Page 98 of The Phantom Duke
She looked aghast, and Damien supposed that he ought to have anticipated the reaction. While his wife was remarkable in so many ways, she was still a lady and of a delicate disposition. “You began imprisoning them?” she asked, putting a hand to her chest. “Taking the law into your own hands.”
“I discovered the cellar, bricked up for years. And inside, I found the cages, more than one. I do not know which of my ancestors used it as a dungeon or why. But it served my purposes.”
“He has been a prisoner for weeks! How long were you going to hold him?”
Damien frowned. “He has not been held for that long. A few weeks at most, and that is but a small penance for his crime, regardless of what the man may say. How did you come to discover the cellars? The stair leading there is kept locked.”
“Ezekiel discovered it.”
“How did he open the door?” Damien asked.
“I do not know. It was open when I got there.”
“It was locked when I left it.”
Icy dread crept through his veins. He knew that the door had been locked, and Ezekiel had not been given a key. How had the young man managed to open the door, and why had he tried? It was impossible for Ezekiel to have expected to find something behind that locked door, wasn’t it?
“This cannot continue, Damien. You do see that? Do you?”
Damien’s answer was drowned by a man’s scream. His head whipped towards the door, and he moved to put himself between her and the door. The sound of a scuffle reached them, two people struggling. Glass broke. There was an angry, sounding grunt, a thud.
“Stay here!” Damien barked, running from the room.
But Maria refused. He was aware of her close behind him as he tore open the door to his rooms. Ezekiel lay propped against the wall, holding his forearm, blood leaking between his fingers.
“Ezekiel!” Maria cried, trying to run to his side.
Damien seized her arm in a steely grip. She struggled to free herself, but Damien was more concerned with the obvious threat. A man lying bleeding alone in a hallway did not reach that point without the intervention of another. He could see no one in either direction, but could hear the sound of someone running, fleeing. He knelt beside Ezekiel.
“Who did this to you?” he asked.
“The prisoner in your cellar. He freed himself and attacked me with a knife,” Ezekiel said.
“How did he free himself?”
“I do not know. I turned my back for a moment and heard the key in the lock. Then he was on me. I ran, and he pursued.”
Maria ran back into Damien’s rooms, gathering up quantities of linen. She came back and selected a piece, pressing it around Ezekiel’s arm.
“You must leave,” Damien said, also going back into his room. “And alert the staff. I will not have anyone left in this house with a dangerous man on the loose. Particularly when I was responsible for making him dangerous.”
“I will not leave either of you.” Maria insisted.
Damien unlocked a cupboard in a corner of his study. Reached inside and came out with a rifle. He grabbed a satchel containing charges and powder and began to load the weapon.
“You will do your duty,” Damien said. “Protect the households that rely upon us for their life and livelihood. Wake them and have them leave the house until I tell you it is safe to return.”
“I cannot leave you!” Maria cried, going to his side, but the rifle came between them.
“Maria, I can protect myself, but the household staff cannot. They need protection from their duke… and their duchess.”
She looked stricken but nodded. “I understand. Ezekiel, come with…”
“I will stand with my brother,” Ezekiel said, getting to his feet, wrapping the linen around his arm.
Damien nodded, reaching into the cupboard and producing a pistol. He handed it to Ezekiel.
“Do you know how to use this?” Damien asked.
