Chapter 3 #2
Peregrine met Charity’s gaze bleakly. “A near-thing. And we only succeeded because you brought us the last piece of evidence in time that the treasury had been corrupted. I might have found the presses, but Bellrose was the key to Goldbourne’s cypher and the list of men whose exchequer bills had been duplicated. ”
“A scheme we cannot at all tie to Lady Fitzroy, much less the Russians, and that is a problem. We cannot overlook the fact that we might be hosting an ally with duplicitous intentions,” Ravenscroft growled.
“At the very best, Russia might be causing mischief to skew negotiations in their favour. This might be far worse. So we are faced with the question: Is Russia the enemy of England? And if not them, whom?”
A little silence greeted that.
“They may not be,” Selina said finally. “They may only be holding her, trying to gauge her value. Why would they not? If a member of Russia’s court came to England outside of the usual diplomatic channels…
would you not keep them in hand, Your Majesty?
Especially if they were clever enough to have confounded your opponents? ”
Queen Charlotte conceded she would.
Peregrine made an ugly noise in his throat. “You’re right. The attack on the bank may have been condoned by the Tsar, but he would be too obvious the suspect. This is a great game for her. My mother gets no pleasure from making such boring moves.”
“This way lies madness, Perry.” Selina gave him a slightly feral grin. “If not the Tsar, what about her sponsor at the Russian court?”
“Or someone outside of it who benefits from Russia and England being at each other’s throats?” Ravenscroft added.
“For heaven’s sake! I do not like the thought of that at all,” the Queen groused.
“We cannot send Russia away, of course, without causing some grave offence. Which means that they will continue their stay, and Lady Fitzroy will be able to continue her stay with them. Oh, and also she may mingle freely with the ton, her movements completely unfettered, spreading sedition or who knows what manner of villainy. What must we do?”
“We should look for weaknesses within. Courts are full of jealous people.” Lady Normanby ran the edge of her thumb over her lips.
“If we ask around carefully, we may be able to locate a person in the Russian contingent who does not hold Marian in such high esteem. Who might be willing to trade information about what is going on inside the Pulteney? We might be able to find a thread we may pull.”
“Do you think such a thing is even possible?” Charity asked before she considered the words. But Selina only smiled at her. Finding people willing to trade in information was how Selina had sunk her fingers so deeply into the Home Office.
“Lord Fitzroy,” Selina continued more slowly, “there is one other person who may have information to trade about your mother. Unfortunately, I suspect only you might be able to exploit her.”
Charity flinched at the word exploit. Queen Charlotte frowned at Charity before turning to Peregrine.
“Lark Fitzroy,” the Queen murmured, pressing her chin to her fist as her elbow leaned upon the arm of the chair.
“The first and best source of information on your mother is likely to be your sister, Lord Fitzroy, if you can press her for it. Besides, the question of her guilt or innocence remains unanswered.”
Perry agreed. “I would reach out to Lark regardless. She is not safe where she is, especially if my mother’s plans are threatened.”
“We cannot count on success on either of those fronts. If we are to put a stop to Lady Fitzroy, we need to drive a wedge between her and her protectors.” Sidmouth crossed his arms. “The Russians will rescind their protection if we have irrefutable proof of her misdeeds. Which means we must also allow her to continue with her plotting and attempt to catch her in the act.”
Plotting which might include an attempt to kill one of them. Charity lifted her eyes from where they had fallen into her lap to see Perry staring at her, his expression anguished enough that she knew he had the same thought.
“We allow her to go about her business? Is this really the best of our options?” Lord Ravenscroft asked, his voice raising a pitch.
“Can we afford to be on such unstable ground this close to the negotiations? Forgive me, allowing the woman who nearly forced the dissolution of Parliament to run loose does not seem like the most brilliant of plans.”
Fortunately, Lord Sidmouth put a stop to that panic. “Not loose, Ravenscroft. We will make sure we follow the lady’s movements. But we have to let her have space to act if we want to have any hope of guessing who or what the target of her next plan is going to be.”
“This will be dangerous. To give the woman enough rope with which to hang herself also gives her enough space to enact those plans before we can catch wind of them,” Thorne said in a soft voice, darting a quick look at Lady Normanby. “Such decisions are likely to come at a cost in lives.”
Thoughts sprang into Charity’s mind of her servants after the attack on her house. The many dead servants who had once served at the Fitzroy estate. The man from the Home Office, who had been murdered or driven to suicide. Goldbourne. Chandros.
Of Peregrine, with the collar of bruises from the hands around his neck and the healing scar on his abdomen. And Selina, trapped in a basement in Kensington with Bellrose standing guard.
