Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights)

by Amalie Vantana

  “You had best help me to dress. I should be there to welcome them home. We would not want Charlotte to add rudeness to my list of faults.”

  As soon as I was dressed, Hannah helped me down the stairs to the parlor. Mrs. Short brought me a tray of things she said would cure any lingering effects from her brew that she had given me.

  It was not until after Hannah and I had consumed a light luncheon that Charlotte and Jack returned.

  They came into the parlor in good spirits, quite at ease with one another.

  Hannah questioned them about their outing which spurred Charlotte into telling us all about her new dress that would be delivered later. She droned as she spoke about how swift her cousin’s dressmaker was. When she cast a look of triumph at me, I knew she was up to mischief.

  She turned a worshipful gaze to Jack as she went on to say that he had been so kind as to take her shopping and then to a confectionary for cakes. From the amount of packages that Mrs. Short and Leo were carrying into the house, I would say that Jack lavished money upon Charlotte.

  “Hannah, do be a dear and help me unpack my new things. Then you may do my hair, for Jack and I have been invited to dine with my cousins.” Charlotte flounced out of the parlor.

  Hannah turned on Jack with a smoldering gaze.

  “Hannah,” Charlotte said, snapping her fingers three times.

  “It is apparent that the girl does not know who I am,” Hannah said rather thoughtfully, but with a sinister twist to her words.

  “Hannah, please be kind. She is but a girl in need of a friend and a woman’s guiding hand,” Jack entreated.

  “So it shall be,” Hannah replied with a wicked glint.

  When she was gone, Jack dropped onto the sofa beside me and took my hand in his. His head fell against the cushion as his eyes closed.

  Knowing it was foolish, that I had no reason to feel as I did, jealousy filled my chest nearly choking me.

  There had been only a few times in the past that I felt such a horrible emotion. When Harvey chose others to work in Philadelphia instead of me, when I thought about my sister being friends with the Martins, and when I saw the close relationship between Jack and the Phantoms. They were a family, and there had been no one for me to call friend or family.

  That was changed now, and I would not allow a pert little hussy like Charlotte Mason stand in the way of my happiness.

  “You are to dine with Charlotte’s family?” I asked, allowing only mild interest to reflect in my voice.

  “So it seems. Andrew requested my support as Anne Crawford has five giggling sisters.”

  “You are rather friendly with him, considering what he did to your sister.”

  “All in the past now that Bess is happy and settled.”

  “I wonder what she would say to that.”

  Jack’s eyes opened, and he turned his head toward me. “Andrew is not a bad man, and Bess knows that. He was selfish in their dealings, but he never set out to harm her.”

  “Unlike me, who was both selfish and did harm you.”

  Jack sighed as he closed his eyes again. “That is not what I meant.”

  “Though it is what you thought?”

  He sat up, taking both of my hands. “You know that is not how I view you. From the moment that I saw you in that Inn yard last year I have been devoted to you. Nothing has changed my ardor. Not the discovery that you were the white phantom, not you capturing my sister twice, or you shooting me.”

  When put like that, I could not fathom why he loved me. I was a wretch, and just as selfish as Andrew Madison, if not more. The only difference was that I had to be selfish; too many others depended upon my success.

  “You were invited as well,” Jack said, and I felt like a fool for my jealousy.

  “That was kind, but I am not feeling quite myself, so I shall stay here and have an early night.”

  “It is for the best, I suppose,” he said, drawing my full attention. “Charlotte would not be able to make herself the center of all attention if you were there to capture my attention.”

  A few minutes later, Jack took himself off to prepare for the evening, but I was not alone for long.

  “You made the right decision, you know,” Charlotte said as she came into the room. “It would have been embarrassing to my family when I exposed you to Jack before them.”

  “Expose me?” I laughed. “Expose what?”

  “You may cut the theatrics,” she snapped.

  Clearly good breeding had gone out the window.

  “You are a skilled actress, are you not, Miss Clark? If that is your real name.”

