The UnTied Kingdom (37 page)

Some of the belligerence drained from Eve’s expression. ‘But you’re not going to die,’ she said, her tone uncertain.

Harker let his gaze drop. He didn’t quite know what to say to that. He’d faced the possibility of death from his first day in the army, but he’d never been offered a time and date for it.

‘There were no direct consequences,’ Charlie said, ‘and it wasn’t a major order, and there were extenuating circumstances–’

‘But the death penalty has been handed out to men who disobeyed orders,’ Harker said.

‘Has been,’ Eve said. ‘What, every time?’

‘No–’

‘So that’s the worst-case scenario?’ Her voice was rising now, notes of panic creeping in. ‘I mean, what else could they do, imprison you or fine you, or–’

‘Take my commission,’ Harker said. Tallulah sucked in a breath. He’d forgotten she and the others were even there. ‘Or all of the above. It’s a serious offence–’

‘You keep saying that,’ Eve said, her tone angry but her eyes frightened. ‘You keep saying it’s a serious offence, but no one’s died, you didn’t steal or rape or betray anyone. How can just not following orders be so serious?’

‘Because this is the army,’ Harker snarled, straightening away from the door, ‘and we follow orders. It’s what we do. And you don’t seem to understand that–’

‘Because it’s stupid,’ Eve snapped back at him.

‘I am not having this argument with you,’ Harker said, and Eve stood up, glaring at him.

‘Ok, don’t, then,’ she said, and limped out, slamming the door behind her.

He’s going to die because of you. He’s going to die because of you
.

It ran around her head in a terrible little refrain, louder with each step, pummelling her with fear and guilt and anger, and when a hand touched her shoulder and pulled her around she stumbled, her leg giving way.

Harker caught her, and she pushed away from him.

‘Go away,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’

‘Well, listen then.’

‘No.’ She limped down the steps from the office building to the path leading to the parade ground. It was cold, the sun sinking down behind the hulking barracks, and she didn’t have a coat.

Harker propped his over her shoulders, and she turned, snarling.

‘I don’t want you catching a chill,’ he said wearily.

‘Oh, get lost.’

‘No.’ He walked beside her, slowing his pace to match hers. ‘Eve, we’re going to have to go back to London. And when we get there, I’m being court-martialled and you’re going back to St James’s.’

‘Thanks for reminding me.’

‘And if I die, there’s no one to help you. Even if you do get out, you’ll have nothing. If I’m executed–’

‘Stop saying that!’ How could he talk about it like that? And how could he not realise how much it hurt her to hear it?

‘Eve, if I’m executed there’ll be no widow’s pension, but there’s some money, enough to live on, at least for a while.’

‘Widow’s pension?’ she said, giving him a sideways look.

‘Aye, officer’s privilege. If I die in the line of duty, you get money to live on.’

‘Harker, I don’t get anything, I’m not married to you.’

Harker said nothing for a moment, and Eve’s blood pounded loudly in her ears.

‘You could be,’ he said. ‘Marry me now, and you’ll be an official citizen, you’ll have more rights, and if I die–’

‘If you die?’ Eve stopped walking and stared at him, incredulous. ‘Harker, I don’t want to be a widow. And I’m not going to marry you just in case you die.’

He stared at her, and she watched confusion, pain, and anger chase each other across his face.

‘You’d rather spend the rest of your life in a POW camp or living rough because you’ve no money and no citizenship, than marry me? Even just for a couple of weeks?’

Eve gaped. How could he not get this? Offering to marry someone because you thought you were going to die had to be the most unromantic thing she’d ever heard of. And although she’d never pegged Harker for the hearts-and-flowers type, she still couldn’t believe he was getting it this wrong.

‘I won’t marry anyone for a couple of weeks,’ she said, ‘and if you can’t figure out why, you can find somewhere else to sleep tonight.’

With that she started walking for his quarters.

‘It’s my sodding room,’ he shouted after her, but she gave no appearance of hearing him.

