Page 16 of When the Duke Met His Match

It felt like an eternity passed as they stood there, gazes locked and searing. It felt daring, like waiting for the other to react and make any sort of move.

Odette wanted nothing more than to ream him out and resolve some of her anger, but she needed to be careful. She was already locked up, but the outcome of her situation could be much worse if she didn’t mind herself.

The officer opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but he clenched his jaw and turned away from her.

As he approached the door with a knock, she could finally breathe. But the panic crept in shortly after, afraid she ruined her chance at softening him.

Theophilus walked out of the room, and a guard posted at the door came in to pull Odette back into her cell.

* * *

Her anger flared as she sat in the overcrowded cell, surrounded by smells that turned her nose up. She could only imagine what she smelled like then, without the chance to bathe or change her clothes.

She was frustrated with Theophilus. He tried to work his way under her skin and pull every morsel of information he could from her, yet she wasn’t granted the same luxury.

While she had hoped to use those names as a ploy to lure him in and see what he was willing to say, a part of her did want to know who had given her up, if anyone had in the first place.

Clearly not all your comrades share your sense of loyalty.

His words echoed within her mind, making her question whether the men she funded could be trusted.

But Odette had risked her own life to support them, along with her country. Surely, they wouldn’t have given her up so easily. She swore to protect their identities with her life, but she couldn’t help the nagging feeling in her heart that the officer had been right.

It was hard to tell the tricks from honesty in her position.

The cell door rattled after some time, pulling her from those worrisome thoughts. She glanced up at a soldier that reached for her arm.

“Come with me,” he muttered, wasting no time pulling her to her feet.

Odette winced at the aches in her legs from having to sit on the cold, hard ground. Still, she followed behind him, rushing to keep up with his longer strides.

“You have visitors,” he added, pushing her forward and through the halls.

Heart racing in her confusion, she kept track of which halls they walked through, not recognizing them from the normal ones she walked through for her interrogations with Theophilus.

She had no idea where he was taking her or if there were visitors at all. She never knew what was being done to her until it was too late, and it made a surge of anger run through her veins.

She struggled against the soldier’s grasp, but it was no use. He shoved her through an open door that led to another interrogation room, throwing her off balance.

Odette wanted to whiz around and clock him across the face, but she paused when she heard a shuffle of feet. A man cleared his throat.

Upon looking up, her anger melted away, and a hollow, desperate feeling soon replaced it.

“Mother? Father?” she croaked, utterly stunned at the sight of them.

They came. It seemed Lieutenant Wright kept his word after all.

Without wasting a moment, she hurried over to her parents helplessly, feet wobbly beneath her. She fell into their arms, immediately choked up by their familiar touch and smell. It was overwhelming yet the most incredible thing she could be offered at that moment.

Her mother wept into her hair, arms tight around her. Her father’s arms encased them both.

“We missed you beyond words, my dear,” he murmured, voice tight with emotion. “I was so afraid.”

Odette nearly didn’t realize that he spoke in French, the language feeling like a long-lost artifact from her childhood. Both languages mingled together in her mind, easily translated. It was second nature by then.

Until then, she hadn’t realized how much she missed hearing and speaking it.

“We heard rumors you were part of a rebel group against the crown,” he began, pulling back enough to get a good look at his daughter. “But I never believed them for a second. I know my girl more than that.”