Bring Forth a Fire (Book 1)

Sixteen - Poisoned Words

I had no time to process everything that was happening. I seemed to be pulled in three different directions, none of which seemed favourable. And none gave me a sign of which way I should choose.

Then one chilly morning, Lowell came in with an envelope on a salver. "Milady, a telegram for you. From the Order."

Grandmother regarded me curiously, but she said nothing.

"Thank you, Lowell." I took the envelope and the silver letter opener, seeing he was right – the Order's seal jumped out at me right away.

But its contents arrested my train of thought immediately. Urgent STOP, it said. Father dead STOP Need to see you immediately STOP Have to talk to you STOP Naturals blamed STOP Namely Huntley STOP Sincerely Christopher FULL STOP

A numbness spread from my legs and up, rooting me to the spot. Mr Wellington was dead? How was that possible? And killed by Huntley? What did that mean for the Order?

"Emma, darling." Grandmother's voice came from far away. "Whatever is the matter? You've gone white as a sheet."

I stood up, not even feeling that my body was my own. "I need to go to the Order," I heard myself say.

"What? Now? At this hour?" Grandmother squinted at me. "And so suddenly too?"

I nodded. I could have let her read the telegram, but it seemed irrelevant at this point.

She sighed. "Well, then, I'll ask Reid to hitch up the carriage. It must be urgent business, then?"

"Yes, Grandmother. Very urgent." I gathered my skirts in my hands and hurried out and up the stairs, to fetch my coat and hat. I didn't even summon Sophie, because the time I spent waiting for her would be time I was not on my way to the Order.

Reid was out front by the time I got back downstairs, and I gave him my destination as I practically leaped inside. This changed everything we knew about the relationship between Huntley and Mr Wellington. Men who called themselves friends that suddenly turned on one another hinted at something deeply wrong.

It took less than twenty minutes. Reid was rapping on the roof of the carriage in seemingly no time at all. "The Order, Miss Emma."

I climbed out before he even had a chance to get out of the driver's seat. "Thank you, Reid. Thank you."

I didn't even hear him reply as I tripped up the front steps and burst through the double doors at the top. It was humming as usual, harried young men rushing about with stacks of paper under their arms. I caught the first one I came across and asked the way to Mr Wellington's study. He seemed flustered at first, but eventually managed to point me up to the first floor.

From there, I had to ask two more of them before I found the familiar dark wood door with the brass knob. I turned it without knocking and found myself immediately wrapped in a tight embrace, caught completely by surprise.

"You got my telegram." Christopher's voice was muffled by my shoulder.

"Yes, of course," I said as soon as he had let me go. "I came as soon as I read it. Your father...I'm so sorry, Christopher."

"He was ambushed, Emma." He took my face in his hands, his green eyes searching it worriedly. "He got an urgent call and the Naturals attacked his coach on the road en route. I believe it was a trap all along."

"By the sound of it, yes." I took one of his hands, gently squeezing it. Huntley was certainly not above that sort of thing.

"What am I supposed to do? Father left me no instruction whatsoever." He let go of me and began to pace the room, running his hands through his hair. "I doubt he even expected he would need to give me any."