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That makes Lambert pause. “He did,” he admits. “That was clever. Or maybe just lucky.” Bitterness twists his face. “I learned the most from her. Namely that no woman is worth begging for.”
“They should come begging to you, is that it?” I lean against the statue, every nerve in my body quivering. “Except no one does. Even your own sister preferred Simon.”
It might be a coincidence, but at the mention of his name, Simon’s head turns slightly. To my horror, his face tenses around the bruise forming on his temple. I could use a diversion, but Simon waking would be the worst possible one.
“Cat!” Remi’s voice floats on the wind over a distance. “Cat! Where are you?”
Remi will be a better distraction than Simon. In the meantime, I need to keep Lambert’s focus on me.
“Which is the real reason you killed Juliane,” I throw at him. “Once Simon came along she didn’t need you anymore.”
The accusation hits the mark or very close to it. I have every ounce of his attention.
“And then,” I continue, “when you feared her madness would stop me from accepting you, she became just another obstacle keeping you from claiming yourprize.”
This angle is dangerous, though, as my own anger rises to an uncontrollable level.
“Because that’s what Mother Agnes was, wasn’t she?” I shriek into the wind. “A woman who did more good in a day than you’ve done in your whole life was anobstacle?” My voice cracks, and I can’t say Marguerite’s name. “A sister who was beautiful and sweet and loving was anobstacle?”
“Cat!” Remi’s coming this way, running along the gutter on the opposite side of the roof. Someone else approaches much slower from the direction I came, probably Oudin. Lambert turns his head to look, and a third loop comes off my waist.
Almost ready.
Simon groans, one hand drifting to his face. Lambert shifts to look at him again, and I hastily wrap the end of the rope over Pierre’s outstretched paw and clasp it to itself.
I’m out of time.
“Lambert!”
He faces me as I step around the statue, leaning to pass under its wings as close as I can.
“Do you know what I think?” I stand straight and hold the rope against my back to prevent it from slacking around my waist. “You never loved Juliane. She just made you feel better about yourself.”
I move to the edge of the walkway, angling to block his view of the rope leading back to Pierre. “And she saw right through you. That’s why she preferred Simon. That’s why she preferred me.”
Lambert’s eyes dilate until they’re almost solid black, and his body tenses. He doesn’t notice Simon twisting to look at me, blinking rapidly as he struggles to focus.
I set my heels only inches away from the drop behind me. “And that’s why no one could ever love you.”
Remi appears on the far end of the walkway, and Simon’s eyes widen in horror as he realizes what’s happening.
“No!” they both shout as Lambert lunges at me.
Rather than move out of the way, I embrace him.
It’s what he wanted anyway.
