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“What did they do to you,mon ange?”
“I’m fine,” she assured him, making an effort to gain her feet as he pulled her up. “I’m thirsty and tired.”
“You will drink the best champagne if only you run with me.”
He clasped her hand and pulled her out of the room. They had to step over the bodies of two guards who had been left behind to keep watch over her. Honoria stumbled after him. A bright light lit the sky, and she looked up to see green streak the darkness. Could the dauphin see the fireworks? Madame Élisabeth and Mademoiselle de Lambriquet? Did they know someone still cared?
Honoria’s legs crumpled, and she fell to her knees. She pushed up with her hands, trying to rise, but the world spun again and she had to lower her head and close her eyes to stop the wave of dizziness. “Go without me,” she told Laurent. “Please.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, lifting her into his arms and making her head swim so violently she felt nauseous. He started to run, carrying her, the dark stubble on his chin and the bold green of his eyes lit by the explosions in the sky. She laid her head on his chest, felt his heart beating hard. If they didn’t make it, she would go to her death remembering the feel of being held in his arms.
And then the night sky was obliterated by the shadows of trees and she was shoved into a carriage, rough hands taking hold of her and pulling her across the seat.
“Ready, monsieur?” a voice she recognized as Dewhurst’s asked.
“Take us away, my lord.”
A moment later the carriage lurched away, the sounds of the prison growing fainter as they distanced themselves. Laurent gathered her in his arms again and stroked her hair.
“We’ll be back at the safe house soon. We have to take the long route, but I promise when we arrive you’ll have food and water.”
She looked up at him and stroked his cheek. He was so handsome.
“I’ll probably scandalize Mademoiselle Martin because there is no way I’ll leave your side tonight.” He pulled her close in an embrace that took her breath away and made her grunt with pain. He looked down at her. “I will never leave you again.” He touched her jaw, and she knew it must be bruising because his light touch hurt. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“Scared you, did it?” she said with a smile.
“Terrified me. I love you, Honoria.”
She sucked in a breath. The dizziness, the fog the world had sat in seemed to dissipate and she could see him clearly in that moment. She had better not be dreaming. “Say it again,” she ordered.
“I love you,mon ange.” And he kissed her.
Twenty-Three
“If I am to understandcorrectly,” Ffoulkes said, pacing back and forth in the dining room of the safe house in the Rue du Jour. “You ignored a direct order from—” He gestured vaguely as he rarely risked speaking the name of the Scarlet Pimpernel aloud.
