Page 84 of An Extraordinary Lord

“Of course,” Clayton drawled. “So Liggett brought you into his plans, gave you a closet full of money, and sent you out to recruit men to lead the riots while he convinced Whitehall to put him in charge of putting them down.”

Her belligerent silence confirmed his assumption.

“And now he’s planning one last riot tomorrow night to unleash his soldiers against the mob. Why?”

“Because this country’s leadership is weak and spoiled, and when Liggett puts down the rioters, he will prove that he’s a better man than the regent. That he’s a strong, natural-born leader who cares about protecting England.” Her eyes flared with a light in their depths that was almost fanatical in its intensity. “Because something needed to happen to make the government wake up and do what’s best for England.”

“Doing what’s best for England is arranging for soldiers to slaughter their own countrymen?” Merritt challenged angrily, unable to keep his silence. “Is that what this whole plot is about—for Liggett to arrange for a riot tomorrow night simply so he can fire upon them? For God’s sake, he’ll slaughter them!”

“Didn’t the same thing happen during the wars?” she shot back. “Generals starting battles in which our soldiers were fired upon? The slaughter of Englishmen for the greater good?”

Veronica squeezed Merritt’s hand for him to keep his silence. No matter how much they despised this woman, they needed the information she possessed.

Miss Jones pinned her gaze on Merritt. “Too many good men died in the wars, and for what—to preserve the English way of life?” she mocked. “So the same royal leeches and aristocrats could remain in power? So they could continue to make their fortunes on the backs of the poor who work themselves to exhaustion just to afford a loaf of bread? From where the rest of us sit, that way of life isn’t worth preserving. Social and political upheaval is the only way for people like me to rise.”

Veronica grimaced. She was certainly telling the truth aboutthat.

“But you’re wrong about the riots. The last one isn’t planned for tomorrow. It’s scheduled for this morning, just before dawn, while all those European princes are still in town and can see how weak our regent is, how mad our monarch.” With a vengeful smile, she leaned back in the chair. “And you’re too late to stop it.”

Twenty-two

“So what’s our plan?” Merritt called out to Pearce and Clayton as the loud jangle of the Armory’s iron doors announced their arrival.

They were back where they’d started. Back at the Armory, back to trying to find a way to stop the riots.

Except that now, Veronica was no longer the enemy.

His gaze flicked to her as she stood at the massive fireplace and stirred up the coals for the light and warmth a fire would provide. He wanted her here because he wanted her to be part of the planning and because he wanted her at his side for however tonight would eventually play out. But mostly because she wasn’t safe anywhere else. That was why they’d left Miss Jones’s town house as soon as they’d learned of Liggett’s plans, before Clayton had even finished interrogating the woman—to put their men into place. Even now, men were guarding his father’s house, and a messenger had been sent to the Court of Miracles to tell Filipe to put more men on watch. Merritt would protect the people he cared about tonight, no matter what he had to do to ensure it.

Pearce and Clayton exchanged concerned glances as they strode into the room, with Pearce going directly to the sideboard and its waiting bottles of liquor.

“Miss Jones admitted who’s been giving money to Liggett to fund the riots.” Clayton stopped in front of Merritt, his haggard face grim. Merritt knew before he’d spoken the name—“Scepter.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Veronica interjected and returned the poker to its stand. “From what Merritt’s told me, Scepter wants a controlled revolution.” She walked slowly toward the men. “Yet riots are the exact opposite of that. They’re unpredictable.”

“But bringing in soldiers isn’t,” Clayton countered. “That’s their endgame. Not the riots and the civil unrest they cause but the show of strength in putting them down.”

“All the credit for the success of it given to Liggett,” Merritt added.

“And all the blame for doing nothing placed squarely onto the regent,” Pearce finished.

“We learned something else from Miss Jones.” Clayton passed a grim look between Merritt and Veronica. “Liggett sent those men to kill you because he realized you were on his trail, and he didn’t want anything to interfere with his plans.”

Merritt didn’t look at Veronica, doing his best to hide all traces of his worry and concern for her. “That’s why they all had the same symbol…the pin, the tattoos, the pendant—they were all in league with Liggett.”

“They were all in league with Scepter,” Clayton clarified. “We think the key is the group’s symbol, like a secret password they use for immediate recognition of one another.”

“The keys to the kingdom, that’s what Liggett called it,” Veronica murmured. “I thought it was a religious reference.”

“Not religion,” Clayton corrected. “Revolution.”

Merritt’s blood turned to ice. “This means Scepter has infiltrated the military.”

“The military, the Home Office, Parliament…” Clayton blew out a harsh breath. “We can’t assume anything is out of their reach.”

“Except the monarchy,” Pearce muttered from the other side of the room as he raised his glass to take a sip.

Merritt turned to stare at him as an icy revelation struck him. “The monarchy—the regent,” Merritt muttered. “That’s what we keep hearing from the members of Scepter we’ve managed to find so far. That the regent is weak and corrupt, the monarch mad.”