Fires of Delight Read Free

the as yet unimaginable day on which she would ride into the hills of her beloved Scotland, see great bonfires of greeting blazing on those hills, see Coldstream looming on the cliffs above the North Sea. And there were times beyond number when she had thrilled to think of herself riding through the castle’s mighty gate, beneath the keystone in the arch that read Anno Domini 1152 , with her people cheering all around. Someday, somehow, she and Royce would return to Scotland in triumph,but that time seemed far away, a glimmering wisp of hope to a prisoner in a fortress in America.
    You are never defeated unless you believe it , she thought once again. “I am glad for Lord Bloodwell,” she said. “He has won his heart’s desire, and he deserves it.”
    “And what is your heart’s desire, my fine young lady? A man? A castle? Is that all? You disappoint me. In time, the man will die. So will you. In time, the strongest bastion will crumble into dust. Even those paintings that I have created will some day fade and wither. No, a person like you must be driven by something more, by something timeless. Or am I overestimating you?”
    “What I want you could not give.”
    “Tell me, and we shall see.”
    “Freedom,” Selena said.
    “For yourself? That is easy. Just answer certain questions of a military nature that I am about to put to you now, and in no time you will be walking the streets of the city, free as air, and dressed in garments more suited to your beauty than those rags you have on—”
    “I do not mean freedom for myself,” she interrupted, “but for this country, and for the people in every nation who struggle against tyrants!”
    Selena spoke heatedly. She thought that Oakley would be angry. Instead, he simply shrugged and gave her a look that he probably meant to be understanding and indulgent. “You are very young. Your tyranny is my freedom and vice versa. I seek a world in which I am at liberty to honor my king and strengthen his empire. You and your bloody ilk would deny me such liberty. Thus I must crush your petty idea of freedom in the cause of a greater and more noble good.”
    “Who are you to say?”
    He smiled. “Because I sit here backed by the greatest empire the world has ever known, and you stand before me in a filthy dress.”
    “Your men took away my clothes—”
    “I’ll rip that dress off your back too, if you’re not careful. Enough of this.” He took up the quill again and dipped it expertly into the inkwell. “Where is General Washington going to attack?” he asked suddenly. “New York or Yorktown?”
    Too late, Selena understood that Oakley had been distractingher until now with questions and conversation of a vaguer nature. The dangerous part of this confrontation had come abruptly, and she was off-guard.
    “I don’t know what you mean,” she replied, stalling for time as he gelid eyes bored into her.
    “Lie to me like this tomorrow,” he snapped, “and before you have time to take a breath I will scar you for life from temple to jaw!”
    Disfigurement. Selena felt a wave of nausea pass through her, and realized how long she had been-standing there. Her legs were beginning to ache; a hot flush of fear brought beads of nervous perspiration to naked skin beneath the clammy dress. Lieutenant Oakley knew exactly where and how to strike. Selena had imagined the prospect of pain, but not mutilation…
    “Naturally,” said the interrogator soothingly, “a woman as lovely as you will want to protect her appearance. One never knows how a man like Campbell would feel about bedding a hideous wreck of flesh…”
    He let his voice trail off ominously. Selena suppressed a shudder.
    “Let me make this a bit easier for you,” Oakley said. “I know that the French Count Rochambeau and his army are in Newport. I know that Washington and his men are north of here, in White Plains, New York. They will shortly join forces, ten thousand men in all. With that number, they could