From the Ashes

Chapter Fifty-0ne

"How the hell should I know?" Benjamin said, not liking the doubtful looks he now received from those in the room. Emmaline was trying to divide them, something he refused to let her do.

"Come, come now. No need to be modest. You trained your wife well. I was quite impressed by her stoic nature when taking in the sight of my dead husband. Has he told you how many of us he has killed, Clara? Has he told you anything about his past?

When Clara did not respond, Emmaline chuckled, "Guess that would be a no. You should know your husband has been killing innocent people in the name of Prinny, the overstuffed soon to be Prince Regent, for over a year now. Is that not so, Sergeant? What do you believe your lady love would think of you, knowing you kill poor innocent weavers and textile workers, all because he commands it so?"

"You Luddites are far from innocent. And they plan to make the death penalty legal for your actions," Benjamin said, not liking the confused look on Clara's face.

"Luddites?" Juliana questioned.

"Servants of General Ludd, although we do not think him a real person but a myth. Weavers and textile workers who fear the end of their trade and will do anything to stop the machines from taking their jobs, including taking lives and setting fires," Benjamin supplied.

"My home," Juliana said in a hushed whisper.

"Piecing it together, dear?" Emmaline asked, her smile more of a sneer.

"You killed them! My father! My mother! You set the fire!"

Richard heard the click before he had seen the gun materialize in Juliana's hands, pointed right at Emmaline's heart. His pistol, at this distance, would be a killing blow.

"I gave him a chance," Emmaline told her, seemingly unconcerned by the gun. "He threw me out."

"You were a servant in his home who threw herself at him. He wanted nothing to do with you!"

Emmaline shrugged. "If it makes you feel better to think that... I loved him you know, but he gave Lord Bentley a hefty sum to convert the factory to powered looms. My family already struggled with our rundown conditions, thanks to the absentee landlord Charles Bentley had turned out to be. Choosing to lavish Catherine with your father's goods instead of making repairs and caring for his tenants."

Richard thought of the large deposit made six months prior to the Wadsworth name disappearing from the ledger. That was what the funds were intended for.

"You kill without question, without care, you are a monster! A monster who deserves to die!" Juliana vehemently declared, pulling the safety from the gun.

Richard slowly approached her, not caring for the look in her eyes. "Juliana, lower your weapon. She is unarmed."

Juliana just stared ahead, holding her stance. "She killed my family, Richard. I am uncertain how many others perished in that fire. Good, loyal people who served my family. All gone, because of her."

"You were not the only one who lost a parent," Emmaline said, showing for the first time any real emotion. "I set the fire, but my Father was the leader of the Luddites, then. Turns out he did not approve of my methods. Even though he killed the guard at the factory, and smashed all of the looms. He tried to get your father out but a part of the roof had collapsed on him and he perished."

By the hatred in her voice, Richard could tell she held Juliana and her family accountable for the act.

"You expect me to feel sorry for you?" Juliana asked with complete disbelief. "You act as if your hands are clean but they are drenched in blood, My Father's, My Mother's, Marcus, your husband, even your own daughter and grandchild, you sick, warped..."