Chapter 32
In which a captain is resolute
A generous action might conceal an injurious intent.
— from Lady Avely’s Guide to Guile and Peril
Ltn Greene shut the door behind him and turned to smile at Judith. She stood still, trying to paste a welcoming expression upon her face. Words stuck in her throat like dry wool.
“You’ve done a wonderful job of concealment,” he said, admiringly, and came into the room. “I would never have known that sitting room was there, if I could not sense the duke inside. Who cast such a brilliant Illusion?”
She ignored the question. “Is the duke safe?”
“Yes, I haven’t told anyone.” He bowed his head. “Drumpellier’s plot is abhorrent, as I’m sure you agree.”
She was reminded of Miss Onslow’s careful half-truths. Of course, it must have been Ltn Greene who had warned Miss Onslow that she was dealing with a Truth Discernor. The two of them had been working together all along.
“Thank you.” Judith licked her lips. “I am grateful for your help.”
Ltn Greene gave her a close look. “It is the least I could do.” He tipped his head. “Has his grace recovered his memory yet?”
“Not yet.”
“How did you whisk him out of there?”
“I had help. Friends.” She hesitated. “They’ve gone now.”
Ltn Greene raised his brows. “Both of them?”
“Yes,” she said. “They Travelled out of here.”
There was a long pause, and too late Judith realised her mistake, for as a Healor he would have found Robert’s hiding place. He sighed, tapping a finger against his thigh. “A Truth Discernor, lying to me. Why would you do that, ma’am?”
She said nothing, and he took a step towards her.
Watching him, it was as if her vision wavered then straightened.
Ltn Greene’s friendly, faintly apologetic look vanished, to be replaced with grim determination.
The blinking eyes hardened, his lips thinned, and even his cheeks seemed to grow hollower.
“You’ve figured it out, haven’t you?” His voice was no longer friendly. “A clever little Discernor.”
“Figured what out?” she said stupidly, in a bid to play innocence. But her eyes darted to the door.
He stepped in front of it. “Ah, suddenly you wish to leave! But not yet, I’m afraid. Though you’ve been most helpful,” he added. “My poor captain is so focused on your meddling that he hasn’t noticed mine.”
She swallowed. How could she have been fooled by his act of boyish charm? “What do you mean? What meddling?”
“There is no need to look so worried: our interests align, Lady Avely. I tried to help his grace from the start, surely you know that? I gave him some untainted food, in a bid to help him recover his memories. It worked for a while, and he became quite recalcitrant.” He sighed.
“Then Drumpellier got to him, with some sort of gentleman’s agreement, if you can believe it.
” Disdain smeared the lieutenant’s features, as if he did not believe it possible for Drumpellier to behave with nobility.
Judith said nothing. Dacian had written of an unexpected ally. She had thought he meant Yvette, but he must have been referring to Greene, trying to muddy the waters by helping him.
“And then you undid it all,” she said finally. “Why?”
“Oh, I hoped that the duke might skewer the assassination plot, if he lost his memory again.” Ltn Greene paused. “But then you appeared, with your little rescue attempt! So I turned a blind eye while you whisked him away. It was quite pleasing to sit back and watch the chaos unfold.”
She turned her back to him and walked to the window. Anger swirled through her, clouding her vision. Anger at Ltn Greene, as well as with herself. She should have questioned the circumstances more. Instead, she had eagerly accepted his help and assumed the worst of Drumpellier.
“I suppose you ordered Miss Onslow to kill Sgt Finlay,” she said calmly.
“Oh no. She did that all by herself, stupid girl. Finlay might have worked for us if we gave him enough inducement. Who cares if he was a libertine? She didn’t need to murder him for it.
Still, she managed it quite well—except then she tried to kill me.
I suppose she decided she wanted to end the game and make amends. ”
Judith turned her head. “Why didn’t she tell me yesterday then, when I interrogated her?”
Ltn Greene shrugged. “I suppose she didn’t want to admit to another crime.
Or she thought I would rescue her. She saw my man yesterday morning, after all, and she had the latest dispatch, so perhaps she thought she had some bargaining power over me.
But I’ve got all that now. I found her in your little tunnel, deep in the earth, which suits her well enough.
” He smiled at Judith’s expression. “Don’t worry, I haven’t killed her, though she might deserve it.
