Page 128 of Ashes and Understanding
“You have trust issues.”
“You try chasing the world’s deadliest assassin for six years andnotdevelop a few.”
Just then, the door opened and Wickham stepped in, still in his red coat but looking weary and pale.
“I was just relieved from watch,” he said, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “Carter—or whatever his name is—is tied like a Christmas goose and sedated. “I thought I would check in with the two of you before heading back to the barracks.” He hesitated. “Something is just not sitting right with me. There is something… off.”
Darcy turned sharply. “Colonel Fitzwilliam just said the same thing. You feel it, too, then?”
Wickham nodded. “Carter just does not fit.”
The colonel’s head snapped up. “Aha!” he shouted, jabbing a finger at a line in his notebook.
“What?”
“Carter’s company was running all morning the day Smithson was killed. Thirty witnesses. I wrote it down.” He held it up like a prized relic. “Hecould nothave done it.”
“But he attacked Elizabeth tonight,” Darcy protested, chest tightening at the memory. “Half a dozen guardssawit.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam closed the book with a sharp snap. “Then there is only one explanation.”
Darcy and Wickham looked at one another, then back at the colonel expectantly.
“An accomplice.”
For a beat, no one moved.
Then the three men bolted to their feet.
“We have to get to Longbourn,” Darcy said, already moving.
Please, Lord, do not let us be too late.
∞∞∞
Elizabeth rushed down the hall towards her father’s room, a sense of urgency filling her. Her dressing gown fluttered behind her as she knocked once, then flung open the door without waiting for an answer.
“Papa—wake up!” she cried, crossing to the bed. “We were wrong!”
Mr. Bennet stirred, blinking at the light she carried in her hand. “What is it? Has something happened? Is the baby—?”
“It is not Captain Carter,” she said breathlessly. “The man tonight—the one who tried to kill me—he had green eyes. But the man who broke into Longbourn before had blue. I remember it. I saw his eyes. It was not the same man.”
Her father sat up straight, suddenly very awake. “Are you certain?”
“Absolutely.” She met his gaze, her own steady. “I thought I was going mad, but I am sure of it now. Carter is not the only one. There aretwoof them.”
Mr. Bennet swung his legs out of bed. “Get Benjamin,” he said grimly. “I will wake the servants. We will let the rest of the family sleep until we know exactly what we are facing.”
Her heart thudded wildly as she reached the nursery. Inside, the room was still and dark. The nurse, roused by her entrance, stirred sleepily. “Miss Elizabeth?”
“There is no time,” Elizabeth said quietly. “I will take Benjamin. Go wake the staff and join my father. Quickly.”
The woman, startled by the urgency in her tone, obeyed without question. As she slipped out, Elizabeth turned to the cradle. Benjamin was sleeping soundly, bundled in his blankets, his soft breath even and warm.
Carefully, she scooped him into her arms, nestling him close to her chest. His warmth steadied her.
There is more than one assassin.
