“If you are not willing to have your men spar with Championess Quick’s fighters, then I will volunteer myself. I have been waiting for a rematch with Lizzie for years!” Blackglen slowly circled, his arms raised as he addressed every inch of the crowded, underground structure.
“Prepare to lose once more!” Lizzie shouted back.
Hannah nodded to one of the women who’d entered with them and had been tasked with carrying the equipment. The prizefighter tossed two quarterstaffs, and Lizzie easily caught one in each hand. She turned and gently threw a rod to Blackglen. Although he plucked it from the air, his movements weren’t as seamless as Lizzie’s. The left corner of his mouth flattened ever so slightly, and it was clear that he’d noticed the difference and didn’t like it.
The bout between them was going to be interesting. It was too bad that Hannah would miss it.
The crowd parted to allow Lizzie and Blackglen to head into the ring. Lizzie marched with a fierce purpose while Blackglen seemed like he was simply taking in the sights at the Tower of London. Jenks quivered like a hare as he once again swung his gaze wildly around the room. He was clearly looking for assistance or maybe a sign on how to proceed. Whatever he wanted, he wasn’t finding it.
Lizzie reached the pit first, and the noise in the room rose to painful levels. Just when it seemed like the shouts could not grow in volume, Blackglen entered the arena. More screams erupted. Tension swirled between the two contestants as they faced each other. Lizzie was not a small woman, but Blackglen had a few inches on her vertically and clearly outweighed her by several stone. Hannah knew, though, that what Lizzie lacked in size, she could make up for by being quick and light on her feet. Moreover, she’d already defeated Blackglen once before. The outcome of this bout was no foregone conclusion.
“Well?” Blackglen asked Jenks in that perennially cavalier way of his. “Are you going to start the fight or must I find someone to even do that?”
Blackglen’s statement inspired more invectives from the crowd aimed at the master of ceremonies.
“Lily-livered bastard!”
“Coward.”
“Chicken-hearted knave!”
At each insult, the light in Jenks’s eyes grew wilder and wilder. The man was clearly only accustomed to stirring up a frenzy rather than being on the receiving end of fury. With palpable reluctance, Jenks shouted for the bout to begin.
Yet neither Blackglen nor Lizzie flew at the other. Instead,they slowly circled, each on the balls of their feet, each gripping their quarterstaff tightly, each entirely focused on the match.
Although Hannah had staged this fight, it wasn’t a fake one. The goal was for the two opponents to draw out the match as long as possible, but Hannah knew that both wanted to win.
“We need to go,” Sophia hissed in Hannah’s ear as she tugged on her arm.
Hannah nodded. After all, that was why she had engineered this whole performance. With everyone distracted, she and Sophia gathered the rest of their family and friends along with Eoin. Championess Quick had told them where to find the initial passageway from the cellar, and Peter, who’d remained safely behind at Championess Quick’s, had confirmed that the hidden hallway was still in use.
They’d agreed to split into two groups. To Hannah’s surprise and relief, Eoin had volunteered to join hers. Although she knew that it didn’t mean he’d forgiven her—or was anywhere close to fully trusting her again—she was glad that he felt comfortable enough to search with her.
Matthew—with his lock-picking abilities—headed up one of the teams while Eoin carried the set of keys that Charlotte had found. It wouldn’t be easy finding the codebook, especially when they didn’t even know how many rooms they would encounter. But they could always stumble across some other damning evidence.
“You lead,” Eoin told Hannah softly as they ducked behind the barrels and crates that obscured the entrance to the rest of the building.
“Are you certain?” Hannah asked nervously.
“Until I met you, I’d never embarked on a real adventure,” Eoin replied. “You have more experience.”
Hannah’s heart squeezed so tightly that she almost reachedup to rub it. She had wanted to fill Eoin’s solitary existence with so much joy. But she’d lost that opportunity.
“Understood.” Hannah’s voice sounded strained even to her own ears, and she busied herself with pulling out the dark lantern that she’d hidden under her skirts. Lighting it, she slipped into the opening, which was only slightly roomier than doorways leading to the circular staircase in Eoin’s boyhood tower.
Along with a ground-floor tunnel that branched off in both directions, there was one set of rickety stairs leading straight up. If Hannah was correct that Jenks had been glancing toward a secret room, then this passage was almost directly opposite it. By Hannah’s calculations, they were currently standing directly under the Horse and Hen’s tavern room. Thus, the steps likely led to the public house. If Hannah wished to reach the Purveyor’s lair, she’d need to remain subterranean. Hannah led her group to the right while Matthew’s team went left.
The air smelled damp and rotten. It wasn’t just mildew but the stench of decay. Hannah had difficulties imagining the spoiled Hugh or Francis scurrying along the smelly corridors in their finest silks and shiny shoe buckles. But someone intelligent enough to run a massive criminal organization would be clever enough to obscure their true nature.
At the thought, an odd sensation whispered through Hannah. “I think we’ve missed something.”
“Pardon?” Eoin asked as he followed close behind her, his pistol in his hand. Her father, mother, and Sophia had also drawn their weapons.
“I feel as if we’ve overlooked something important—or didn’t put the pieces together properly.” Hannah paused to rub at her temples as if that could somehow massage her nascent thoughts into being.
“We’ve got no time, lass,” her father warned. “We’ll discover all the facts soon enough if we find this bastard’s lair.”
It didn’t surprise Hannah how quickly Papa’s anger had transferred from the Aucourte family in general to the Purveyor in particular. The shadowy figure had declared war upon the Black Sheep, and her father was practical enough to believe that any enemy of his enemy was now a friend. But it was more than just necessity. In the carriage ride over with her mother, father, and cousin, Hannah had explained her growing esteem for Eoin. Hannah knew that Papa wouldn’t allow the past to interfere with his daughter’s current happiness.
