Jonathan stopped cold once they reached a landing.
“Why should I walk right back into the snare of the men who sent me into this nightmare?” he demanded in a whisper. “Are they planning to kill me the way Hammond, their brother, killed the constable and his men?”
The stairwell was nearly completely dark, but there was just enough light coming in through a window to see the seriousness in Thomas’s eyes.
“Brutus and Titus were wrong not to explain everything to you,” Thomas said. “But they wanted you to have plausible deniability if everything fell apart.”
“Not good enough,” Jonathan said, leaning threateningly toward Thomas. “Why should I trust you about anything? I do not even know if you are one of them or one of Hammond’s lackeys.”
Thomas huffed impatiently. “I am a member of The Zagreus Den,” he said. “There isn’t time to explain more.”
“Explain some, then,” Jonathan growled, refusing to go farther.
Even in the dark, it was clear Thomas was frustrated. “Yes, it is true. Hammond is Brutus and Titus’s brother,” he snapped. “The three of them grew up on the streets of East London, lying and cheating and whoring to survive. They were successful at all of that and made something of themselves. They created what would later become The Zagreus Den, but Hammond was greedy and selfish. Brutus and Titus are criminals, yes, but they do not keep the profits of their sins. They have only ever wanted to help the people of the world they were raised in.
“Hammond is selfish and evil,” Thomas went on, gesturing for Jonathan and Charlie to keep moving, as if the continuation of the story was the carrot he used to get them to follow. “Hethinks of nothing but power and wealth. Brutus and Titus have sworn to stop him, but that does not mean they are saints.”
“They sent me to battle a criminal and made me a criminal in the process,” Jonathan hissed as they neared the bottom of the stairs.
There were two doors in the landing at the bottom, one that must have led into the servants’ hall and one that would take them outside. Thomas put his hand on the handle of the door that would take them outside.
“You were already a criminal,” he told Jonathan, surprised Jonathan did not already see that. “Or did you think that the authorities in London would simply laugh off your pornography and disregard the fact that the majority of the young men whose images you have circulated have gone missing?”
Cold dread and regret knotted heavily in Jonathan’s stomach. “I did not know,” he said.
“Did not know that distributing salacious images of young men you’d plucked off the street was illegal?” Thomas asked.
Jonathan remained silent.
Thomas stared at him for a few more seconds before pulling open the door and gesturing for Jonathan and Charlie to follow him outside.
To Jonathan’s surprise, a carriage was waiting only a few yards away from that door, which let out into one of the side gardens. The carriage looked completely out of place against the nighttime backdrop of rose bushes and hedges.
“You do not have to be a part of any of this,” Thomas said as he led them to the carriage, where the driver was waiting beside the door. “Albert here will take you wherever you wish to go. You could return to London, escape to the north or west, or you could take a ship to anywhere in the world. But the odds of Hammond catching up to you are high.”
Jonathan winced, reaching for Charlie’s hand.
“Or you can go to The Zagreus Den as soon as possible,” Thomas went on. “You can explain what transpired here to Brutus and Titus. They will not be surprised. You can give them the photographs I know you still carry with you, and you can ask them for shelter. They will give it. The choice is yours.”
It was not much of a choice at all. Despite the cool calm of the Wiltshire countryside and the quiet around them, Jonathan was as close to death as he’d ever been.
“We’ll take the carriage for now,” he said, ushering Charlie forward into the carriage. “I do not know what we will do from here.”
“Fair enough,” Thomas said with a nod, helping Jonathan climb into the carriage and making certain their bags were settled. “If I can send the rest of your belongings after you, I will.”
Jonathan nodded tightly, sinking into the darkened seat.
“What will you do?” Charlie asked in a tremulous voice, leaning forward so he could see Thomas.
Thomas smiled at him. “Don’t you worry about me, boy,” he said with a wink. “I’m cleverer than the lot of them in there.” He gestured with his thumb back to the house. “Go now. I’ve advised Albert to keep driving through the night before dropping you at a train station. It’s best you keep moving, and that you move in unexpected ways so that Hammond does not know how to follow you.”
Jonathan nodded again, glad to have a plan, but not feeling better because of it.
“Thank you,” Charlie whispered as Thomas stepped forward to shut the door.
A pinch of guilt hit Jonathan’s chest. He should have thanked Thomas for saving their lives as well, but he was not yet convinced they’d actually been saved.
Chapter Twenty
