Cinders and Ashes (Cavendish Mysteries 2)

“I swear to God, Ballantyne, this has to stop,” Sebastian demanded wit

h a growl.

“Sebastian.” Amelia wasn’t sure if he heard her, but it gave her strength to know he was nearby. Her gaze locked on him beseechingly.

“Keep your distance, or I will slit her throat,” Ballantyne warned, his voice deadly as he swept around in a circle. “You can then watch your whore die, knowing that not only is she soiled with our seed, but she is dying slowly and painfully.”

Amelia whimpered as her feet landed on the sharp stones on the pathway leading away from the churchyard. She was already numb from the cold, but could feel every stone dig into her bruised flesh with agonising accuracy.

As she was dragged out of the churchyard, she could barely put her feet down. Her weight was too much for Ballantyne to drag. With a curse he picked her up bodily, and ran along the cart track with her, heading away from the village.

Amelia eventually heard the sound of rushing water with a sense of dread.

She began to fight and writhe against him until he dropped her. Her feet had no sooner hit the floor before she was pulled upwards by the hair, and dragged towards a large river running along the side of the track.

The noise of the rushing water flowing fast and furious was deafening. Amelia’s stomach dropped when she was dragged to the edge of the stone outcrop, directly above the raging water.

“Suicide?” Amelia gasped, staring in horror at the gaping darkness below.

“I’ll survive,” Ballantyne replied absently, squinting through the gloom for signs of Sebastian and the others. Within seconds they pounded to a stop a few feet away.

Amelia screamed when she was immediately shoved forwards until she was hanging over raging waters, held by nothing more than her thin shift. The whisper-thin material wasn’t designed to carry her body weight and it began to tear. She frantically clawed at Ballantyne’s arm, trying to gain a secure hold as the material was pulled tight.

“What has Amelia done to you, Ballantyne? She is an innocent party in all of this. Let her go. It’s me you want.” Sebastian’s voice was faint over the roaring of water in her ears.

“It isn’t you either, you buffoon,” Ballantyne spat. “You don’t understand do you? All of my life I have been the second one in the family. My brother was always getting everything. The title. The estates. The wife. The family would always look at me askance. Always picked fault with everything I did. It is all mine by rights. All of it. I shouldn’t be denied it because of a stupid whore!”

“If only Bertram had signed the house over to me, I would have left him alone. All I needed was to get my hands on that bloody letter. It seemed the only way I could get access to the house to look for it, was to buy the bloody place. I tried to pay for it. I offered your idiot uncle a good price, but he refused. I had already got the title and lands from my brother. All I needed to make the empire complete, and safe, was the damned house and its contents. Then you turned up.”

His cynical laugh made Amelia shudder as she swayed over the watery void. The ground beneath her feet began to crumble, and she struggled to gain purchase with her bruised feet.

“So you decided to kill for it,” Sebastian murmured, thinking of his carriage ride that led him to Amelia. “Only it didn’t work, did it? I survived and returned to haunt you.”

“You were lucky. I relied on the wrong person,” Ballantyne spat, wiping spittle off his chin and poking Amelia in the shoulder with the blade he still held at the same time.

Amelia cried out as pain burned in her shoulder, and felt the warm trickle of blood slowly slid over her chest

She turned tear-filled eyes towards Sebastian. She was frozen. The material of her chemise was nearly torn through, and the ground was crumbling beneath her. Her time was close.

Even if she could survive the fall, the icy waters below would be too much. She was going to die.

“Sebastian.” Amelia’s voice trembled with fear and pain.

“Let her go, Ballantyne,” Sebastian ordered, taking off his cloak. “It’s me you want.”

Ballantyne shook his head. “I’m not going to the gallows. If I am going to die, then I will choose the way.”

“Just let her go. I’ll give you the letter and the Penny Dreadful back. Amelia has done nothing to you.” Sebastian knew he was pleading with the man, but at that moment would have done anything to spare Amelia a watery fate.

“It’s too late. You already have the papers. If you had only signed the house over to me, the papers would be mine and I would have left you alone. But oh no, not you. You have to keep the bloody house and uncover everything,” Ballantyne ranted. With a quick glance at Amelia, he smiled smugly and leant backwards.

Amelia felt the weight shift before he began to topple backwards. She instinctively bent over, trying to retain her foothold on the crumbling outcropping, crying out as she began to fall. Somewhere below she heard the loud splash as Ballantyne hit the water.

She was soaked to the skin and frozen. Her fingers wouldn’t work enough to gain purchase, and she began to lose her grip and slide downwards.

Within seconds, Sebastian appeared over the edge.

“Hold on, darling,” he shouted, grabbing hold of her slender wrists, and swearing fiercely.