Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights)

by Amalie Vantana

  Understanding strummed through me too late. I grabbed for my pistol.

  From the trees on both sides of the road came men on horseback with guns raised toward us. They surrounded us, and I removed my hand from my holster. These men were too well-dressed to belong to Harvey or George, nor did they wear the serpent rings of the royal guards. That left me with one question, if not them, then who?

  CHAPTER 11

  Guinevere

  “Ye will follow us, and if ye try anythin’ we have orders to shoot ya.” The well-dressed man mounted a spare horse, and the rest of the men fell into flank us on all sides.

  The cavalcade moved down the road at a trot, passing the lane to Jack’s plantation, and when we reached a bend in the road, we were led off the road and into the trees. The path and the attack shouted of Harvey, but these men were none that I had met before.

  From my experience, anyone could be waiting for us at the end of the trail, and all we could do was be prepared to fight.

  We rode for a quarter of a mile until we reached the end of a small lane that began in the trees and ended at the steps of a large round building.

  Hannah cast me an incredulous look, but Jack and Leo were impassive as we were ordered to dismount. When we were on the ground, the leader turned to us, blocking our way into the building.

  “We be needin‘ yer weapons.” He looked straight at me. “All of ‘em.”

  Jack and Leo handed over their knives, pistols, and even a blow-pipe. Hannah had two pocket pistols, five knives, and seven hatpins that were not in her hat. When the men stood before me, I handed them my pistol and dagger. I stepped forward, but the leader blocked my path.

  “I said all yer weapons. If ye are unwillin’ to cooperate, the men and I be ordered to search ye for ourselves.”

  With a huff of air, I turned and Hannah and Jack blocked the view to the men. I raised my skirt and removed my dagger from where it was strapped to my leg. Lowering my skirt, I straightened and handed the dagger to the detestable man who had the audacity to grin.

  He could grin all he liked, but it was a bit premature considering the knife I still had in my boot.

  “Bind them,” he ordered.

  Men descended upon us, and I threw my shoulder into one of them, prepared to fight, but Jack grabbed me. He held me back from striking the men as I longed to do.

  Leo did not resist them as they bound his hands behind his back. Hannah protested, but she did not put up a physical fight. As they stepped behind Jack, he placed his hands behind his back, but held my gaze. He did not want me to resist, not when we were so outnumbered, and I had an inkling that he wanted to see who was inside the building.

  As soon as Jack’s hands were tied, the leader sauntered up the stairs to open the door to the rotunda. They left me unbound, which added to my dread and curiosity. I wanted to get inside and find out what we were facing, but another part of me was dreading who was on the other side of that door. It was not my uncle; I would have known of his presence, but it could have been Lucas.

  As I entered the building, I was not surprised to see that it was a temple. There were many such buildings in America, but what did astonish me was that it was a branch of the Holy Order.

  The throne chairs along the walls that were the same in all Holy Order temples were occupied by twelve men. The men looked the same as the ones in Philadelphia had, with scrolls on their coats and pantaloons, and capes with hoods. There was one throne chair on the dais, and it was unoccupied.

  Only half of the guards followed us into the temple, and that gave me a seed of hope. We could fight our way out if the need arose.

  We were placed in a line, but as a wall slid apart behind the dais and a man stepped out, all thoughts of fleeing vanished. Surprise splashed through me, and a great desire to laugh.

  Glancing at Jack, his lips were parted and his eyes wide. Leo let out a low curse, and that humored me almost more than the man smiling down at us. Only Hannah was not affected, for she did not know that before us stood Frederick Nolan, the former leader of the Washington Phantoms.

  “Jack, how good of you to accept my invitation. It truly has been too long.”

  “Not long enough to suit me, I assure you. What the devil are you doing here, Frederick, and what is this all about?” Jack’s look promised a fight if only he could get close enough to Frederick.

  Frederick sat upon his throne, and the realization caused my gut to twist. Harvey had done it. He had succeeded in one of his life’s goals. A Phantom had turned sides.