  “It is not,” I replied, to which her mouth dropped open.

  “Then you admit it!”

  “I admit that my name is not Clark. It is Martin.”

  Her face became suffused with color, and she stomped her right foot. “It is not, or at least it should not be. Jack deserves better than ... than ... than a temptress.”

  “I cannot agree more, though I was not aware that Jack has anything to do with temptresses.”

  “Oh, don’t you just,” Charlotte muttered and I saw that candor was the only path for such a petulant child.

  “I will not pretend to misunderstand you, but do allow me to speak candidly. You do not like that I have married Jack. This I know well, but I have married Jack, and you,” I added pointedly, “and everyone else will have to grow accustomed to the fact because it is not going to change.”

  Charlotte smiled unkindly. “Oh, won’t it just. I know who you are and, what is more, I am going to tell Jack.”

  I smiled, saying the one thing she did not expect, “And?”

  Charlotte began to look concerned at my lack of fear. “He will see what kind of woman he has married. You will be forced to return from whence you came to answer for your crimes.”

  “Little peagoose, I thought you lacking in common sense, but I never knew you were daft. My crimes, as you call them, are nonexistent. Jack knows me well, and he knows you. Whom do you think he will believe?”

  Charlotte’s face slowly grew red from chin to forehead. “He has been bewitched and when he hears the truth your spell will be broken.” She smiled like she had just landed me a doubler. “Do not worry though, for after you are gone, I shall take good care of Jack.” She swept up the train on her skirt and flounced out of the room.

  Sighing, I rose. My first impulse was to go to Jack, but I could not. Though it was a precarious situation, Jack was far too emotional when it came to Charlotte. She was a Phantom, and they protected their own. It was their vow of honor, and no matter how I tried to mend my ways, the

  Phantoms would always come first.

  If I wanted Charlotte away before she could do some irreparable damage, I would have to seek the aid of someone who had no feelings whatsoever.

  òòò

  “You should have sent me word that you had taken this position, Frederick,” I said from just inside the door at the temple. There was a formal table set in the middle of the room, and Frederick was seated at a chair before it. He looked up, with utensils paused in the air. “When I asked you to alert the royal guards to my whereabouts in Charleston so that I could do away with them, I had hoped that would be the end of our acquaintance.”

  “Partnership. Call it what it was, dearest.”

  “Annoyance, mistake, detestable yet unavoidable understanding,” I retorted, to which Frederick chuckled and rose.

  He brought a chair to the place across the table and held out the chair for me to be seated. What needed to be said would require that I take that seat, as loathsome as I found his company.

  Once I was seated, and Frederick had pushed in my chair for me, he retook his own seat, and one of his lackeys brought me a plate filled with food.

  “Is this where you reside now?” I asked as I took in the temple. It was similar to the one that existed in Delaware but not as ostentatious as the one in Philadelphia had been.

  “Are you requesting to see m
y living quarters, Guinevere? Whatever would Jack say?” The charming way he said it did nothing to endear him to me. I knew his way with women. He would say things, give compliments with a mixture of seduction and humor that would make most women question whether he was in earnest or having fun at their expense. It was his allure.

  Frederick was an imbecile, but he had his uses. “Jack trusts me.”

  “He is a fool,” Frederick murmured with amusement.

  “Jack is not a fool. He is misinformed.” My relationship with Jack had never been one of ease. We had many things to work through, the most of which was my past. Some things were unforgivable, and it was for that reason that I had hesitated for so long in the telling of my history. I wanted him to know, but I dreaded the moment of revelation that would surely lead to disgust. When I told him, I was certain that I would lose him forever.

  “What, I wonder, does that mean?” Frederick mused.

  “I have met with a conundrum. One, I am ashamed to say, requires that I come to you for aid.”

  Frederick dabbed his mouth with his napkin and sat back, the picture of polite interest.

  “Charlotte Mason has come to Savannah, and Lucas Marx has her under his spell.”

