Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights)

by Amalie Vantana

  When the country’s accords were being written, a law was made in our kingdom that, should there be no direct heirs, the one who held all of the artifacts on the day of independence could be named King or Queen if the council approved that person. To protect our family, the artifacts were hidden and only the king and the protector knew who had them.

  On the eve of the Independence ball, a group of men came to the castle dressed as guests, and attacked the king and the council. Their goal had been to capture the king during the traditional ceremony with the artifacts, but that had not happened. My mother had yet to fetch them from where they were hidden.

  Somehow they had discovered that my mother was the protector of the artifacts. When she refused to give up the artifacts, they tortured my father before her. It was not until my uncle stepped forward to protest that we discovered his true nature. He turned on my parents and murdered my father.

  My parents had discussed what they must do should something like that happen, and my mother knew that she must at all costs protect the artifacts. They left my mother alone with my father’s body, saying they would bring her children in for the same fate.

  What neither my uncle nor his guards knew was there were tunnels running beneath our home. I had watched the entire thing from behind a tapestry. As soon as the door locked, I ran to my mother. She knew that they would torture us if they found us, so she did what she must to protect us.

  The protector had the right to name their successor, and my mother named me. She told me where to find the artifacts, and she made me swear to protect my family. She gave us money and told us to take her trusted guard and run. When I tried to get her to leave with us, she refused. She would give us as much time as she could to make our escape. She shoved me into the secret passage and closed the door. The only thing I could do was to get my family out, but we did not make it.

  For three horrific months, we were kept prisoners in our own home. When torturing my mother proved fruitless, and she refused to give up the artifacts, my uncle did the most despicable thing imaginable. He forced my elder sister into marriage.

  As Gideon had told Jack briefly what had happened the night of their wedding, he realized it had not been me who was married.

  “If your sister is here, what happened to her husband?” Jack asked the one question that I would not tell him. He would never see me the same if I did.

  “He is of no import,” I said at once, but Jack jumped up to his knees, startling me.

  “I know who your sister is,” he said slowly. “I know, but I want to hear you speak her name.”

  Closing my eyes against the ache of betrayal that I was doing, I said it. “Rose Eldridge.”

  Jack was silent, and opening my eyes, he was motionless as he stared down at me. “How old were you,” Jack asked without heat, “when you poisoned your sister’s husband?”

  Leaping off the bed, I spun to face him, my arms crossed defensively over my front. “How do you know?”

  “When I asked Sam how you knew Rose, he told me that you had killed her husband. Then Gideon told me that the man the eldest was forced to marry had been poisoned.”

  Stepping back, he could have slapped me, and I would not have felt more pain. Leave it to my sister to use that truth as part of her identity. As if she blamed me for what I had done.

  “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.

  CHAPTER 32

  JACK

  When 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.

  They had a plan laid out when we arrived, and once Guinevere informed them of her uncle’s name, status, and reason for being in Savannah, they had us remain in the warehouse. As the captain led his soldiers to the frigate, Gui
nevere stood beside me, her hands wringing and her foot tapping to reveal her anxiousness.

  A foreign flag was flapping in the wind as the captain of the militia called out to the captain of the frigate, and no protest was made against the soldiers boarding.

  “They should have the situation resolved in a short space of time,” Mrs. Stanton assured us as she smiled and watched a task that she thought was of her orchestrating.

  For ten minutes, we watched the soldiers question the sailors and search the ship.

  When the captain of the ship looked our way, Guinevere gasped.

  “That is not my uncle’s ship. That is not his ship!” Grabbing a pistol from my belt, Guinevere ran out of the warehouse.

  “Guinevere!” I shouted after her, but she did not halt.

  Leo and I, along with Frederick and all of his guards, chased her down the wharf toward a smaller vessel that was further out, and in no way remarkable.

  My wife would have rowed herself out to it without thought if I had not captured her first.

  “This is my uncle’s ship. The other is a ruse.”

  “I believe you,” I said, pulling her away from the boat, away from a path to certain danger. “Now I need you to believe in me. I need you to stay here with Leo.”

  “No!”

  “I will not lose you,” I said, motioning to Leo. “If she tries to board that ship, you have my permission to truss her up.” Holding Guinevere’s shoulders, I pressed my mouth to her forehead. “Have faith in me.”

  Releasing her, I turned away, knowing that if I allowed her to speak she would have me agreeing to take her with me.

  Frederick was preparing to climb into a long boat when I joined him.

  “Perhaps you should remain with your wife. This mission is too personal for you to be objective,” Frederick tried saying, but I shoved past him, climbing onto one of the empty seats.

  Dudley joined us a moment before we shoved off. He took the last seat in our boat and as the two long boats rowed out to the schooner; I studied its lines, and its deck, searching for anything that could be a clue to where my family was being held. From the short distance, I could not make out any movement on the deck. When we came upon the schooner’s port side, Frederick yelled to the ship’s captain but no response came. Instead, ropes were tossed to us from people we could not see.