Soldiers.
Kitty tugged on the reins and brought the horse to a trot. Keeping her breath at even measures of in and out, she rallied her best skills of deception and prayed to God that the only thing the soldiers would find was an ignorant woman simply trying to get home.
***
Nathaniel didn’t even think to knock. “Cyprian!”
Charging through the door, he jolted back as Cyprian and Andrew spun around, their features hard and shadowed in the dimly lit house.
“Get out, Smith!” Cyprian yelled, pointing at the door.
&nbs
p; Nathaniel tried to keep the explosives in his voice from igniting the primed air. “I should have known it was you.”
Andrew turned to him, gun in hand. His face knotted and he answered as if his skin were aflame. “You’ve arrived just in time. Someone is about to be shot.” Andrew pointed a rigid finger at Cyprian. “We shall settle this now!” His rough voice shook as he yelled to be heard above the storm. “I can no longer be forced into such oppression. I can no longer be forced to go against the very cause I champion.”
Nathaniel glanced between them, and suddenly the answers of the riddle he’d been unable to solve flooded his mind. He stepped forward, hand outstretched as compassion toward his fellow patriot filled his rigid muscles. “Andrew, you don’t have to—”
“I do!” The more Andrew spoke the more his frenzy consumed him. His eyes grew wide and his voice scratched the air as he yelled. “I can stand the guilt no longer! He forced me, Nathaniel, he forced us both!”
Both. The raw lashes in Nathaniel’s conscience throbbed. He’d seen that same terror before in Thomas’s eyes. He’d seen it in Kitty’s.
He turned to Cyprian. “What have you done with her?” He lunged, gripping him around the neck. “Where is she?”
Cyprian scratched at his throat, choking and sputtering. “I don’t... know where she is!”
Nathaniel clutched harder. “Where is she? Tell me now!” With a shove Nathaniel released him, allowing the purple color to fade to red as Cyprian choked for breath.
Cyprian groped his throat. “I have no idea why your lover has left you. Didn’t I tell you she couldn’t be trusted?”
Andrew grabbed Nathaniel’s raised arm. “This is my fight, Nathaniel, let me fight it!”
The anxieties exploding in Nathaniel’s soul escaped through his voice. “The minute this man began taking our powder it became everyone’s fight!”
He yanked Cyprian by the arm and thrust him into the chair by the table. Cyprian’s small eyes thinned and in a single motion he launched from his seat and heaved the table across the room. “I needed that money!” He charged, waving his weapon. “But no amount of money will bring her back to me now!”
Nathaniel stilled. Had Camilla died? “What happened to Camilla, Cyprian?”
Cyprian stared, his mouth half open and his chest pumping. Slowly, his lips closed and face warped. His gaze didn’t move from Nathaniel as he spoke to Andrew. “I accept your challenge, Mr. Cooper.”
Shocked, Nathaniel almost laughed. “You cannot fight a duel. Not like this.”
Motionless, only Andrew’s eyes blinked while his voice landed flat. “My honor is destroyed, Nathaniel. I care not for formalities.”
Disbelief forged a frown on Nathaniel’s brow. He stepped back, praying for guidance as the two men took their place at opposite sides of the room and raised their weapons. “This is madness!”
“Count for us, Nathaniel.” Andrew’s voice was calm as a spring breeze.
“Andrew—”
“If you will not, Nathaniel, I will,” Andrew said. “On three. One!”
“Stop!” Nathaniel lunged for Andrew as the door burst open and Joseph rushed in.
“Nathaniel! I heard Miss Campbell is miss—what’s going on?”
“Two!”