Page 97 of A Rogue at Stonecliffe

“Stop! Don’t come any closer or Miss Winfield is dead,” Asquith warned. He pressed the knifepoint against her to demonstrate. Annabeth felt the small sharp prick, and a drop of blood began to roll down her throat. “Get back, all of you, if you want to see her alive again.”

The maids disappeared from the stairs, and there was a shuffle of retreating feet in the hall.

“Now. Start walking.”

Annabeth did as he said, her steps slow.

“Faster,” Asquith said harshly. “Don’t try to stall.”

“It’s a trifle difficult to walk this way,” Annabeth shot back.

“Maybe it would speed you up if I ran this knife down your cheek. It would make an unsightly scar.”

Annabeth moved a little faster. “Sloane will never let you get away with this.”

“Rutherford can—”

The front door slammed open, and Sloane charged in. He stopped dead when he saw Asquith and Annabeth in the entry. His eyes flickered briefly to the stairs and the hallway, taking in the whole scene.

“Well. It certainly appears the pistol came out the victor in the duel with that vase,” he said dryly. His gaze went back to Asquith.

“Spare me your quips in the face of danger,” Asquith growled. “I know you.”

“Then you know what will happen to you if you don’t let go of Annabeth.” Sloane’s voice was as cold and hard as his eyes.

“You don’t scare me, Rutherford.”

“Mmm. More fool you, I’d say. I’ll give you this one chance, Spider. Release her and I won’t stop you leaving.”

Asquith’s lip curled. “Get out of my way or I’ll cut her throat.”

“You do, and you won’t make it out of here alive.”

“You really think you can take me on, boy?”

“I think you don’t want to find out.”

“What is all this racket?” A stentorian voice came from above them, punctuated by a wheezing bark, and Lady Lockwood appeared at the top of the stairs. “How is one supposed to sleep with all this banging and shouting going on?”

Asquith turned at the sound, but his knife never wavered from Annabeth’s throat. Sloane took advantage of the distraction to turn and run back out of the house.

“There’s your brave lad who’s ‘not going to let me get away with this.’ Cut and ran first chance he got.” Asquith let out a crack of laughter. “I knew it from the beginning. That’s why I got him. I knew he was one of those wild, silly aristocratic boys, full of bravado, knowing nothing.”

“You blackmailed him into working for you because you thought he was useless?” Annabeth had no idea what Sloane had planned, but she knew that she must try to slow Asquith down in order to give Sloane time for whatever it was.

“He was a dupe,” Asquith said smugly. “Hiring him provided a pretense of carrying out my duties, and I could blame the failures on his incompetence. I could send messages and know they wouldn’t get there, lure agents into rendezvousing with him.”

“So, in other words, your plan was a failure.”

“Nonsense.”

“Admit it. You chose the wrong wild aristocratic boy. Sloane turned out to be too good. He delivered the messages and escaped your traps, rescued his fellow agents.”

“He never had an inkling of what I was doing.”

“No doubt it would surprise him to hear that he was too honest and trustworthy to see the snake you really were.”

“Shut up. Start walking.”