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CS AU Week – Day 6: Another Time – Revolutionary War

shhhh I’m not here, I’m writing this in class

rebel heart

Emma stared down the young officer at her doorstep. It really was astounding how much older the officer wigs made the men look, but she supposed that was the point. Still, the lieutenant was a face she knew well, a young man of three-and-twenty in her father-in-law’s regiment who she’s seen at parties up at the grand house. She hardly had to glare at him to have him shaking in his boots: it wasn’t a pleasant task, interrogating the recently widowed daughter-in-law of General Gold about harboring a rebel spy. “As I said, lieutenant,” Emma said, shifting her hands so that the black band marking her widowed status showed clearly. “The house has been quiet since my son retired to bed – as unwillingly as that retirement went. You’re free to search the house from attic to cellar, but you’ll find no rebels here. Doubtless they’ve scurried off into their rat holes with the other vermin for the night.”

The lieutenant swallowed hard at her tone. “Yes, Mrs. Gold,” he said and she had to give him credit for the steady tone of his voice. “Apologies for disturbing you at this late hour. Have a good evening, ma’am.”

He gave her a stiff salute, and she hardly waited before he’d turned around before shutting the door on him.

Emma slumped against the door with a shaky sigh. Her nerves got the better of her, her fingers trembling as she reached up to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. She listened to the house settle and found that her words were true: her parents’ home was quiet. Whatever reactions to the treatment that Mother may be applying to Killian’s back was completely muffled by the secret room under the cellar.

She may have given permission for His Majesty’s army to search her home, but that didn’t mean she wanted them to actually find their quarry.

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