How many dead and wounded had Lady Fitzroy left behind? Dozens, at least.
Lady Normanby was picking at an imaginary speck of dirt on her gloves again, not nearly as unaffected as she pretended to be.
“Most of us are comfortable with the fact that we are on her black list already, Sir Nathaniel. There is a silver lining. If one of us falls, it may give the evidence necessary to convict her of murder. And that may be a price worth paying, given the stakes Russia may be playing for.”
Thorne looked ill at that answer, but nodded. Sidmouth seemed regretful. Ravenscroft looked grim.
Peregrine, on the other hand, looked like the weight of the world was now on his shoulders. As if it were his responsibility alone to stop her before one of them fell.
Sidmouth sighed. “Of course, I will do what I can. But I think this will be a war fought in the shadows, and if so, you will be able to move more freely than those of my ilk. Find out why she is here. You must determine who is sheltering her. Someone introduced her at court and brought her to the Tsar’s attention.
I want their names. Use any means necessary to get it. ”
Lord Sidmouth bowed to the Queen. “If you will excuse me, I must return to the reception before my disappearance is noted. Lady Normanby, I trust you will keep me informed. My responsibility in the coming days is to meet with our potential allies, to see what they want in return for supporting us in Vienna. I do not want the Russians to hear what promises we make. It strikes me that if anyone is capable of building a web of spies for Russia, it is Lady Fitzroy.”
Selina bobbed in confirmation. And with the Queen’s approval, Lord Sidmouth took his leave.
No sooner had he gone than Lord Ravenscroft threw up his hands in frustration. “Find out why she is here, Sidmouth says. Isn’t it obvious? Assist Russia, ruin England, and poison the punch on her way out the door, killing all of us.”
Though Charity agreed with him, as Perry had said, his mother would never do anything for one reason alone. Marian had come back with Lark in tow.
“There is something else I think we should consider,” Charity began, remembering the many minor princes and foreign aristocrats announced earlier.
“This is Lark’s second year out, and she is still unmarried.
Lady Fitzroy will be pressured to make a match for her daughter, and there will never be a better opportunity to make a high-level match.
Where could she marry more closely to a throne than at the meeting of the Allied Sovereigns? ”
Perry’s eyes narrowed. The Queen tapped her fingers on her armrest, mulling that over.
“That may fit the pattern and explain why she returned the dagger as she did. Marian had little hope of getting anyone to offer for her daughter so long as there was a whiff of scandal attached to her name. But as a trusted confidante in the Russian court… both the mother and the daughter have something to offer.”
“Who is likely to offer for Lark’s hand?” Sir Nathaniel asked. “Pardon my question, but I am not familiar with the royal lines on the continent,” he added, bowing his head to the Queen.
“Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg is of a similar age,” Queen Charlotte ventured. “He is a younger son, and so might consent to wed outside of a noble family.”
“There is also Prince Paul of Württemberg,” Selina added. “Or perhaps Baron von Gentz. He is not in line for a throne, but he holds a significant amount of power as Metternich’s man.”
The Queen waved her hands irritably. “There are a hundred more options if we look outside of unwed princes. Lord Sidmouth issued his instructions. Now, I will add mine, and I cannot overturn all other plans simply because of Marian Fitzroy. Your Grace, you must encourage my granddaughter strongly to sign the betrothal contract. Prinny and I will push from our side, but a supportive word from you would not be amiss.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Charity agreed, even though it turned her stomach.
“Lord Fitzroy,” the Queen continued, “it is doubly important to try to plumb your sister’s mind. If her marriage is a key part of the scheme, surely she might have some sense of it.”
“I will see if I can convince her to speak with me, Your Majesty.”
“Lord Ravenscroft and Lady Normanby, I ask you to use your wiles and your connections to discover which of our allies are being courted by the Russians. Lord Sidmouth will pursue the official path. You two can be helpful in feeding him information.”
“What of me, Your Majesty?” Sir Nathaniel asked. “I would like to be of aid to the cause.”
“I have a suggestion,” Selina spoke up. After the Queen nodded her approval, Selina said, “You are not as well-known as the rest of us. See if you can identify anyone of the lower orders whom Lady Fitzroy might have drafted to her cause. Courtiers or servants who are out of place, or more interested in eavesdropping than going their own way. We can ask my associate, Mr Xavier, to lend a hand as well.”
“Take great care with whom you trust,” the Queen counselled. “A mistake, even a small one, has incredible implications for the fate of this nation. And for you all.”