  Frederick’s face changed to understanding. He knew about Lucas, and he knew what a threat he was to us all. “Tell me, Guinevere, does Jack know that you have come to me?”

  “Jack is too attached to the situation to be able to see it the way it is. Charlotte Mason presents a possible threat, one that I need to be removed.”

  “What would you have me do?”

  What I wanted was for someone to lock her up and dispose of the key, but what I would have done would be much more in a giving nature, one that I rarely showed. “I want her removed from Savannah and returned, safely, to Charleston. Take her to Rose Eldridge with the instructions to put a chain on her so she cannot run away again.”

  Frederick was smiling, but his eyes were a bit too narrowed, and his fingertips were touching.

  “In exchange, I have brought you a charge.” Pushing aside my cloak, I untied the strings to a bag, then set it in the middle of the table.

  Frederick stared at it a moment, and I could see his distrust, but his intrigue far outweighed it. He snatched the bag off the table and opened it.

  To say that he was in shock over what he saw was a gross understatement. He was overpowered with a move that he would never have seen coming his way. With slow movement, he looked up.

  “Why?” was all he said, all he was capable of saying.

  “Because I know where your true alliance lies, and you will protect it until the proper moment arises.”

  Frederick reached into the bag and drew out the Sfære af lys, the greatest of all the artifacts of the Holy Order. It was a black puzzle box with many points like a star, and engraved along each point was a different symbol. When the symbols were aligned, a tiny keyhole was revealed, to which I held the only key.

  “You and I, you see, are loyal to the same alliance, and that is something that Jack can never understand.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Jack

  The morning of Andrew’s wedding, Leo and I were waiting in the foyer for Hannah and Guinevere when there was a knock on the door.

  As I had allowed Charlotte to stay the night with her cousins, I hoped it was not the constable coming to tell me she had done something against the law.

  Mrs. Short, who had chastised me at least twice since my arrival for answering the door myself, came bustling into the foyer and opened the door.

  “Yes, may I help you?”

  “Good morning, Mrs. Short, it has been a long time.”

  At Mrs. Short’s gasp, I twisted to face the door.

  “Tell me, is that scamp of a brother of mine in this house?”

  “Scamp?” I exclaimed as Bess and Sam came into the house. I hugged my sister close for a moment, before releasing her to shake Sam’s hand.

  Bess removed her bonnet and tossed it negligently onto a small table in the foyer as was her way. Her dark brown hair was upswept, and she looked as delightful as always. She was tall for a woman, but she was elegant and extremely skilled.

  “Scamp, if the gossip is true and you’ve married Guinevere Clark without any of your family present. Though I’ve always known she would entrap you in the end.”

  Heat seared the back of my neck as Sam cleared his throat then pointed at Guinevere, who was standing on the stairs. Bess turned, saw her, and laughed.

  “So it is true. Well, I will not apologize because we both know where we stand with the other. We have faced off enough times.” Bess stood before Guinevere as she came down the rest of the steps. Bess was the taller by a good six inches, but my Guinevere was not to be intimidated.

  “I must welcome you to the family, sister.” Bess wrapped her arms around Guinevere, hugging her, but speaking in a mock whisper. “If you hurt my little brother I will personally dispose of you.”

  Bess stepped back, grinning, and as much as I wanted to take offense at her words, I found myself smiling. Now that Bess was not a Phantom, she would forever be her true, outspoken self.

  “Please tell me that Charlotte is here,” Sam said at once.

  “She was, but I allowed her to stay with her cousins as she is standing up with Anne at the wedding,” I told him as Hannah and Leo joined us.

  “Andrew’s wedding?” Bess asked without emotion, not yet having seen Hannah.

  “He has quite changed since Philadelphia,” Hannah said, causing Bess to go rigid before slowly turning. Hannah smiled impishly. “You do not appear surprised, Bess.”

  “No, Marie Antoinette, I am not. Though why you are in my mother’s house has me perplexed.”

