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Suspicion had clouded his glare.
“My apologies, sir,” I stammered, “but I confess that your brandy is not to the caliber you deserve. I found it in the servant’s cellar. It’s hardly meant for a tongue as noble as yours.”
“I know a quality brandy when I taste one.” He studied me. “What is your name, young lady?”
Before I could answer with my false name, the doorknob under my hand shifted and the door pressed against my back, bumping me forward. My clutch fell to the floor.
I shoved against it, pressing harder, gripping the knob with both hands.
Pearce looked at me with rising suspicion.
All at once, the door flew open, shoving me forward.
I looked back, sure that I’d been found out.
Cait and Lachlan rushed through the doorway and shut it behind them.
“What—” I started, at a loss for words.
Pearce backed up, distancing himself from them, still holding the brandy glass.
I swooped in and grabbed it before he could take another deadly sip, then set the glass on the floor so I’d have my hands free to stop whatever Cait planned to do.
“Get a chair,” Cait said to Lachlan, hardly looking at me. “Secure the door!”
Lachlan, his left arm bound in a sling, used his right hand to prop a heavy chair firmly underneath the doorknob.
Pearce observed the odd actions with fear in his eyes. He squinted at Lachlan. “I know you. You’re the heir’s so-called rescuer. What is the meaning of this?”
I desperately wanted to know the same thing, but I could only assume Cait was here to take the murder upon herself. She must’ve known I’d fail.
I spun, facing Cait. “You shouldn’t be here.”
She closed in on Pearce, pulling a black gun from her clutch and pointing it toward him. She must’ve brought the weapon from my house without me knowing.
“Don’t shoot!” I said, trying to keep my voice down. “Everyone will hear.”
“Against the wall,” said Cait, her voice low and urgent as she stepped forward, gun steadfastly pointed at her target.
Pearce obeyed, raising his hands and retreating until his back was against the wood-paneled wall.
“What are youdoing?” I asked.
She ignored me and spoke to Pearce instead. “If you shout or try to run, I will shoot you without hesitation. Understand?”
“Yes,” he said, licking his lips with a confused expression, one shaky hand reaching up to touch them.
If it had been anyone but Cait, I would’ve already pulled out my knife to stop her, but she was someone I could never hurt—even if she ignored me, even if she opposed me.
“Tell me how to find the Academy’s hidden arsenal and I’ll spare your life,” she said. “Otherwise, every bit of knowledge you’ve collected in that admirable brain of yours will become part of the wallpaper.”
“The arsenal?” I said out loud.
“Just trust me,” said Cait.
I’d been sure she was trying to help me do a job I didn’t want to do, but it seemed putting Graham on the throne wasn’t hergoal. Clearly, she had her own agenda motivated by her strange obsession with a pile of weapons. I didn’t trust her at all.
“This is cruel,” I hissed.
