“Do you have credible information to this claim?” Wellington interjected. “We shouldn’t wish to make false accusations against anyone in the royal family without just cause.”
Hugh reached into his pocket and extended a sealed missive to him. “We have a full accounting from the vicar’s wife. It seems that the rebellion heard of Mr. Bernard’s prowess during the war with France when he was fighting under Bonaparte. As Bernard’s sister, Agnes was privy to much of the information passed back and forth between her husband and Bernard through the months. She mentions that Lindquist kept her drugged most of the time and that the only reason he married her was because of her tie to Bernard. She believed she was marrying a God-fearing man, but instead, she exchanged vows with a charlatan.”
Harlan scrubbed a hand down his face when Wellington asked, “How were you able to gain this letter without her husband present?”
“Henry left Dudley shortly before I did. I was in the village at the local inn when he walked in and spoke a few words with the barkeep. I thought it curious that they seemed to be holding such an in-depth conversation in private, so I followed them out the back. That’s when I saw Mr. Bernard exit an outbuilding and mount a horse alongside his brother-in-law. I would have taken off in pursuit then, but I went back to Lindquist’s house to speak to his wife.”
“Do you know where they were headed?” Harlan demanded.
Hugh looked directly at Harlan and his stomach dropped to the floor. “Agnes was particularly eager to tell everything she’d overheard. Apparently, her husband and Bernard were conspiring to infiltrate the palace. Henry had been conducting an affair with one of the women involved with the rebellion. She had been hired on as a maid and claimed that she could get him on as a footman—”
Harlan didn’t need to hear anything further. The warning that had been nagging at him all day turned into an alarm of epic proportions. “Where is Agnes now?”
“I took her to Birmingham to stay with her sister and her husband in case the vicar decided to retaliate,” Hugh returned. “She is currently our only credible witness and needed to be around people that could be trusted.”
Harlan addressed everyone in the room. “I have the feeling that our villains are at the palace, or soon will be. We will have to be cautious about our approach.”
“What do you suggest?” Hugh asked.
Harlan’s eyes were focused when he said, “I have a plan…”
Leah sputteredwhen the water was thrown on her face. She gasped to regain the oxygen that had been abruptly denied her earlier and blinked at the man holding the empty pitcher in his grasp. She expected to see Bernard, but the man wearing footman’s clothing wasn’t the assassin—it was her brother.
“Henry?” She looked about the room, but they were the only two there. She tried to move in the chair she had been placed in, but her wrists and ankles had been bound together with rope. “Don’t tell me that you are a part of this ridiculous rebellion?”
“It’s not ridiculous,” he noted with a condescending smile on his face. “It’s how things were meant to be. It was a string of bad luck that ended with thatgirlon the throne.” He spat the word as if it was an obscenity. “She doesn’t know how to run a great nation like England. We need a strong ruler, one who can stand proud and true.”
“And you truly think Victoria can’t be powerful?” She shook her head. “That is where you are wrong. She is an exceptional woman who is being trained on how to lead this country. You are making a mistake by doing this. You shall be branded a traitor to the rightful heir and hang for your crimes.”
He shrugged, as if the idea of facing the noose was of no consequence to him, and she was convinced that he imagined himself immune to such consequences. At the moment, he believed that he retained the upper hand with Mr. Bernard at his side. “Be that as it may, it will not matter overlong. The issue is being dealt with.”
Leah froze. “What have you done with the queen?”
“Don’t worry about her.” His smile was oily as he calmly sat down across from her. It gave Leah the opportunity she needed to shake down the knife she’d hidden under her sleeve. When she’d left the maid in the butler’s pantry, something told her the weapon might come in useful. She’d been right.
As she started to slowly saw at the bindings around her wrists, she said, “I demand to know where Her Majesty is.”
“Safe. For now.” He offered another condescending smile and Leah knew it would take all of her self-control not to use her knife on him when she was finished. Blood or not, what he was doing was wrong. “I’m more interested in the plans I have for you once this nastiness is over.”
The blade nearly slipped from her grasp. Thankfully, she was able to catch it before it clattered to the floor, but she winced when the blade sliced her finger. “What are you talking about?”
“The marriage between you and Bernard, of course. He has taken quite a shine to you, and you might be so fortunate to gain the attention of such a considerable man. Do you know he took out most of the British forces during the war? He was quite a celebrated hero in France.” He smiled proudly.
“Was he?” Leah adopted a bored tone. “And yet, for all his efforts, Napoleon was still defeated.”
“A minor technicality in the grand scheme of things,” Henry murmured crossly. “But with the support from the King of Hanover, France will soon gain the respect that has been denied them since Napoleon was exiled and died in a state of melancholy.”
Leah snorted. “England is one of the greatest nations in the world. You believe that you will succeed in your endeavors where others have failed?”
“I do.” He smiled. “Because I have the power of the lord on my side.”
“The only thing you have ismadness,” Leah countered hotly. “I won’t let you get away with this.”
He got to his feet. “You have no choice in the matter,” he stated calmly as he withdrew a pistol. With a heavy sigh, he said, “I would have hoped that you might come to your senses and choose the correct side, but you are like so many others and refuse to accept the eventuality of the cause.”
“And that is?” Leah prompted, as the bindings around her wrists started to loosen.
He waved his hand in the air with a dramatic flair. “La Révolution.”