  “I am the new leader of the Savannah branch of the Holy Order.”

  Jack and Leo both leapt forward, but they were knocked back by the guards.

  “You despicable turncoat,” Leo spat.

  “Leopold, one must be a part of something in order to be considered a turncoat, and as the Phantoms no longer exist, I betrayed nothing.”

  “What did you give them to acquire this position, Frederick?” Jack demanded.

  “Nothing in the least, Jack. Are you so naive that you still believe that Harvey does not know it all? Ask her what Lord Harvey knows if you do not believe me.”

  Jack did not take his gaze from Frederick, but Frederick spoke the truth. Harvey did know all. More than Jack even. When your greatest friend was the founder of the Phantoms, secrets were shared, ones that were not forgotten.

  “Which leads me to why you are here. I trust that your arrival means that Lord Harvey has sent you to me,” Frederick said to me, which explained why I was left unbound. He thought I was still the white phantom.

  “You are mistaken,” Hannah spoke up for the first time. “They are on their wedding trip, and she is no longer a part of the Holy Order.”

  Frederick’s eyes narrowed on Hannah for a moment before shifting to me. “A fine attempt, Mrs. Lamont, but the white phantom can never leave the Holy Order.” His gaze shifted to Jack, and he grinned as one full of understanding. “I see now why you allowed her to escape last year.” His eyes ran up me, making me feel as if a hundred worms were on my skin, but I did not cower or flinch. I was used to such looks from lechers. “She is exquisite.”

  “If you do not stop ogling my wife you will not be seeing much more of anything,” Jack said with a calm voice that held a promise of menace.

  “She is the white phantom. She belongs to the Holy Order, to Harvey, and now to me.” Frederick would not be long for this world if he believed that he could make me follow his orders. He was a fool if he thought he could succeed where even Harvey had failed.

  “Mrs. Lamont and Jack speak the truth. Harvey released me from the Holy Order. Reverend Gideon Reid married Jack and I two weeks past,” I said, feeling only a twinge of guilt over lying about a minister. “You remember your former leader, do you not?”

  Frederick glared at Jack, his look shouting of his disgust. “Is there anything that you have kept sacred from the enemy?”

  “I find that rather ironic considering where you are sitting right now,” I retorted.

  Frederick smiled and inclined his head. “One can see why you married her. Though I find myself nonplussed over why she would marry you.” His words were meant to shoot barbs at Jack, but he had chosen the wrong man to insult.

  “If you are going to insult my husband, I suggest you call in more guards for those trivial few will not be enough to protect you from me.” The promise in my words caused Frederick’s eyes to narrow and one of his guards to step toward me.

  Frederick held up his hand to stop the man. “Forgive me, Mrs. Martin. I meant no insult, as I am sure Jack knows. It is our way.”

  “Perhaps, but it is not my way to allow worms to insult my husband.”

  Frederick turned his attention back to Jack, smirking in a way that had me itching to hit him.

  “Will you allow a mere female to fight your battles for you? Oh, yes, you always have. First with your sister, and now with your wife.”

  Jack did not make a move or a reply toward Frederick, but I could s
ee his white knuckles as his hands were fists behind his back.

  Frederick leaned against the arm of his throne and rubbed his chin. His gaze was on me alone, and I stared back. He did not alarm or threaten me, but I did not like the look in his eyes or his self-important attitude. His appointment to the position of leader of this branch had been done without my knowledge. It was unnatural, and it meant that Harvey was planning something. Something against the Phantoms.

  When Frederick looked away from me, my body relaxed, but it was a brief feeling as he nodded to one of his men and all of the members rose. The door behind me opened, and a group of men entered to make a half circle around Jack, facing out and blocking him from me and Leo.

  Bumps rose on my arms, and I knew I had to act at once, but before I could move, two men flanked me.

  “Do join me,” Frederick said and the men gave me no choice but to obey.

