Cinders and Ashes (31 page)

His
blows were harder; his parries longer. He let his demons loose.
With a low snarl, he countered each blow Ballantyne struck with
dexterous ease, pleased when the tip of his blade scored along the
man’s shoulder, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

Ballantyne stared down in disbelief at his shoulder before
turning his gaze back to Sebastian.

“
Tell the others to move back,” he spat, chest heaving with
exertion from wielding the heavy sword for such a long time. “Tell
them, or I kill her.” The tip of his sabre disappeared behind a
large gravestone.

Sebastian heard Amelia’s whimper before she was grabbed by
the hair and dragged to her feet. He swore fluidly at the
bedraggled sight of her.

Her hair
was loosely hanging down around her shoulders and wildly tangled,
barely covering her modesty. The abject terror in her eyes nearly
unmanned him.

Sebastian was vaguely aware of his brothers moving out of the
way, to allow Ballantyne to edge sideways towards the entrance,
dragging a reluctant Amelia with him.

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

“
We’ve got you, Sebastian,” Dominic shouted.
“Pull!”

But
Amelia was too cold, and too wet, and began to slide through his
grip.

Sebastian’s eyes met and held hers in a breathless moment, as
she gazed helplessly up at him. She knew she was slipping and he
wouldn’t be able to save her. The realisation shone in her eyes as
she stared up at him.

“
I love you, Sebastian,” she whispered, hoping he could hear
her over the rushing water. “I want you to know that I will never
regret anything that happened between us. I didn’t want you to be
tied into an unhappy marriage to a woman you cannot love.” Despite
her dire situation, Amelia needed him to understand.

“
Don’t you give up on me,” Sebastian ordered, watching with
horror as she slipped lower, until only their fingers were joined.
“I need to be lower, I’m dropping her,” he shouted, but was too
late. He stared in horror as Amelia’s fear-filled face disappeared
into the black void below. Her scream of terror ended abruptly with
a huge splash.

Silence
settled over them for several seconds as everyone froze.

“
Sweet mother of God,” Dominic swore from behind
him.

“
There she is,” Edward shouted, as he pointed downstream at
the glimmer of white appeared briefly in the raging
waters.

“
She may still be alive,” Peter yelled, as he took off after
Edward. They all ran downstream until they drew near to Amelia’s
floating body.

Without
hesitation, Sebastian dived into the murky waters, popping up mere
feet away. It took all of his strength to reach her against the
strong current, only just managing to capture her ankle and tug her
towards him as the waters threatened to pull him under.

He
gasped as his hand came into contact with her icy flesh. She felt
colder than the water she was floating in. He managed to turn her
over and get her face out of the water before turning back toward
the bank.

The next
few minutes were a battle for both of their lives, as he kicked and
fought to reach safe ground. The men on the bank formed a human
chain, each holding on to the other as they pulled and heaved
Sebastian and Amelia to the safety of the dry bank.

Sebastian was shivering more with fear than cold as he hauled
Amelia’s body onto the bank, quickly covering her over with the
thick cloak Edward handed him.

“
We have to get her warm,” Dominic panted, lying on the ground
beside them for a few moments as he tried to get his
breath.

Unable
to speak, Sebastian merely nodded and swept Amelia into his arms.
He took off towards the graveyard at a near run, heading towards
his horse.

At first
he couldn’t get into the saddle. It took too many precious minutes
before he was mounted with Amelia perched precariously before him.
Panic blurred his thoughts and it was only when he was mounted that
he cursed. There was nowhere but Tingdale to go, and that was at
least two hours away.

The cool
winds whipped around them in raging fury, as he kicked his mount
into a fast gallop, and took off across the fields towards
Tingdale. She was so deathly pale. Her tangled and sodden hair hung
lifelessly around her still shoulders. Her lips were a pale blue.
She wasn’t even shivering.

“
Is she breathing?” Dominic shouted, as they galloped past the
roaring bulk of the burning house.

“
Just,” Sebastian replied. “But we have to get her
warm.”

“
If we each take it in turns to ride with her in front of us,
we can share the burden of two riders and spare the horses. We will
get there faster.”

Sebastian didn’t stop to consider what had happened to Peter
and Edward who weren’t following them.

They
were so intent on racing Amelia to warmth and safety, that none of
them remembered Rat, who was lying in the burning embers of the
house he had torched.

Later
that afternoon, Sebastian watched the doctor disappear through the
gates at the end of the driveway with a sigh, and turned back to
stare at Amelia.

Although
she had woken up earlier, she was suffering from extreme cold and
exhaustion. The doctor had stitched the cut on her shoulder, left a
tisane and some laudanum for her battered feet, and ordered
complete bed rest.

Sebastian quietly sat beside the bed, and dropped his head
into his hands.

He
couldn’t remember much about the journey home. He could vaguely
remember stopping several times while he and Dominic swapped her
from horse to horse, but arriving home remained a horrifying
blur.

He had
no sooner placed Amelia on the bed in his suite, than a steady
precession of maids had come and gone. They had dried and dressed
her in a clean night rail, before packing the bed with hot bricks
and blankets. No sooner had they left, than the doctor had arrived
and pushed him out of the room.

While
pacing the floor of the library helplessly, Edward and Peter had
arrived. They had brought news about Ballantyne, who was now
sitting in the cellar of the tavern awaiting the magistrate and his
men.

Covered
in smoky grime, Peter had fallen into an exhausted heap on the
chair beside the fire and reported that someone had noticed the
fire and summoned the villagers. Despite their best efforts, the
house was beyond help and had been raised to the ground. While
banking down the embers, Ratchett’s body had been found.

“
Sebastian?” Amelia turned her head. Her heart sank at the
sight of him sitting with his head in his hands beside her. “What’s
wrong?”

Sebastian’s head snapped up. He stared nonplussed at her; as
though he couldn’t believe she was awake. Visibly shaking, he
immediately went to move towards her, but had second thoughts and
sat back down in the chair with a thump.

“
Amelia,” he whispered, staring lovingly at her for several
moments as silence stretched before them. His eyes were filled with
longing, hope and regret as he studied her pale face lovingly. He
coughed uncomfortably around the lump in his throat.

“
How do you feel?”

Amelia
considered for a moment, doing a mental inventory from head to foot
before frowning. “Sore,” she declared firmly, thinking of the state
of her feet.

Sebastian winced and frowned in concern. “I am so sorry. So
very, very sorry,” he whispered mournfully.

“
It wasn’t your fault.”