She had expected the men to pursue as she and Thomas fled, but they did not. Still, they did not slow or stop until they reached the sanctuary of home.

"I suppose that settles it," Mr. Abernathy announced with a grim set to his mouth, after listening to Margaret's breathless account of the evening's events, including Willy's shocking betrayal. "We cannot stay. It is too dangerous for us here."

"What do you mean, we cannot stay?" Margaret demanded. All traces of fear had vanished, leaving in its wake a searing rage. "We cannot let them get away with this!"

"We have been discovered," he said simply, pausing the debate to issue an order to one of the servants bustling about, packing up their lives.

"But this is our home!" Margaret exclaimed. "We cannot let them force us out, Father. I can compel them to forget what they saw."

Mr. Abernathy sighed, cupping Margaret's face in his hands as he looked down at her with affection. "Your strength and determination are admirable, my darling, but a wise soldier knows when to retreat. We must leave this place."

Eliza approached then, her pale cheeks wet with tears. She glanced briefly at Margaret but spoke to their father. "Thomas has made Mother comfortable in the carriage. He's gone to fetch the stable lad to prepare Artemis and Apollo for departure."

"Good," Mr. Abernathy said. "Run along and join your mother. Tell her we will be there momentarily."

Eliza nodded and turned to go, but then stopped. "I smelled his blood on your breath," she said accusingly.

"I did not kill him," Margaret said.

Eliza advanced a step, her eyes narrowing. "But you did, Sister. You may have not taken his life tonight, but you have sentenced him to death all the same."

"I am sorry!" Margaret called after Eliza as she turned to leave. "I did not mean to hurt him. Or you."

Eliza paused at the threshold, her expression stone-like. "For as long as I live, I will never forgive you."

Margaret slumped into the nearest chair and bowed her head, hiding her face in her hand. Her father came to stand next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Your sister does not mean what she says."

"Oh, but I think she does," Margaret replied in a whispered voice.

Her father squeezed her shoulder. "Come. We must prepare ourselves. No doubt they will be coming after us."

Margaret rose mechanically and looped her arm through her father's, taking one last look around at what had been their home for a brief time. Would they ever be able to stay in one place, or would they forever be on the run, fearing for their lives?

"Where will we go?" she asked as her father led her from the house and to the awaiting carriage where her mother and siblings were.

"We will go west," he replied.

"West?" she responded, surprised. "I hear there is nothing but vast wilderness and savages to the west."

He patted her hand and grinned, his teeth catching a glint of candlelight. "And we, my darling, shall conquer it."

*****

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