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But that wasn’t true. She needed to know she could trust someone. She felt so incredibly alone. Everywhere she turned there was danger. Alex couldn’t risk helping Gabrielle any more than she had. Sir Andrew was gone. And Ramsey…
He told her himself she couldn’t trust him. She should believe him. But he continued to contradict himself. He continued to be there when she needed him.
She looked down at her cockade with the information about le Saphir Blanc. Could she steal it herself? If she were in London, she would have answered unequivocally yes.
But here? In France? She was not so certain. It seemed here her luck had turned.
Ramsey’s face came into focus, and she realized he was kneeling in front of her. “You should go lie down.”
“No. The comtesse needs me. The Scarlet Pimpernel has entrusted me with a mission. Tonight we steal le Saphir Blanc.”
“Then Ffoulkes was able to give you the information as to its whereabouts.”
Gabrielle unpinned the cockade. Pressed behind the ornament was a small slip of paper with a red flower on the outside.
She opened the paper.
The writing was the same as that on the papers directing her to board theFugitive. Did that mean the Scarlet Pimpernel was in France? Had he seen her? Had she passed him and not known him?
She studied the words on the paper, taking a moment to switch her mind from French to the English written on the page.
The White Sapphire is kept in a locked desk drawer in Robespierre’s office at the Hôtel de Ville. He will be detained tonight from midnight until two in the morning. Steal the bracelet and bring it to Citoyen Toulan at La Force at eight in the morning.
“What does it say?” Ramsey asked.
She handed him the paper. If she could not trust him, then she was doomed long before now. She had doomed herself the first time she ever saw him. She remembered meeting him in George’s drawing room—now her drawing room—and feeling a sudden connection to him. Feeling as though she had known him all of her life.
She had felt that she should go to him and embrace him, as one did a long-lost friend. Only propriety and George’s sweet smiling expression had stopped her. She had always imagined Sedgwick would have been shocked had she done what she imagined, but now she was not so sure. He had not been shocked at her behavior in Exeter’s greenhouse.
He had not been shocked to find her in the Duchess of Beaumont’s boudoir. He was not shocked that she was handing him a missive from the Scarlet Pimpernel.
“We act tonight then,” he said, looking up.
“There’s a curfew,” Alex said from the door. She held up a hand. “I don’t want to know what you’re doing or where, but I heard there’s a curfew at ten tonight. They’ve closed the theaters to make certain everyone is at home. I expect there will be more domiciliary visits.”
“Are they still searching for the duc de Courtenay?” Gabrielle asked.
Alex smiled. “If so, they won’t find him.” She was looking at Gabrielle’s boots. “It looks as though you’ve had a productive day. Anyone interesting meet our National Razor today?”
“We didn’t stay long,” Ramsey said. “How do we get around the patrols? Unfortunately, our business takes us out after ten.”
Alex tilted her head. “There are two ways to avoid the patrols.” She held up a finger. “One, be where you need to go before the curfew. Or two”—she held up another finger—“hide in the sewers.”
“With therats?” Gabrielle hadn’t meant to blurt her thoughts out, but she couldn’t seem to stop the words from spewing forth.
“Sometimes we hide enemies of the republic in the catacombs, but the entrances are more difficult to find than those to the sewers.”
“More rats,” Gabrielle said.
“Are you afraid of rats?” Alex asked. “They’re mostly harmless. Far less dangerous than the tribunal or Madame Guillotine.”
“I’m not afraid,” Gabrielle said, but she could feel Ramsey’s gaze on her. She made a point of not meeting his eyes, afraid he would see right through her.
“Good.” Alex turned to leave. “Be careful,” she said over her shoulder. “And good luck. You’ll need it.”
It was only later that Gabrielle realized Ramsey had not kept his appointment with the solicitor in the Palais-Royal. By then she had learned the truth.
Chapter 13