Eve didn’t speak to him for the rest of the day. She even went so far as to take her dinner with Tallulah and Banks in their mess, and then he found her collecting her clothes and toiletries from his room to go and sleep in a spare cot in Tallulah’s bunkhouse.

When he asked, begged, and ordered her not to go, she ignored him and went anyway, and Harker spent a miserable, angry night alone in a bed that was far too big.

In the morning, Daz told him Eve was probably well enough to travel, and Harker dully arranged with the Commodore for one of his ships to take them to Harwich, from where the road was secure enough to march straight into London. Concerned for Eve even if she wasn’t talking to him, he organised a wagon to be waiting for them at Harwich to spare her an eighty-mile walk.

The computer was packed, carefully, in a crate, the squad assembled, and still Eve didn’t make eye-contact with him. She spent most of the voyage in conversation with Daz about either her hand, or the computer, and when they docked refused Harker’s assistance off the ship.

You’ve only got a few days left,
he reminded himself,
before she goes back to St James’s and you get court-martialled. Don’t waste what you’ve got
.

The wagon rattled on as the sun came down and he sent Charlie and Banks on foot to scout for a decent place to spend the night. Packed in the wagon were three tents: one for Charlie and Tallulah, one for Banks and Daz, and one for Harker and Eve. He was determined to get her back in his bed at least once before the Damoclean sword fell on them both.

When they stopped for the night he set the others to making camp, and took Eve’s arm to silently walk her away from all the others, into the dark woods, until no one else could hear them.

‘In two days we’ll be in London,’ he said to her, ‘and you’ll be taken away from me and I’m not going to spend the time in between without you.’

‘You’re not without me,’ Eve said, looking sulky, ‘I’m right here.’

‘Eve,’ he said, gripping her arms and making her look at him. ‘I want you to know I’ll do whatever I can to get you out of St James’s and make you a free woman. Saskia promised to help and Charlie will, too, you know she will.’

Eve looked wary. ‘Well, thanks,’ she said.

‘And I know you won’t marry me,’ which hurt, it really did, ‘but I’ll do what I can for you anyway.’

Eve tried to pull away from him, but Harker held on. ‘Look, let go of me,’ she said, ‘I’m not going anywhere, and you’re starting to hurt me.’

He moved his hands instantly, which earned a small smile from Eve. Harker smiled back hopefully.

Then she said, ‘You really are stupid,’ which made his smile falter somewhat. ‘Harker, it’s not – look, you said you’d marry me for a couple of weeks, because then you were going to die. Don’t you realise what that sounded like? You’re just doing me a favour, and then you won’t have to put up with me any more, because you’ll be dead.’

Put like that, she had a point.

‘That’s not what I meant,’ he said, and Eve folded her arms.

‘Then what did you mean?’

‘I meant …’ Harker ran his hands through his hair. ‘Are you angry because you thought I only wanted to marry you for a couple of weeks?’

She nodded. ‘It’s not exactly flattering, is it?’

‘Eve, I want to marry you forever. I’m just saying, you have to understand that–’

She put her finger over his lips, and he was so happy to have her touching him again that he smiled.

‘Stop telling me you’re going to die,’ she said. ‘You’re a soldier. I’ve seen those scars. I know the risks of the life you have. Doesn’t mean I’m happy about it, because I’m actually bloody terrified.’ She blinked, and the fading light caught something glistening in her eye.

‘Terrified?’

‘I don’t want you to die,’ Eve said, her voice breaking slightly, and then to his surprise threw her arms around him. ‘I don’t. But please stop talking about it, because this is hard enough as it is.’

He held her, grateful to have her back in his arms again. He kissed her cheek, wet with tears, and then she kissed his mouth, her fingers in his hair, her body soft against his.

‘I don’t want to go back to London,’ she whispered.

‘Neither do I.’