  As I stepped up to the throne, Frederick rose. He was taller than Jack but not as tall as Leo. He looked more suited to a ballroom than a battlefield, but I knew to withhold judgment until he told me what he wanted from me.

  “May I call you Guinevere?”

  “No.”

  He laughed. “Delightful.”

  The way he looked at me, I knew that he thought he was charming. Men like Frederick were all the same. They saw themselves as charming and so expected everyone else to view them the same way. If anyone did not, they were the ones in the wrong. Frederick thought he could win me over with his charm, wit, and good looks. If that failed, he had more nefarious ways to accomplish his goals.

  Harvey had acquainted me with every variety of man. It was a game with him to leave me to the wolves to fight, trick, charm, or talk my way out. Every ilk had a weakness, and it was my job to learn that weakness and use it to my advantage.

  Frederick motioned to one of his guards and the man brought out a pistol and placed it against Jack’s head.

  Breath had stolen from my body for an instant before I sucked in a large gasp. Seeing Jack held at the end of a gun barrel never failed to ignite the worst part of me. The part of me that had no conscience and acted without remorse. “What is this?” I began moving toward the men around Jack.

  Frederick intercepted me, wrapping his arms around me and locking mine against my sides. Jack jerked forward, but he was forced back as the man beside him pulled back the hammer on his gun.

  “What is the meaning of this?” I demanded louder.

  “Shh, shh, shh,” Frederick whispered against my ear, and I threw my head back. It only clipped his chin as he lurched backward. His arms tightened painfully, and I cringed at the crushing force. His strength was something I had underestimated.

  He chuckled as his face neared my ear again. “Try that again and your husband will be nothing but a mess upon my floor.” His face touched my hair and he inhaled. My teeth clenched hard as I fought for control over my urges to destroy Frederick.

  “Do it,” Frederick said, and his guard nodded. He looked down at Jack, his finger on the trigger.

  My insides were twisting into a braid of anger, but my clear thoughts broke through. “You will not kill him. You want something from me, and this is your tactic to be sure that I do whatever it is that you want.”

  Frederick laughed, and released me. “My, but you are sharp.”

  I ran to Jack, but when I reached him, I paused. The man who had been holding the gun to Jack’s head was placing it in his holster, and he was smirking. I waited for him to look at me. When he did, I slammed my fist against his cheek.

  Pain shot through my knuckles, and I hissed out something I should not say. The other men laughed, but they stepped back to allow me to reach Jack.

  As I helped Jack to his feet, I kept my hands on his arm. It was done more to keep myself from killing Frederick than to restrain Jack.

  “What do you want, Frederick?” Jack asked in a voice of longsuffering, as if he had dealt with Frederick’s tricks many times before.

  “Nothing too difficult. For your wife, it should be a simple task.” Frederick reseated himself and slouched as if his role as leader meant nothing to him. “As I am sure that you know, General Harvey is on his way to Savannah. When he arrives, Guinevere will bring him here, where she will put a period to his existence before this court.”

  A sigh slipped from my lips. He was a fool. Harvey would never step into a trap, and I would tell him what was afoot long before I would lead him here. I may want free of Harvey’s rule, but that did not mean that I wanted him deceased.

  Frederick’s eyes held a large amount of assurance. “I can see that you mean to try to best me. Allow me to paint a portrait for you. You tell Harvey what is afoot; I disappear, but not before I drop my cards. Tell me, how much do you care for your husband’s family? Dear Nell, lovely Bess, her new husband Samuel, his vivacious sister, the beautiful Rose Eldridge. Even Leo and Mrs. Lamont. Everyone that you have ever cared about, all gone. Snuffed out like the simplicity of putting out a candle.”

  Frederick presented a threat greater than Richard Hamilton had been. With the knowledge that he possessed of both the Phantoms’ whereabouts and those of the Holy Order, he could make good on his threats, and I would be powerless to stop him. Unless I got Harvey on my side. Together we could dispose of Frederick, but that meant breaking my word to Jack and going back to the Holy Order for aid.

