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CHAPTER 64
“Ahem.”
Simon stops kissing me to look up. Both Oudin and Remi are averting their eyes. Thankfully, Remi appears more resigned than angry as he watches Simon help me sit upright.
“It won’t be long before the city guard finds my brother.” Oudin tilts his head to indicate the bloody scene below. “We need to decide what we’re going to say.”
“The truth,” I tell him. The muscles in my stomach ache so fiercely I have to lean against Simon for support. “Lambert murdered all those women, caused the collapse, and tried to kill Remi and Simon and me. Now he’s dead. Justice is done.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Where is your proof of any of that?”
Simon—and pain across my middle—keeps me from sitting forward more than a few inches. “You don’t believe it?”
Oudin rolls his eyes. “It doesn’t matter what’s true, little Cat, unless we can prove it.”
“He’s right,” Simon whispers in my ear, pulling me back to his chest. “We’re rather short on evidence.”
I lean on him again but refuse to relax. “Isn’t what he did to Remi proof enough?”
“It’s our word against what my father will want to believe,” Oudin says, more rational than I’ve ever heard him sound. “And that’s not a battle we’ll win. Not when he can blame everything on Simon here.”
“Maybe that’s better,” says Simon. “No other innocents will get tangled in this mess.”
I turn to face him. “You are not giving yourself up.”
He shakes his head with a soft smile. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
Something tells me he might if he felt it was necessary. Remi clears his throat. “Blame is irrelevant if the comte can’t find you. We know plenty of places you can hide.”
Remi’s not just offering to protect Simon, he’s acting like he intends to.
Oudin agrees. “Just lie low for a few days, and we’ll get you out of the city. I think I can keep Father from pursuing you too vigorously.”
“How?” I ask.
He smiles ironically. “Lambert and Juliane aren’t the only secrets our family would rather keep. And now I’m the only son left. He can’t afford to lose me.”
“So youwilltell him the truth.”
“Of course.”
Maybe my mind is addled by exhaustion, but I don’t understand. “A few seconds ago you said he won’t believe Lambert’s guilt.”
Oudin chuckles darkly. “Oh, he’ll believe it. He’ll just do anything to keep everyone else from finding out.”
“We need to be smart about it,” says Remi. “The price of our silence will be clearing Magister Thomas and setting him free.”
Movement and voices tell me the commotion we made is being investigated. “The guard is here,” I tell them. “Or will be in a matter of minutes. We can’t let any of them see Simon, even from the ground.”
“I’ll take care of that.” Remi pushes to his feet and offers Simon a hand. “I think the best place to put you is in the walkway around the center tower.”
After gently setting me against the wall, Simon accepts his help. “Any particular reason?” he asks.
Remi grins as he pats the ring of keys on his belt next to the two-colored braid of hair. “Because it’s behind two locked doors, and we’ll have to walk across the central rib of the vaulted ceiling. It’s unnerving if you don’t know it’s actually the most stable place to put weight.”
Simon shudders a little but gestures for Remi to lead. “You’re the expert on ceilings.”
The compliment isn’t lost on Remi, who gives me a brief nod of assurance. He knows I’d never forgive him if Simon is captured, but that’s not his primary motivation for helping, and that makes me happier. While Remi may struggle with some of the finer points of life, he always does what he believes is right. I knew that about him, yet I was more willing to believe he was the killer than Lambert. I’m not sure what that says about my judgment.
