Helena wished that she could be completely certain of that. She would have left the convent long ago.
She tried to think what she could do. Even if she ran off, where could she go? It had been her mother and her uncle who had her locked up at the abbey once they realized she knew what they had done to her father. That meant she could not go back home.
She gave a long sigh as she bit into her loaf of bread. Hungry as she was, it tasted like ashes in her mouth. She didn’t know what she was going to do, what shecoulddo, really. To run away from the convent would mean inviting harm to her brother.
Uncle James would surely think… but no. If I ran away from here, he would have to keep Charlie unharmed until he knew what I meant to do. If he knew that I would not say a word, he would have no reason to harm Charlie.
She chewed anxiously at her bottom lip, trying to think about what to do.
Should I write him a note? I should fake my own death. Then he’d have no reason to hurt Charlie.
She thought about how she could do that. Perhaps leave a bloodstain behind in her room before running away.
“No. Without a body, the nuns would never believe it,” she said aloud to herself.
Sighing with despair, she finished off her stew and drank the goat’s milk.
Once she was full, and feeling a lot better, she reexamined her options and concluded that she had only one real choice.
She had to run away.
Chapter Two
“If you don’t find the source of these rumors soon, the government will be forced to act and it’s our soldiers that will get mashed in the middle. What with France and the New World, Scotland, we can’t afford to be spread thinner. We have to nip this in the bud,” the chancellor of the exchequer said.
Silas nodded. “I know the stakes, Lord Chancellor, and I will find out what we need as soon as possible.”
“The late Lord Downfield was close to learning the truth. His death was either a very fortunate happenstance for them or a very inconvenient accident for us. You need to find out which.”
Silas sifted through the papers on the desk. “How is he supposed to have died?”
“Illness.”
“Illness? Was he known to have suffered from…?” He cocked an eyebrow, waiting for the exchequer to fill in the blank.
“He was a healthy man as far as we knew.” The Lord Chancellor gave him a significant look.
Silas cleared his throat and nodded. “I see. Well, I suppose I know where to start now.” He got to his feet.
“Highcliff,” the exchequer said sharply.
Silas met his eyes. “Yes, my lord?”
“Be careful. These people are very dangerous.”
He nodded. “I am aware. It will not be an issue.”
Being a spy was very different than Silas had thought it would be. When he’d decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, he’d assumed that he would be spending a lot of time communicating with counterparts around the world and reading communiques sent from the Crown.
Now, nine years after he’d joined the national service, that expectation was continually shattered.
As for this current case, Silas was determined to speak to one Helena Porter, daughter of the late Earl of Downfield, the agent who had died while investigating this information leak.
If his suspicions were correct, her remaining family had something to do with the treasonous plot he’d uncovered.
He expected to be stopped at the gate of his destination. He was not disappointed; a burly gentleman blocked his way, forcing him to come to a stop.
“Are you lost…” The man looked Silas up and down. “Sir?”