  “Now, let us say that you follow through with your end of our bargain. Not only will you keep your beloved alive, but you may have the reward of calling upon me and my men whenever those beasts from your past crawl from their hole.” Frederick smiled his most charming, and that single act told me all I needed to know about him. He was at his most dangerous when he knew that he had won. “Consider it this way, Guinevere. You will be ridding our world of Harvey and those pesky royal guards, and live a life of peace with Jack. What other option do you have?”

  There were two, but they were more implausible than what Frederick proposed, and I could use his aid when my uncle arrived.

  “Do we have an accord?” Frederick asked.

  When it was all considered, aligning with Frederick was the lesser of two evils. For no matter how ruthless he thought himself, he was nothing in comparison to Harvey. I would do what he instructed, and let the cards fall how they would.

  “Yes.”

  Frederick ordered our release but as we reached the door, he called out to Jack.

  “Jack,” as we turned to him, he smiled, “when the ones that you trust betray you, remember the oath.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Jack

  As the next few days passed, Frederick’s words stayed with me. Remember the oath.

  It was not something that could be forgotten.

  “Jack, your greatest battle will come at the fall of one of your brothers. That is when a choice will come. For when one of you fall, another will risk all.”

  My father’s words had been with me from the moment that Frederick had spoken. My father had told me that when the time came to choose a side, I must choose with my head, not my heart for it would lead me astray. If only it were as simple as my father made it sound.

  Guinevere, who was seated beside me in the parlor, turned a page in her book, seeming oblivious to all else. It was the morning of the Stanton’s party, and while she read I spent my time between writing letters to Jericho and Bess, and admiring her. Leo was out spying, and Hannah was somewhere in the house. With Frederick’s words about the oath, it was time to speak of the Holy Order.

  “Guinevere—”

  “Jack,” came Leo’s voice from the foyer a second before he appeared at the door.

  Guinevere snapped her book shut, sitting up. “Is it George?”

  Leo was scowling, and when a young blonde woman stepped around him, I understood why.

  “Charlotte? How are you here? Is Bess in the foyer?” I asked as I rose to go greet my sister. Why she and Sam would bring Charlotte on their wedding trip was not important, but it was a dash
ed nuisance. Charlotte, no matter her enthusiasm, was too impetuous to prove helpful in a battle.

  Charlotte came tripping toward me and rose up to kiss my cheek. When she stepped back, her smile faded. “Why, Jack, from your sour expression I would almost believe that you are not pleased to see me, and I know that cannot be true.” Charlotte saw Guinevere and flew into a passion. There was the impetuous part at work. “Is the gossip true then? You have married her?”

  “She has a name,” Guinevere said as she stood beside me.

  Charlotte’s lips pursed in evident distaste.

  “Where are Sam and Bess?”

  Charlotte flitted over to the chair as she removed her bonnet, and I felt the first strands of dread.

  “Leo? Is my sister here?” I asked hesitantly.

  Leo shook his head once. “She has come alone.”

  Charlotte spun around with her hands on her hips. “I had to!” She snapped her mouth shut then inhaled a deep breath. When she opened her mouth again, it was to cast me a dazzling smile. I was wholly unaffected. “If it is true that you have married this—Guinevere—then I apologize, but you must see that I only wanted to help.”

  Tears glistened in her eyes, so I turned to Guinevere. “Will you give us a moment?”

  Guinevere eyed Charlotte with contempt, but she agreed, leaving the room with Leo. Once the door was shut, I demanded to be told the truth.

  “They were going to leave me behind! My own brother.”

  “Char, surely you understand why. They were going on their wedding trip.”

  “Yes,” she retorted with vehemence, “to Savannah, the place that Uncle George is taking that girl. I am not an infant, Jack. I know what is afoot, and they mean to leave me out.”

  “Did you at least tell them where you had gone?” I asked, feeling a mixture of annoyance at her audacity and understanding at her desire to be a part. She had been trained to be a Phantom and had been on a few missions only when it had been taken from her. I knew better than most that the life of a Phantom was not easily released.