Finding Sovereignty: Book 2: Reidar & Kirsten (The Hansen Series - Martin & Dagny and Reidar & Kirsten) by Tualla Kris

Author:Tualla, Kris [Tualla, Kris]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2012-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

*****

A crowd stood in the deceptively sunny day outside the hall housing the military trial. They parted like ice floes when Reid cut through. His tall stature, clad in his officer’s dress uniform, declared his importance. He heard his name murmured in the crowd and knew his involvement in the explosion was recognized.

“Captain?” a soft feminine voice cooed at his elbow.

Reid turned toward the source. “Colonel,” he corrected.

A very attractive woman, probably in her mid-thirties, fluttered her lashes in his direction. “I beg your pardon, Colonel.”

Reid smiled politely. “May I help you?”

She laid a hand on his arm. “I’m having a dinner party this evening and wondered if you might be free to attend.”

“Who, may I ask, extends the invitation?” Obviously she expected him to know.

The hand tightened on his arm. “Madame Janine Chesterley, widow of the late Warren Chesterley,” she said.

Reid thought he detected a slight emphasis on the designation of widow. “This may be my last night in Philadelphia, Madame,” he declined. “I regret that I have preparations to make for my departure.”

Her hand began to move up his arm. “Under the circumstances, and if you don’t mind my asking, might you be convinced to remain in our city?”

Reid was rescued from answering by the appearance of a young clerk with a roll of paper in one hand. He stood at the top of the steps and unrolled the document.

“The court martial of Private Johan Symington, also known as Jack Smith, has reached its decision,” he called out in a voice freshly cut from puberty. “The accused has been found guilty of malicious destructive intent and the murder of five Continental Army soldiers.”

Reid heaved a sigh, blowing out the breath he didn’t realized he was holding, and nodded. Approving rumbles shook through the gathering.

“Symington is sentenced to be hung by the neck until dead,” the man continued without any display of emotion. “The sentence will be carried out at the Pennsylvania Regimental Quarters at ten o’clock tomorrow morning, February the twenty-fourth, in the year seventeen hundred and eighty-two.”

Without pause, the clerk turned on his heel and walked back inside the building.

Reid looked down at Madame Chesterley and wondered if there was any reason at all to accept her invitation now that he had two more nights in Philadelphia. The movement of a carriage a little way down the street drew his gaze and answered that question for him.

“I’m so very sorry, Madame Chesterley,” he said as he began to move away. “I’m afraid I cannot. Will you excuse me?”

Reid pushed through the crowd in the direction of Kirsten’s carriage, willing her to stay in place until he reached her. He saw her pale face in the window before she sat back out of sight. Once free of the crowd, he loped the final distance and pulled the door open.

Kirsten huddled in the far corner of the coach. “What was the verdict? I couldn’t hear.”

“Guilty,” Reid answered. “He’ll hang tomorrow morning at ten.”

Her gaze fell and she gave a little nod.

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