Rise of the Arcane Fire (The Secret Order) by Bailey Kristin

Author:Bailey, Kristin [Bailey, Kristin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2014-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

PETER WAS RATHFORD’S HEIR. DEAR Lord, Peter was Rathford’s heir. After the fire, Rathford had taken me in under the guise of hiring me as a maid. In truth, he’d been trying to force me to use my grandfather’s key to help him gain access to the time machine he had invented and hidden in the ruins of an old castle in Yorkshire. All he had wanted was to go back and prevent a terrible tragedy, but he hadn’t been considering the impact his time travel would have had on the world as we knew it. My grandfather and a handful of others locked away the time machine so only my grandfather’s key could reveal it.

I had had to stop Rathford by any means possible.

It was my hand that had shattered the heart of the time machine. I’d played no small part in Lord Rathford’s destruction.

I was responsible for the death of a member of Peter’s family, and worse—I knew Rathford had been given the Black Mark even though it was Lord Strompton who had truly deserved it. I didn’t understand. By rights, Peter shouldn’t have been part of the Order.

This was what the headmaster had meant when he’d said that Peter had a motive for sabotage.

Revenge.

I was hardly aware of movement. I couldn’t even look at Peter, too overcome by my shock and horror.

“Leave, Samuel,” Peter demanded, his boots sounding heavy as he ascended the stairs along the gallery benches. I couldn’t help watching the confrontation from my position at the center of the hall.

“Why should I?” Samuel pulled a timepiece out of his waistcoat and wound it with casual disinterest. “I have as much a right to be here as any.” He tucked the watch back into his pocket and crossed his arms.

“Because if you don’t leave now, I cannot guarantee you’ll pass through that door with all your teeth,” Peter responded.

Even from my vantage at the bottom of the stair, Peter seemed larger, more powerful than I’d ever seen him. Samuel still towered over him by half a head. He sized Peter up, then straightened his cuffs as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “Enjoy your evening,” he said as he bowed his head at me in a condescending way.

With that, he left, going along the walkway behind the top row of gallery seats and heading toward the corridor that led to the courtyard.

Peter looked pale as he descended once more to the floor of the gallery. “Meg,” he began, but I didn’t wish to hear it.

“You lied to me.” I looked him dead in the eye. It was true. I couldn’t trust him.

Peter recoiled. “I did no such thing.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were Rathford’s heir?” My voice sounded breathy. I tried to pull myself together.

“Our names aren’t supposed to matter.” He shifted.

I looked at him in disbelief. “We had an entire conversation that first day about who you were, and where you came from, and you didn’t see fit to tell me you were Rathford’s heir?” My voice echoed off the high ceiling, and I bit my tongue.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.