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“No. There has to be another way. I won’t go into the sewers.” Rats lived in the sewers. Hundreds and hundreds of rats with their small eyes and their long pink tails. Her body began to shake. “I can’t go there.”
“Then I’ll carry you.” He bent to lift her, but she skittered out of his reach.
“No. Just leave me.”
“Never.” His green eyes held hers steadily.
“Why not? You already signed my arrest warrant. Did you save me only to allow the rats to eat me?”
“No rats will touch you. I swear it. Gabrielle, there’s no time—“He reached for her.
“Then why? Why are you doing this?”
“Because…” He push his palm against his forehead. “Because I love you.”
She was so stunned at the words she didn’t move when he grasped her arm, didn’t protest when he pulled her into his embrace and kissed her. His hands cupped her cheeks and he pressed his forehead to hers. “I thought I lost you. I won’t lose you again.”
He loved her. And yet he’d tried to have her killed. None of it made any sense.
“Please,” he said, his breath warm where it fluttered against her temple. “Come with me. Trust me. This one time.”
He pulled at her arm, but she resisted, thoughts of rats still swirling about in her mind.
“You’ll be safe, Gabrielle. I swear it.”
And she believed him. Finally, she allowed him to lead her past the wax figures, through the back door, into a small room where he pushed a rug aside and lifted a door set into the floor. Gabrielle’s heart pounded painfully in her chest, but she followed him down into a cellar dimly lit by a lamp that had been left hanging on a nail. Ramsey lifted the lamp and opened another door in the floor. The smell of rot and decay caused Gabrielle to step back. She gagged and covered her mouth.
“Try not to breathe through your nose,” Ramsey instructed. “I’ll go first.”
He stepped down, his head, then his body slowly disappearing. Now was the time to run if she wanted to escape. Now was her chance to flee.
But where would she go? Outside, the insatiable Madame Guillotine waited. Down below, rats and God knew what else waited.
If she ran now, she would surely die. If she followed Ramsey, she might live. She might be attacked and eaten by rats, but that was slightly preferable to the Parisian mobs.
She had no other choice.
She stepped into the doorway.
—
“What took you so long?”
Gabrielle stepped off the last slimy ladder rung and spun around at the sound of the familiar voice. “Alex!” she gasped, trying not to gag at the overwhelming smell of shit.
Alex handed her a handkerchief, similar to the one she held over her nose. “Use this.”
Gabrielle put it to her nose, inhaling the faint fragrance of roses. Now the sewer smelled like shitandroses.
“We had a slight disagreement about our escape route,” Ramsey said, his voice muffled by the handkerchief over his own nose.
“No time for disagreements. Follow me. Hastings is waiting for us.” She began to move at a brisk walk, holding the lantern in front of her. Ramsey gestured for Gabrielle to go next, and he brought up the rear.
“Who is Hastings?”
Alex ignored the question, which Gabrielle should have expected. Hastings was most likely another member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Alex would be unlikely to reveal anything but his name, and only because that information had been necessary at the moment.
Her question might not have been answered, but Gabrielle couldn’t stop herself from asking another. Anything to keep her mind off the scurrying sounds around her and the dark shapes darting away from the thin beam of light.
