“Lock the door immediately,” Lord Franks said, firmly. “Do not permit your brother to exit.”
Carolyn swallowed hard, seeing the hard look in Lord Franks’ eyes. “I will take the key from the lock,” she said, her voice shaking with a mixture of shock and sheer emotion. She held his gaze for a moment, drawing strength from him. “Do you think he will tell us everything?”
Lord Franks nodded. “I do,” he said, brusquely. “Now, if you please, Lady Callander.”
“Who is it you are speaking to, Carolyn?” Lord Hamilton’s voice was louder now, clearly irritated, just as Lady Callander turned the key. “Explain….”
Carolyn pulled the door open and stepped to one side, allowing her brother to walk into the room. She saw his eyes flare but did not hesitate. Pushing the door shut, she turned the key, heard the click of the lock and then tugged it from the keyhole.
Her brother began to tremble almost at once. His eyes rounded, a look of horror in his expression as he turned back to glance at her.
“We have found him,” Carolyn said, coming to stand next to her brother and forcing herself to speak with as much firmness as she could. “You must tell us everything, Hamilton. It is the only way.”
Her brother took in the scene but said nothing. She came to stand to his right, seeing his eyes resting on the man in the chair, flicking to the knife and then going up to first Lord Millerton and then to Lord Franks.
“I presume he has told you about Miss Swift,” Lord Hamilton said, his voice hoarse and tight with despair. “Has he not?”
Carolyn blinked, entirely confused. She looked towards Lady Callander and then to Lord Millerton, who both looked just as she felt,
only to see Lord Franks’ expression change from one of anger to one of awareness.
“Miss Swift?” she said, looking from one to the other. “Who was she?”
Lord Franks cleared his throat, looking pointedly at Lord Hamilton. “She was my betrothed,” he said, a frown beginning to lower his brows. “I had an arrangement with her father. However, without any particular explanation, I found myself without a bride and without a wedding.” His eyes narrowed as they rested on Lord Hamilton. “And are you trying to tell me that you are the reason for the end of my engagement?”
Carolyn stared at her brother, expecting him to refute it at once, only to see him hang his head in shame. “Hamilton,” she breathed, taking a step forward and putting her hand on his arm, despite the horror that filled her. “But you are already wed!”
“To a wane, dull creature who does nothing but take every bit of joy from me and replace it with despair!” he cried, his expression wretched as he turned to her. “I was invited to a house party and discovered Miss Swift there. She…she did not know I was wed. Indeed, I did not inform her of it and made it clear to those who knew me that I did not wish to discuss my wife.” He looked away. “I was much too free with my affections, I grant you, but I truly did care for her.”
Lord Franks’ frown remained as Carolyn dropped her hand, a mixture of compassion and disgust washing through her. Lady Hamilton was precisely as her brother described, but that was no excuse for him to behave as he had done.
“And her father discovered you?” Lord Franks asked, as Lord Hamilton nodded, clearly too wretched to speak. “Which explains not only the end of my betrothal but her swift marriage to another.”
Again, Carolyn felt the swirl of revulsion rise up within her as her brother nodded again, his head lowering. It was clear that he was deeply ashamed of what he had done - but Carolyn felt no compassion or sympathy for him. Instead, she felt a deep anger, resonating loudly within her, burning right through her core and up into her heart.
“Then why, might I ask,” Lord Franks continued, taking a step away from the man in the chair, “did you attempt to destroy the League?”
Carolyn held her breath, half expecting her brother to launch into an explanation as to why he had done so many terrible things but, to her shock, he simply crumpled.
Stepping back, he half fell, half sat into a chair, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. The man in the chair snorted in evident disgust but Lord Millerton pressed the knife blade a little closer to the man’s throat and the sound died away almost at once.
Lord Franks said nothing for a moment or two. Then, without a glance towards Carolyn or to Lady Callander, he stepped forward, grasped Lord Hamilton’s shoulder and forced him to look up.
“Speak,” he grated, his eyes blazing with barely repressed fury, his body tight with tension as Carolyn forced herself to remain exactly where she was. “I must know the truth.”
“I….” Lord Hamilton’s voice was breaking with emotion—although Carolyn feared that it was nothing more than self-pity for all that he had done. “I did not want to do as he told me, but he said if I did not, he would tell you all. He threw her locket at me, the one I had given her as a gift. I knew then that he spoke the truth when he said he knew all.”
Lord Franks let go of Lord Hamilton’s shoulder. “And you feared you would be found out?” he asked, an incredulous sound in his voice. “Is that what motivated you?”
Lord Hamilton shut his eyes as Lady Callander came to stand beside Carolyn, her hand looping around Carolyn’s arm.
“Yes,” Lord Hamilton whispered. “I did not want all that I have done to come to light.”
Lord Franks turned away, his eyes darting from place to place as he tried to take a hold of his anger and upset. Carolyn did not know what to say, a little relieved that her brother had not willingly done such dreadful things but, at the same time, repulsed to know how weak his character had been.
“What were you told to do, Hamilton?” she asked, unable to keep her questions to herself any longer. “And who asked you to do so?”
Her brother attempted to lift his gaze to hers but did not quite manage, such was his shame. “I—I do not know,” he said, miserably. “I have never seen his face. I have met this fellow here, as well as another man –”