“Should you fail to surrender Castle Harbrook before ten o’clock tomorrow morning,” the soldier continued, “you leave His Grace no choice but to take possession by force.”
Elizabeth harrumphed. “I’d like to see him try.”
“He is going to try,” Adrian pointed out. “Look.”
The backdrop of uniformed soldiers parted as a pair of horses emerged from the wall of forest… this time, pulling a cannon behind them.
“You’re bamming me.” Elizabeth groaned. “Iknewhe capitulated too quickly.”
Philippa frowned. “Capitulated to what?”
“Reddington agreed the muskets would not be armed with bullets or projectiles,” Stephen explained.
“The guns aren’t loaded?” Kuni clapped a hand to her face. “Of all the frothing cork-feathers… Does hewantto lose?”
“Which side are you on?” Philippa hissed.
“How did you convince Reddington to make any concessions at all?” Adrian asked Stephen.
“It wasn’t me. Elizabeth negotiated with him,” he answered with pride.
“Elizabeth negotiated?” her siblings chorused in disbelief.
“I can be charming,” she protested.
They stared at her.
“But I didn’t know he had cannons,” she admitted. “Those are probably loaded.”
Marjorie stepped back from the window. “How are we supposed to defend against cannon fire?”
“We don’t have to,” said Philippa. “We have the will. That means there’s no war. Right?”
Stephen and the other Wynchesters exchanged skeptical looks.
“What if Reddington ignores the legal proof and attacks anyway?” asked Adrian.
Graham put down his pencil. “I don’t suppose this creaky old castle holds a Planning Parlor?”
Elizabeth glanced at Stephen and smiled. “It has something even better.”
33
Elizabeth couldn’t wait to see her siblings’ faces when they saw the Great Hall. It was leagues larger than any room in the family home back in Islington.
Tommy was the first to stride into the spacious chamber. She reached for Philippa’s hand to point out one of the machines. The other siblings carried baskets or small parcels. Everyone’s eyes widened as they filed into the room.
Graham let out a low whistle at the chalk equations wallpapering the gray stones on all four sides of the Great Hall.
Kuni’s jaw dropped at the sight of the enormous machines. “Are these the famous contraptions?”
“I can’t imagine what these do,” said Jacob.
“Of course we know what they do.” Graham consulted the notes he’d made from Elizabeth’s reports. “That one franks the post, this one shines boots, the one over there—”
“I’d be happy to demonstrate,” Stephen offered.
Marjorie clapped her hands. “We’dadorethat.”