  “Why, I am Guinevere’s companion.” Hannah’s gaze settled on Sam, and she transformed into the Hannah we used to know.

  As if a horse drawn to water, Hannah started toward Sam. Bess stepped in Hannah’s path, blocking Sam from Hannah’s grasp.

  “Do not consider it,” Bess nearly hissed.

  “What will you do? Feed me to an alligator?” Hannah retorted with glee.

  “Do not tempt me.”

  “Enough, ladies. We have a wedding to attend lest you have forgotten. All talk of how to dispose of Hannah must cease until after,” I interposed, taking Guinevere’s hand and placing it on my arm.

  Sam announced his intention to attend and Bess surprised me by accompanying him to their carriage.

  Since we had to use two carriages to transport our number to the church, Bess and Sam rather rudely demanded that I go with them while Guinevere rode with Leo and Hannah.

  On the drive over, Bess was demanding to know what I was thinking in marrying Guinevere. It was not so much in marrying her, for Bess had known I was going to do that, but it was that I did so without her and our mother present. When I saw tears in her eyes, I felt like a horrible brother and broke, telling her that Guinevere and I were not married ... yet.

  Bess leaned back beside Sam and crossed her arms over her chest as I told them how the ruse began. When Bess heard that Dudley and his mother were in Savannah, she looked rather astonished, but that was nothing compared to her incredulity when she heard about Andrew aiding us in the fight.

  “I suppose it should not surprise me after I witnessed Andrew’s abilities in a fight the time that he rescued me from Richard’s attackers,” Bess said contemplatively.

  Sam’s eyes kindled at Andrew’s name, so Bess wisely changed the topic.

  Bess wanted to know what I meant to do about Guinevere, threatening my life if I should so much as consider marrying Guinevere without Bess present. I told her the truth. It was only a matter of time before Guinevere agreed and then family or no; I would make Guinevere my wife.

  Sam gave me an approving nod as Bess huffed and mumbled threats against my person. It felt superb to be with my sister again.

  “How is the arm, Jack?” Sam asked me with genuine interest.

  Leo, who
se father had been a doctor, had checked it every day for me and said that as long as I did not engage in another battle, I would heal well. It was fortunate for me that Lucas was a poor shot. He had hit nothing too important that would not heal. Thankfully it was not the shoulder that Guinevere had shot the year before. Her aim had been just as poor, but that had been purposefully done to get me out of the way so she could save the president from Levitas.

  The church was reached, and it looked as if every person in the county turned out for the wedding. When we made it inside the church, we discovered why.

  Andrew’s uncle, former president James Madison, was attending the wedding. I wanted to greet him, as I had met him before, but Bess was adamant about staying out of his sight. As she had been betrothed to Andrew, and we did not know what reason he gave to his uncle for the dissolution of their proposed union, I agreed.

  The people crowding into the church left only the back few pews for us to sit in.

  Seated between my sister and Guinevere, I was able to watch Bess throughout the ceremony. She held Sam’s hand, but not from disappointment or anger, but from relief. It was all over her face.

  When the ceremony was through, we were able to greet Andrew and his bride. It quickly became apparent that the new Mrs. Madison knew nothing about my sister other than that she was Sam’s wife and a friend of Andrew’s from Philadelphia. Anne, in my opinion, risked her life when she hugged Bess and called her cousin. Bess smiled and skillfully evaded the suggestion that Sam and Bess join Andrew and Anne for supper one night soon.

  Sam found Charlotte and remained beside her, guiding her toward our carriage. We were separated from them in the large crowd as Andrew and Anne were preparing to depart. Well-wishers were lining the street, and it was then that I caught sight of a head of white hair and a puffy face that I would recognize any place.

  “George is here,” I said to Guinevere.

  She rose on her toes, searching the crowd. Taking her hand, we began pushing our way toward him. He was on the opposite side of the street, and walking with a group of other men, Anne’s father among them.