‘Then let’s not.’ She looked up at him, tense and earnest in the moonlight. ‘We could go, right now, you and me. We could just run away, get on a ship or something and leave the country. Or just hide out, you’ve even got those fake papers, we could just leave, and be together …’

Her voice trailed off, her eyes searching his, and for a second Harker actually considered it. Eve looked up at him, fragile and beautiful and everything he wanted, and her face changed as she read his. He watched the hope slide away and the despair creep in.

‘But of course you never would,’ she said sadly, touching his cheek. ‘Major Harker never runs away from anything.’

He opened his mouth, but she stopped it with her finger again, and added softly, ‘And if you did, I wouldn’t love you half as much as I do.’ She dipped her head, then looked back up at him and said, ‘Can we just … pretend for a while that we don’t have to go to London and you’re not in trouble and I’m not going to go back to St James’s?’

He kissed her softly. ‘Yes,’ he said, and for the rest of the trip they did. The rest of the squad played along, and Harker figured Charlie had probably had something to do with that. By day he and Eve sat in the wagon and talked and kissed, and at night she sat circled in his arms by the fire, singing to them all until it was too cold, and Harker took her to his own private tent and made love to her, moving hot and perfect together in the dark.

It seemed to Harker that London had moved several dozen miles east, because they came upon it far too quickly. The fires of the Tower shone out through the late afternoon gloom, and Eve clutched his hand.

‘What will we do?’ she said, her voice pointedly matter-of-fact. ‘Go straight to St James’s, or the Tower, or what?’

‘The Tower, I think,’ Harker said, because there was always the possibility that he could talk Wheeler out of sending Eve back to St James’s. It wasn’t a strong possibility, but it was there.

When they came to the Byward Gate and the sentries recognised Harker, they exchanged uncomfortable looks, and one of them said, ‘Major Harker, sir, we’ve been told to keep you here.’

‘I can’t go into the Tower?’

‘Uh, no, sir. General Wheeler’s on her way.’

Eve looked at Harker, trepidation in her eyes, and that cold ball of dread settled in Harker’s stomach again.

He took Eve’s hand, and said lightly, ‘Always nice to get a personal welcome from your host.’ To Charlie, who was driving the wagon, he said, ‘Move us out of the way, then, we don’t want to make the place look untidy.’

The sound of a few dozen pairs of boots marching came closer. Eve’s fingers tightened around his, and when he glanced at her, her jaw was tense, her breathing shallow.

‘Hey,’ he said gently, and she looked up at him. She seemed to be trying to present him with a brave face, but she was making a terrible job of it.

‘Don’t say anything,’ she whispered. ‘You can’t say anything that won’t sound like goodbye.’

‘I love you,’ he said, and she gave a trembly smile.

‘Like that,’ she said, her voice breaking, as Wheeler came around the corner, followed by an outrageously heavily armed squad.

Boy, one little betrayal of trust and she turned into such a vindictive bitch.

‘Miss Carpenter,’ said the General, ‘to me, please.’

Harker moved to get out of the wagon to help her down, and Wheeler barked, ‘Not you, Major.’

‘She can’t get out by herself, sir,’ Harker said to Wheeler, loathing her, and she motioned one of her guards forward to help Eve down.

Eve wrapped her arm around Harker’s neck, kissed him, and Wheeler said tersely, ‘Now, please.’

‘I’m not one of your soldiers,’ Eve snapped at her, and Harker was impressed at the steel in her voice. She turned back, her eyes met his, and Harker thought he might be in danger of starting to cry.

Eve touched her damaged right hand to his, nodded, and turned to the soldier waiting to help her down.

‘Take her to St James’s,’ Wheeler said. ‘Now.’

‘She can’t walk–’ Harker began, and Wheeler gave him a glacial look that had absolutely no effect on him. Eve was assisted on to a horse and led away, and the look on her face as she turned back and gave him a tiny wave broke his heart.

‘I’ll see you again,’ he shouted after her. ‘I
will
see you again!’

‘Major,’ Wheeler said, as the men escorting Eve turned the corner and she vanished from his sight.