. I had the key, but as I placed it in the bolt on the door, I knew I would not need it. The house was not empty.

Walking into the front parlor, I met Arthur, a former Phantom, and the current leader of Monroe’s guards. Out of all of the men who served under Freddy’s leadership, Arthur was one of the few who lived to tell about it. Though he would never tell anyone about his days of being a Phantom. It was an oath we had all taken. When the time came, we could tell our loved ones, but no one else outside our family or our Phantom family.

“Loutaire,” Arthur greeted me with a smile, before turning his attention to my sister. “Raven!” He greeted her with a hug. He and Bess had gone on many missions together and he had made himself an unofficial brother when I was serving in the militia.

As soon as Arthur saw Sam, he paused before glancing at me for information. It was Bess who spoke.

“Arthur, allow me to present my husband, Mr. Samuel Mason. Sam, dearest, this is the man who singlehandedly stopped an attack on all of my team at the end of the war.”

“Singlehandedly, Raven?” Arthur quirked a brow.

“Perhaps I helped a little,” Bess replied airily.

“Modesty? From
you
?” Both brows were now raised.

“He knows you well, darling.” Sam shook Arthur’s hand, but when Freddy entered the house, Arthur’s open expression changed to one of guarded inquiry.

Freddy greeted him with a nod but nothing else for his old comrade.

Arthur had been the Washington Phantoms’ craftsman, whom Freddy looked upon as the lowest of his deputies. Each Phantom team had a craftsman, the one who made our masks and many interesting weapons that we used when the mission called for something ‘interesting.’ Abe had been the one for the Charleston Phantoms and Leo had been ours.

“What has been happening on the home front, Arthur? How is Monroe?” I asked as we sat upon the worn and faded furniture in the parlor.

“Well,” Arthur said with a grin as he cast his long form into a chair. “No threats whatsoever.”

There would not be with Richard and Nicholas both deceased. William’s goals were much more inner dwelling. It had never been a part of his plans to attack James Monroe. He had yet to come into the house so Arthur did not know that he was with us.

“How have you been, Jack?” Arthur asked as he stretched his boots out before him in a leisurely way. His brown hair was not as disheveled as he usually kept it, and he wore a new suit with the elbows without holes. It gladdened me to see him taking his position so seriously.

“Married,” I said, and Arthur sputtered.

“Whatever for? Present company excluded, I cannot think of a woman worth tying myself down to so young in life.”

Bess and I laughed, while Sam frowned.

“How are things with the Holy Order being so close?” Freddy asked, mischief in his eyes.

“The black beast? Haven’t seen hide nor hair of any of them.” His pride in that was short lived, for William entered the house at that moment.

William looked about him as if remembering all of the times that he spent in the house. “I see that it has not changed.”

Arthur’s mouth had dropped open in what I was sure was its length, and when he tried to speak he could only sputter. “Bu-bu, wha-wha,” he stopped and gulped. “You are dead,” he managed to say.

“So I have been told and yet here I am,” William said as he removed the stopper from a decanter and sniffed the brown liquid.

“It gets better,” I said, drawing Bess’s warning gaze. “Allow me to present General Lucius Harvey, the former high lord of the Holy Order.”

Arthur stared at me with a blank expression before smiling at what he thought was humor.

“Unfortunately it is too true,” Bess said, and Arthur’s smile faded. She, with the assistance of Sam and Freddy, began to tell Arthur the story of the Holy Order, or as much of it as we knew.

Since we needed his assistance, telling him was imperative.

When they were through, Arthur’s gaze moved over each of us before resting upon me. “Monroe will want to know you are here.” Arthur pushed himself to standing. “I and my fellow guards are at your service if Monroe agrees. I will arrange a meeting.” He walked toward the door, but paused and looked back at William, and then at me. “Bring the general.”

****

It was the following morning when William and I were being shown into Monroe’s brick house on I Street. Arthur was there to greet us and it was he who showed us up the stairs and into Monroe’s office.

“Have a seat,” Arthur said to us, motioning to the two chairs before Monroe’s desk. “The president will be with you shortly.”

Arthur took up a guard stance against a wall between a pair of windows, silent and untrusting.

When the door opened behind us, I rose and turned, but William rose slower.