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Will started. “Then I have to go now.”
“Within the hour if you hope to get into position in time.”
“Where are they meeting? I can leave...” He trailed off, looking at Emily. “I can’t go. I have to escort her back to the palace. Can you go?”
Cal shook his head. “Too many of them know me from my time in Dublin. They know I’m not one of them and that I played a role in the death of their leader. They’ll have a new man now, but if I’m seen in Wapping, they’ll know they’ve been found out.”
“And then they’ll go back into hiding,” Will said. “We won’t know when or where they’ll strike. It could be a month. It could be a year.”
“They’ve already come far too close to taking the life of Her Majesty,” Emily said. “I fear they will succeed if given another chance.”
“I agree. I need to go now. Cal, can you escort her back to Buckingham Palace?”
“Of course.”
“No,” Emily said. “I want to go with you. To Wapping.”
“No,” Will said, appalled at the very idea. He’d thought Emily had more sense than to even suggest such a thing. “Absolutely not.”
“I have to agree, lass—lady,” Cal said.
Emily gave Cal then Will pointed looks. “You said you were sent to find the traitor within the palace.”
“That’s right.” Will nodded.
“Are you certain there is one?”
“Not certain but reasonably sure, yes. The attempts on the queen have been too well-planned to be chance. Someone with access to Her Majesty is giving the separatists information.”
“And if that someone is not me,” Emily continued, “then it stands to reason it’s someone else in the palace. And that someone else might be at this meeting in Wapping today.”
“To be sure,” Cal said. “That’s what we believe.”
“And who do you think knows the Court better than I do?” Emily asked. “You have been at the palace a couple of weeks. I have lived there for two years. I know everyone by sight, if not by name. You need me, Willoughby Galloway.”
Will wanted to argue. He wanted to send her straight back to the safety of the palace walls.
“She has a point, so she does,” Cal said, echoing what Will was thinking. Will saw his error now. He’d been so focusedon Emily that he hadn’t considered someone else in the palace might be the traitor. If that someone else was one of the other ladies-in-waiting or one of the secretaries or ministers, Will would know him or her. But he saw now that was unlikely. What was more likely was that the traitor was a servant—a maid or footman who knew the queen’s plans and could quickly slip out, alert the assassins, and return unnoticed.
Will had been so focused on finding someone who could influence the queen’s plans, someone who could put her in the way of harm, that he hadn’t considered it would be just as easy for a person of no particular rank or position to send word of the plans. It would mean the assassins would have to work quickly to be in place, but it was possible.
“I would recognize a good number of the staff and courtiers,” Will said.
“And you want to stake the life of our monarch on the chance the traitor is someone you will recognize?”
Will knew he had a good eye and a good memory for faces. But he also knew he’d been distracted by Emily ever since he’d arrived at the palace. Could he recall the face of every maid who’d scurried in or out of the palace chambers? Every footman who’d served at dinner?
The truth was, Will couldn’t. He’d watched Emily at dinner. He’d been focused on her when he’d been in those royal chambers. The rest had been noise.
“Tick-tock,” Cal said.
Will made his decision. If nothing else, he could make quick decisions. Usually, he didn’t regret them. He hoped this wasn’t one of the few he did come to regret.
“You can come,” he said to Emily. He took her arm and pulled her out of her seat.
She blinked at him, seeming not to believe this was actually happening. “What, now?”
“Now.” He held out a hand and Cal put the letter he’d taken from the Innishfree man in his grip. Will tucked it in his waistcoat, grabbed his hat, and started away, Emily in tow.
