Untamed
Chapter One
"... the law is a ass ..." [sic]
-Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
London Central Criminal Court
Old Bailey Sessions House, 1875
From the front of the courtroom, the judge called out, "Bailiff, read the final case
if you please."
Heads swung to the back of the room. The defendant, thirteen-year-old Patrick
O'Rourke-Rourke-swallowed against the twist of fear knotting nooselike about his
throat. Unlike the poor blubbering bugger called up for sentencing before him, who'd
pissed a steady stream to the prisoner's stand and then promptly puked, he swore to hold
onto his tears, his bladder, his breakfast-and above all, his dignity.
Never let them see you cry.
The bailiff nodded. "The defendant is one Patrick O'Rourke, late of St. Giles
parish but no known address. The accused is a minor child aged thirteen years or
thereabouts, and orphaned. Two prior arrests, the first for vagrancy and the second for
petty thievery; for the latter, he was sentenced and did receive fifty lashes."
Rourke gritted his teeth as he had six months before when they'd tied his hand ... read full excerpt from Untamed ebook
