Wickham’s response was a deranged sound filled with rage and disappointment spouting from the depths of madness. “Knowledge? Scholarship? I need money, not dusty manuscripts!” He rushed to the corridor from the chamber and swung his torch, its flame reaching close to the first shelf filled with dried fragments of papyrus and parchment.
One spark would not only destroy the last vestiges of ancient knowledge, but it would trap the six of them, the only way out being past Wickham and his armed cohorts. “Stop!” Darcy yelled.
But it was too late. Wickham moved with calculated cruelty, tossing his torch onto a shelf. The acrid stench of burning papyrus hit everyone even before they saw the flames. Ancient scrolls curled and blackened, dissolving into ash and smoke that stung their eyes and seared their throats.
“No!” Bennet stumbled toward the corridor, his hands reaching desperately for manuscripts already consumed.
In the midst of the confusion, Elizabeth was jerked away from Darcy and then backward with such violence that her torch flew from her grasp, clattering across the stone floor. The sight of a pistol barrel pressed against her temple sent ice through Darcy’s heart.
“Let her go!” he yelled, moving forward. Wickham’s men aimed their guns at him, and he was forced to stop.
“How perfect this is,” Wickham hissed through the smoky air, his grip visibly tightening on Elizabeth’s throat as she struggled against his hold. “Precious Darcy is forced to choose between duty to the professor or to her.”
He watched helplessly as the cold metal pressed harder against her skull and saw terror written in every line of her as smoke began to choke the chamber. “Let her go!” The words tore from him as he again stepped forward, only to freeze when Wickham’s accomplices turned their guns toward Richard. The firelight cast demonic shadows across them. Without a doubt, he knew they would shoot to kill.
“Stay back, or I will put a bullet through her prettyhead,” Wickham snarled, dragging Elizabeth backward toward the collapsing entrance.
Elizabeth’s chest rose and fell in short, panicked gasps. Her fingers clawed at Wickham’s arm around her throat, and Darcy’s own breathing become ragged as he watched in horror. Around them, the ancient chamber was an inferno. Flaming fragments of parchment drifted through the air like deadly snow. Heat pressed against Darcy. Through the haze, he could see Elizabeth’s fear.
“Choose, Darcy,” Wickham called out with savage glee, his voice rising above the roar of the flames. “Your cousin? Or her?”
Richard snarled, “You vile dastard! Should you kill me, know that I will haunt you for the rest of your miserable life.”
Tears streamed down Elizabeth’s cheeks. Through the smoke and chaos, her eyes found Darcy’s. He saw, not only fear, but the devastating understanding that he would be forced to lose his closest friend to save her life.
Wickham’s maniacal laughter filled the chamber. Elizabeth cried out in pain. Agony spiked through Darcy at the sound.
“Choose quickly or lose everything!”
“Elizabeth,” Darcy’s voice broke as he looked at her beloved face, now streaked with tears and soot. “I cannot live without you.”
Both choices meant betraying someone who mattered deeply to him. Richard was his brother in all but blood, his companion from his infancy, the one family member who understood him. But Elizabeth was his future, his heart, everything he hoped to become.
Wickham sneered. “You have cost me everything,Darcy! Everything! It is time you lost something?someone?important to you. You choose.”
“Save her!” Richard barked repeatedly. “Save Elizabeth.”
“No! Keep Richard alive. You need him.” Elizabeth could barely get the words out.
Darcy’s gaze moved from Elizabeth’s resolute bearing to Richard’s determination, then back to Wickham.
“Choose? You misunderstand the situation, Wickham. I choose both! That is what a man does when he loves.” His stare never wavered from his tormentor. “You still do not understand, do you? You think forcing me to make this choice proves your power? It only reveals your fundamental weakness. A man who threatens innocents to feel significant is nothing more than a coward with a weapon,” Darcy spat the words. “You say you have suffered degradation, but look at yourself. Reduced to threatening women and hiding behind hired thugs because you lack the courage to face me as a man.”
“You know nothing!” Wickham yelled.
“I know you squandered every advantage my father lavished upon you. Here you stand?a failure who is only capable of destroying what others build.” The flames crackled around them, but Darcy’s words carried through the smoke-filled chamber. “Which of us is lacking, Wickham? The man who refuses to abandon his principles even in the face of death, or the one who sold his soul for revenge?”
For a moment, Wickham’s mask of control slipped, revealing the desperate man beneath. His grip on the pistol trembled as Darcy’s words found their mark,exposing all the weaknesses that had led to this confrontation.
“You will not play your games with me,” Darcy said firmly. “I am not the villain in your twisted narrative simply because you need someone to blame for your own choices. Therefore, I choose to hold you fully accountable for everything you do here today. That ismyfinal choice.”
Wickham backed toward the exit, dragging Elizabeth, who continued to fight against his iron grip. Her boots scraped against the stone floor, and Darcy lunged forward desperately. She disappeared into the dark passageway with the wretch, her scream echoing in the smoke-filled air. He heard Richard’s shout over the roar of the flames as the two thugs pulled the beams at the chamber opening until they collapsed in Darcy’s path, leaving him and the others with no way out.
Only a miracle would save them.
“There!” Richard pointed toward the far wall, where the firelight revealed inconsistencies in the stonework. “That wall cannot be solid.”
The four men and Mrs. Bell hurled themselves against the stones again and again, the smoke weakening their efforts by the second. The ancient mortar at last gave way under their combined assault, revealing a narrow passage sealed for centuries. Stale air rushed through the opening, carrying the hope of escape and life.
