Aleksey's Kingdom (A Royal Affair #2)(37)

It was the two soldiers we had relieved from their vigil the evening before. We had not immediately recognized them because they had been stripped, beaten, and hanged naked.

When calm had been restored somewhat, Major Parkinson took us aside with his two officers, sword drawn as if he were willing to fight off any attempt to stop him explaining this incredible event.

He looked down at his boots for a moment. “Well, this is a rum business, if ever I saw one.”

“Major Parkinson, be brief.”

“Yes, of course. Sorry. Shakes a man up a bit.” He looked up, pursing his lips. “Never thought the damn scoundrels had it in them. Seemed decent sorts of chaps. Dreadful.”

“Sir, the events, and swiftly please.”

“Caught ’em doing the deed, so to speak. Doing poor Mrs. Wright.”

A trickle of icy fear wound its unwelcome way down my spine. I was not in my strongest frame of mind, given what had occurred so recently, and this hit me harder than it ought. I glanced over at Aleksey and could see a look of slowly dawning comprehension on his face too.

“I must have dozed off. Thought you young chaps were all out with your fires and whatnot, forty winks, keeps the mind and body fresh. Then next thing I knew, I saw those two rotten buggers returning. Dammit, I should have known. Took their report and saw them make off toward their tent. I went back to mine. Thought nothing more about it. Next thing I knew, I heard screaming. Dreadful bloody noise. Climbed out, and there was the poor reverend returned to find his wife… dammit, his wife dammit… pinned down under those two….”

I actually heard Aleksey groan a little, and he caught my arm. I ignored the pain of my burn; it helped me stay focused.

“What did she say had happened, sir? What was her story?”

“Bloody obvious really. Said they’d set upon her, taken their turns, all bloody night… dear God, if I had stayed awake, I’d have—”

“And what did they say? What was their version of the event?”

“Well you might ask, sir. That’s what did it for us, really—damn cowards said she’d invited them to—well, suffice to say—the one thing can perhaps be excused a man… temptations of the flesh and all that… but lying like a Frenchie? That I can’t abide.”

“And you believed her and not them?”

He took a small step back, but it was Captain Rochester who replied. “Do you impugn the lady’s honor, sir, and therefore our administration of the correct punishment for such offence? I would be careful what you say, as she had a witness to her ordeal.”

I was surprised but very pleased at the same time. I felt a little guilty, then, for immediately assuming she had tried the same thing with the soldiers as she had with me. This time she was the one with the witness. I glanced over at Aleksey, but his face was even more pale, and his eyes wide with horror. He croaked, “The child?”

I almost doubled over. I felt his hand tighten upon my arm for support. I repeated his question. “The child? Her son was her witness?”

The major nodded. He looked a little sick but for different reasons than we were, I wager. “Witnessed the whole damn thing. In the cart, you see. If it hadn’t been for that bloody brace thing upon his leg, I dare say he’d have up and run off—wouldn’t blame the little chap if he did—but he had to lie there all night… watching. Hung the buggers as much for that as for the poor lady, truth be told.”

I had spurned her advances. I had put him in that leg brace. I had forced him to lie in the cart. They had taken their very effective revenge on me now.

I looked at the bodies of the two young men, now covered by a tent canvas. I had killed them as surely as if I had strung them up myself. Aleksey put himself between me and the officers, nudging me away. When I refused to move, he became more forceful and insisted, “Doctor, I need to speak with you—now!”

I went mutely until we were a little way out of earshot. “Niko—Nikolai—listen to me!” I turned and blinked at him. “This was not your fault. Do you hear me?”

I nodded, turning back to stare at the ropes still hanging from the tree.

He grunted in fury and took my arms, leaning in closer. “Did I kill Faelan?”

“What?”

“Tell me, did I kill him? By not taking him back when you wanted me to?”

“No, of course not.” I was so confused by this turn of his mind that I could not comprehend his meaning. “Events work themselves as they will, Aleksey. All we can do as men is the best thing we can at the time with the right intentions. I wanted you to stay with me, or I would have forced the issue more. Faelan would not have chosen to be taken home like an old person too feeble to be where he wanted and doing what he most desired to do. I was wrong to suggest it. His death had nothing to do with you!”

“Well, the deaths of those men had nothing to do with you either! We did not tell of her nature to anyone for the best of motives. I sent the soldiers back to camp, Niko. Me! I did not mean for this to happen! And whatever she did, they did apparently take up her offer—the young bride of a man of God they knew and had traveled with for some days. So you must apply the same logic to your situation as you say I must to Faelan’s.” He shook me again. “Is this not so?”

I nodded, my head hung low. “I am in charge of an expedition that has lost four men, Aleksey—one third of its number.”