Hour Glass
791 Words
‘You should leave Emily,’ Oscar said.
Night had come once again and a dark night it chose to be. Three carriages arrived at Westminster castle with men in dark suits and rifles. They spread out and disappeared into the darkness, within the trees and through the statues.
‘I can’t leave you here alone!’ Emily shut the curtains.
She pushed a chair against the door. She paced the length of the room. Her nails suffered the consequences of her nerves.
‘They’re here for you. Who knows the arrangement Ella made with them?’
‘What about you?’ Emily gripped his bony hands.
‘I’ve lived my life. Go live yours. If Elton is like his father, he won’t want a thing to do with you, but I believe the boy has a good heart.’
Footsteps sounded like crackers going off in the house. Oscar pressed her palm to his mouth.
‘Go now, be happy. I’ll be fine. Push the bookcase there’s a tunnel that’ll take you to the pond. Find your way out.’
The onrushing men were seconds away. Emily heaved the bookcase to the side, revealing a hole in the wall. She blew her father a kiss. There were to be no tears, he had to know she would be strong. The double doors burst in. Emily failed to close the bookcase all the way. She ran straight in the darkness.
Liam was the one who arranged for a private group of men to dispense of her. Emily was the final obstacle in Ella’s plans. Now that Ella knew Emily was illegitimate getting rid of her was made a whole lot easier. Emily had no claim to Oscar’s fortune, no title. No one would commiserate with her.
When Emily emerged from a tunnel of darkness that seemed to have no end. She was greeted by the beam of a silver moon. That was when the music started. What waited beyond the castle? Life of madness and adventure. On the run from a race that’ll never be won not until the madman stops singing.
‘Agrona, what are you doing?’
Emily spotted Agrona wabbling out of the stall.
‘I’m going inside, I can’t stay here forever besides I have to get back to work.’
She was the only one who refused to leave. Emily steered her back into the stall and closed the door.
‘You have to stay here and be quiet. Ella sent some men to remove me from the house. I don’t them to hurt you.’
‘Goodness, what are you going to do?’
‘I have to go away for a while Agrona. I can’t stay even if I wanted.’
Agrona held her against her chest.
‘This will always be your home no matter what a piece of paper says.’
***
Liam poured a half glass of whiskey for Ella. He had never seen a woman drink so much. If he wasn’t married to Amelia and Ella obsessed with Elton, he might have considered marrying her. Then again, she did frighten him.
‘Yes, dear Ella, as we speak your sister is being extracted.’ Liam chuckled.
‘I don’t ever want to see that bastard’s face.’ Ella lifted the glass to her red painted lips.
‘Don’t worry about that. They’ll take her to an insane asylum in London. We’ll never hear from her again.’
‘Perfect. Let her become a ghost of a memory.’
‘Cheers to that! And my title that I’ll love to acquire before the wedding.’
Ella chuckled and set the glass down, ‘Liam darling. You will be rewarded handsomely, though the matter of the title is mere impossible.’
‘What? We had a deal!’
Ella laughed. ‘I can’t make Elton give up his titles. Besides, he was never meant to inherit any seats from my father or his title. I do admit the offer for Elton to take up the Hamilton last name and then inherit my father’s title was present, but Elton denied it.’
‘You evil witch! The only way I get a title now is if Elton dies. I will ruin you, Ella!’
Ella laughed all the way to the door. Liam’s blood was in between simmering and freezing.
‘You can’t ruin me without destroying yourself. You gave me the poison that killed Harris. You planned an attempted murder on my sister way before then. Do you see how that sounds? You’re obsessed with your brother’s title. I can simply pin this all on you.’
‘You horrible, horrible person.’
‘Oh, it isn’t my fault you were born unlucky.’
Ella graced Liam with her most elegant smile before leaving him in his own mess. She had a party to attend to.
- Writer
