Vow of Deception (The Ministry of Curiosities #9)(77)

"You're mad."

"You committed those murders in the Old Nichol, didn't you?"

He folded his arms over his chest. "And if I did?"

Someone to my left gasped. It was Lord Ballantine, standing on his doorstep. Three of his pack mates stood with him.

"Did you kill them?" Ballantine asked Swinburn.

Swinburn ignored him and studied the general. "Tell your friends to disperse, Miss Holloway. I don't want any trouble."

"Then come down here," the general commanded. "I will not see innocents suffer."

"Thank you," I said. "You're a good man. Only Swinburn here must be vanquished, and only after he releases my intended."

He grunted. "I do not have all day."

"Send Jenkin to Mr. Yallop's house," I ordered Swinburn. "Tell him to release Lincoln now. The army will remain here until I see him safe and well."

"Don't be absurd." Swinburn went to close the door. "I have no influence over Mr. Yallop or the police."

"Yallop owes you money."

He stilled. "That is irrelevant. I haven't spoken to him about the ministry."

"Perhaps not directly. Perhaps the Duke of Edinburgh did it for you."

"Be careful, Miss Holloway. I wouldn't suggest such a thing about a member of the royal family if I were you."

"Then how about another suggestion. Did you kill Lady Harcourt?"

"Pardon?"

"Did you kill her? She was no longer of use to you, was she? And you prefer not to be burdened with a wife."

Swinburn thrust out his chin. "I didn't kill her! What an absurd notion."

"You do not look unhappy about her death."

"No, you do not," said Ballantine approaching slowly and carefully. "You held a party last night after being informed of her death. I found it distasteful." Two of his pack mates nodded.

The muscles in Swinburn's jaw bunched, his lips flattened. "Stop it, Ballantine. She's trying to drive us apart when we must be united now."

Ballantine stopped advancing and lowered his head. "You're right. My apologies, sir."

Damnation. I almost isolated Swinburn. It would have made it easier to attack him, if necessary. With his pack on his side, they would get hurt if they tried to defend him.

"I am willing to take this all the way to the end, Swinburn," I said. "This army will not leave empty handed, and I am giving them you."

"Why?" Swinburn addressed the general. "What do you get out of this arrangement?"

"Someone we have spent years searching for." The general looked back at the cart.

Alice thrust the gun under her chin, daring him to take her.

The general muttered something under his breath and turned back to Swinburn.

"You have outwitted General Ironside," came Sir Markell's quiet voice as he rode up beside me. "I commend you. It's not easy to best him but you have managed it."

"Not yet," I said. "We seem to be at a standstill."

"What will break it?"

Death. I did not say it. Could not. Swinburn's blood was the only one I wanted on my hands, but I was afraid there would be much more.

"Do as she says or I will attack," the general demanded of Swinburn. "Send your letter. Release the one named Lincoln."

Swinburn crossed his arms and did not move.

"Do it!" Seth shouted. He too jumped down from the cart to stand beside me.

Sir Markell drew his sword and placed the point to Seth's throat. "No further."

Seth scowled at him.

"You harm a single one of my friends and I will pull this trigger," Alice cried. "I have nothing to live for anyway. My family abandoned me, no man will have a strange creature like me, and my future is unclear. So you see, I am standing on the edge and I will throw myself over it if I have to."

The general merely grunted without turning around. His son, however, approached the cart. "Please don't, Princess." He spoke quietly so that his father wouldn't have heard. "Your parents would not want their hard work undone like this."

Alice lowered the weapon to her lap and stared wide-eyed at the advisor. He steered his horse away and returned to me.

"Will you send the letter?" I asked Swinburn.

"I will not," he said.

"Now what?" Seth muttered.

"We think of something, and think quickly," I whispered.

"You have tried and failed, Miss Holloway," Lord Ballantine said. "You don't really want to harm anyone. It's time for you to go. People are beginning to stare."

"I cannot go! Lincoln will be sent to jail if I fail. If you think I will just give up, you are sorely mistaken. Sir Ignatius!" I called to Swinburn. "Either you do as I say, or the army will kill your pack."

Swinburn didn't move. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his pack huddle closer together.

"Ignatius!" Ballantine shouted. "Do as she says. What does it matter if he's released or not?"

Swinburn's lips curled up at the edges. "She won't give the order."

"She might not," the general said, "but I will."