” Ltn Greene pursed his lips. “She might still be useful, if she doesn’t try shooting at me again. ”
Judith cursed herself now for not telling Drumpellier about Miss Onslow, and trusting Ltn Greene’s instructions. What a fool she had been. She put her chin in the air. “And what are you going to do with me?”
“Continue to help you, of course,” said Ltn Greene pleasantly. “As I mentioned, we have the same aim, as much as you may abhor it. I don’t want such a powerful weapon in Drumpellier’s hands, and you want the duke far from here. So we shall work together.”
Judith grimaced, an odd mixture of interest and repulsion warring within her.
She could not accept the help of this weasel; Dacian would never forgive her.
And yet, right at this moment, Dacian was curiously impotent, stuck behind a wallpapered door without his wits.
Which made him all the more vulnerable to the lieutenant’s plots.
Still, her heart balked at helping this traitor.
“I refuse.” She turned to gaze out the window. “We can do without your help, thank you very much.”
Ltn Greene sighed, coming up to stand close behind her. She repressed the urge to lean away.
“I thought you might say that.” His voice was soft. “So I took the liberty of taking that young man into my custody. Robert Avely, I think his name is?”
Judith’s head snapped around, in mute question.
“I found him pretending to be a pillar in the ballroom: a good disguise, but I could sniff him out easily, at the rate his heart was thumping. I waited for the troops to leave, then I confronted him and bound his wrists.”
To her horror, she saw him lift a finger to pull a chain out from his breast pocket. It looked very much like the chain that had hung from Drumpellier’s: the mechanism that connected to the wristbreaker cuffs.
“Yes,” said Ltn Greene, smiling at her appalled look. “The bracelets fit him quite snugly.”
Her heart leapt with terror. “He’s just a boy! Leave him out of this!”
“He is a rather talented Illusor,” Greene corrected her. “Such prodigious talent could be most useful. But I haven’t got the time to chat about that. The point is that you must help me, or his wrists will snap with a yank of this chain.”
To her utter dismay, she could hear that he was telling the truth. Her skin crawled at the thought of Robert’s artist’s hands being destroyed so cavalierly. She gritted out, “I don’t believe you. Take me to him and show me that he still lives.”
Ltn Greene laughed, amused. “My dear lady, you are a Truth Discernor, so you know very well that I am not lying. I’ll add, for your elucidation, that Mr Avely is rather frightened at the moment, because I’ve also tied a cloth round his eyes.
Regardless, you will have to trust me on the matter: he is bound and at my mercy. ”
Judith was silent a long moment, hearing the bell of truth, and trying to keep her rage leashed. “What is it that you want me to do?”
“You must stay quiet about Miss Onslow. And keep your duke hidden, which I’m certain you will be only too glad to do. Once we have the dear captain clear of the place, we can negotiate further.”
Judith narrowed her eyes. Negotiate further?
What reason would this snivelling snake have to keep them all alive, when they could betray him in the future?
But she could hear no lie in his voice, and further, she could see no alternative but to go along with him for now. Not while Robert was captive.
“Very well,” she said coldly. “How do you want me to fend off Drumpellier?”
“He is growing too curious about the cellars. I fear that he is about to discover the secret passageway where you stashed Miss Onslow, despite that handy little Illusion over the arch. You must distract him.”
She looked away. “It will simply make him more suspicious if I approach him now.”
“Exactly.” Ltn Greene said approvingly. “Instead, I will tell him I sense an unknown presence moving over our heads, and he will rush to investigate, only to find you surreptitiously lurking in the northern corridor. I believe you already have a decoy set up there?”
Judith scowled. “We cannot run that trick if we do not have Robert’s help with his Illusions. Hand him back, and we will do better.”
“No,” said Ltn Greene. “You’ll have to stage your little show without him, I’m afraid. But I have every confidence in you, Lady Avely. Your duke and your boy are at stake.”
The first part of the plan worked rather well, much to Judith’s irritation. But what else had she expected? She had put it all in place herself.
She trod along the norther corridor, heavily.
It was a long corridor, the allegedly haunted one, and gloomily she imagined herself as the Crimson Lady, stomping along in a ghostly huff.
Mrs Ulrich had installed the Dread Spell over one of the doors, so it was quite easy to fall into the right mood: one of bleak despair and grief.