She moved swiftly but quietly to the window and tested it with her eyes squinted against the glare. It swung outward. It was a more difficult type of window to climb out of, but not impossible. And she would be doing it almost blind, having forced her eyes to endure bright light after the dimness of the room.
Something sharp caught her hand as she pulled herself over the window well. The same something tore at her leg a moment later.
Céleste dropped onto the ground. There was something to her right—she wasn’t sure what but suspected it was a wall—so she had no choice but to go to the left. That, she felt certain, would take her toward the front of the inn. If Pierre and his comrade hadn’t yet realized she’d left the room, she might be able to slip past without being spotted.
She moved quickly, shielding her eyes with her hand to help her navigate while her eyes began to adjust. They would in a minute or two, but she couldn’t wait for that to happen. Speed was crucial.
“Leaving so soon?” a voice directly in front of her asked dryly.
It was the voice from the ball and from the doorway of the room she’d just escaped. They’d seen her and caught her. And she could see him just well enough to know now who he was.
Monsieur D’Aubert.
She’d dismissed him as a possibility, as he’d only just left her side at the ball when she was snatched away. But then, that meant he would have known where she was and that she was alone. And her poor vision did make it difficult to keep track of everyone in those enormous, dark rooms.
“Your brother very much wants me to marry you,” M. D’Aubert said. “I very much don’t want to. But he knows things I wish he didn’t, so we’re at an impasse.”
“Your quarrel is with him, not me.”
M. D’Aubert was undeterred. “He has bled me dry. I will not allow him to change his extortion from demanding money to demanding I marry you. His schemes will end here.”
“I need her alive,” Pierre growled from just outside the inn door.
Her eyes had adjusted more.
“I don’t overly care what you need, Léandre.” M. D’Aubert grabbed hold of her arm while still addressing his partner. “I have borne the burden of most of this plot, while you have simply made it more complicated than it ever needed to be.”
“He will never agree to my terms if I don’t have anything to barter with.” Pierre crossed to them.
“And his brother will never leave me be so long as he has a sister to marry off.”
His brother.Aldric wasn’t their aim at all.
It was Henri.
“How far behind you is he?” Pierre asked.
“Not far. He’ll be here before morning, if not sooner.” M. D’Aubert turned to Céleste. “This would have been far easier for everyone if you had simply stayed in Paris.”
Pierre grabbed her other arm. “Paris would not have suited my needs.”
“Why not?” M. D’Aubert spat. “Lord Aldric was there. You could have had your revenge on both families at once without all this complication.”
“They’ll both have to live with this here, where it will haunt them.”
Aldric and Henri. Both.
Good heavens.
They needed to be warned. And she needed to get free so Pierre and M. D’Aubert couldn’t use her to hurt them.
The sound of carriage wheels moving swiftly into the innyard pulled all their attention in that direction.
“He’s come to save his beloved sister,” Pierre sneered. “So naive.”
Céleste tried to pull free, hoping the distraction of Henri’s arrival would loosen M. D’Aubert’s grip. It didn’t.
Gravel flew as the driver pulled the team of horses to an abrupt stop. The door swung open, and Henri leaped out.
