Kenna was unmoved. “You left me here,” she said coldly. “My hands and feet were bound and you left me here to drown.”
“I did not know it was you! None of us did! I wouldn’t have left you if I had known!”
“You will understand if I find it difficult to credit. There is the matter of a fall on the stairs, a boating accident, a tampered girth, Tom Allen’s death, poisoning, and finally, arranging my abduction.”
Mason smiled malevolently at Victorine. “Kenna has a remarkable memory for certain facts, don’t you think?”
“It was all Mason’s idea, Kenna! He was forcing me! If I did not stop you from remembering the events at the masque his operation would be in jeopardy. I would go to prison! I couldn’t go there! I couldn’t! That was then, but things have changed.Ihave changed. I no longer care what happens to me.”
Kenna wondered if she could believe Victorine. Some part of her doubt must have shown on her face for Victorine continued.
“It’s true! I don’t care what becomes of me now! But I cared what happened to you, Kenna! Yes, I tampered with Pyramid’s girth, but in the end I went riding with you. I couldn’t let you go alone. I saw your saddle begin to slip. Do you remember? I called to you then to slow down. I saved you from a fatal fall.” Her expression appealed to Kenna for forgiveness. “And I set the trap in the woods for you, but when you arrived safely back at Dunnelly, I knew I couldn’t go through with it. I went to retrieve it later, but you had returned to the spot with that poacher. I was afraid! I could have killed you then, Kenna, but I didn’t!”
“Instead you protected yourself by murdering Tom Allen.”
“I had to!”
“You tried to poison me, Victorine!”
“I tried to frighten you,” she corrected. “I knew you suspected Rhys. Who didn’t? Mason said you could not be allowed to marry Rhys. You would be beyond our control then. If I had wanted to kill you I could have done so easily and the suspicion would have fallen upon Rhys or, thanks to your maid, Monsieur Raillier.”
“Did you meet Mason in this chamber and discuss the plan for Napoleon’s escape? Were you helping to finance that escape?”
Her question visibly startled both Mason and Victorine.
“How did you know?” asked Victorine.
“It’s unimportant.”
“I had to, don’t you see? Mason was not giving me a choice. I had to provide financing for his plans. There were others that offered support. I was but their link to Mason.”
“What about my abduction?” Kenna asked coldly.
“That was Mason’s idea. I told him you were going away. He did the rest. He finally realized I could not hurt you. Didn’t I beg you not to go to Cherry Hill?”
Victorine began to sob jerkily, giving Mason the opportunity he had been waiting for. He pushed Kenna hard toward Victorine. Victorine’s hands lifted higher to remove the pistol from Kenna’s path and as Kenna fell into her the weapon was fired harmlessly at the roof of the chamber.
Kenna rolled off Victorine and quickly scrambled to her feet. Mason’s attention was distracted as he tried to lift the heavy valise. With no thought for the consequences, Kenna locked her hands together in a double fist and swung her outstretched arms as if she were swinging a plank. Her fists smashed against Mason’s nose at the same time she felt a sharp pain in her thigh. Mason staggered backward, withdrawing his blade from Kenna’s leg. Blood gushed from his nose and he howled once in pain before he advanced on Kenna, revenge sharply defining his features.
Kenna backed away, limping as she edged toward the lantern on the stone shelf. She could not think of any way to escape him save under the cover of darkness. Kenna leaped for the lantern, knocking it off the ledge at the same moment the wall of the chamber opened for the second time that evening.
Rhys had only a second to mark everyone’s position in the chamber before the lantern crashed to the floor, but he marked them well. The shots from his pistols thundered in the chamber, then there was an even more thunderous silence.
“Kenna?” he ventured softly.
Kenna was so stunned by the sweet familiarity of Rhys’s voice that she couldn’t say anything. She clung to the sheer damp wall for support, not believing he was really here.
“Dammit, Kenna! Say something!”
“I’m here, Rhys.”
Rhys started forward but Victorine’s warning cry came in time to halt his steps. Mason’s knife caught the sleeve of Rhys’s jacket before Rhys jerked away. There was a heavy groan from Mason, a pained sob from Victorine. Their bodies crumbled to the floor, then thick silence pervaded the chamber once more.
“Rhys!” Kenna cried out. “What happened? Victorine!”
Rhys did not answer immediately. Cautiously he bent over, groping in the dark for proof of what his mind was already telling him. He found Mason’s body first. There was no pulse. He pushed at Mason’s lifeless form and his hands brushed Victorine’s shoulders. A moment later he found Mason’s knife, embedded to the hilt in Victorine’s breast.
Rhys’s voice was heavy. “She’s dead, Kenna.”
