AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“To hell with prudence. I will not let Marie-Thérèse languish in the godforsaken Temple another day.”
“And perhaps if I explain your determination—which I might add you aptly demonstrated when you kidnapped me—they might be willing to take action regardless. After all, if you and I act alone and fail, it will only make their mission to rescue the dauphin all the more difficult.”
“And if they refuse?”
“Then you and I proceed as planned.”
“How can I trust they won’t abduct me and send me to England?”
“I won’t allow it.” She sounded quite confident in her abilities.
“I have seen the men of the League. If Dewhurst thinks to send me back to England, you will have little to say about it.”
She raised her shoulders and let them drop. “That is a chance we will have to take. There will be a hundred more before we enter the Temple. At least this one may gain us support.”
“Or doom us.”
“In any case, I must go back if I’m to make the documents and papers you want. All of my materials are on the Rue du Jour. It takes special paper and seals to create a realistic forgery. I cannot simply sit down at your desk and cast magic spells.”
Laurent blew out a breath. He had thought of this, but he’d supposed they would purchase what they needed. Only he could hardly go out and about to shop for ink, paper, and the other supplies. He had been the very good friend of the king’s younger brother. Laurent’s face was familiar to many in Paris, and if he was seen he might be recognized.
“We were lucky with the Guard yesterday,” he said, thinking aloud. “How are we to make it across Paris again without garnering attention?”
She looked down at her skirts, tracing a pattern on them. “Do you have any money?”
She didn’t know of his plan to gather funds from whatever he had tucked away here. “I am certain I can find some coin stashed away in drawers or cabinets. I have valuables to sell if we need more.”
“Then we shall hire a carriage to take us to the Rue du Jour. We’ll make our own tricolor cockades and dress ourselves as patriots. No one will recognize us, and if we’re questioned, we’ll say we are stopping to visit a sick friend before going to see the executions at the Place de la Révolution.”
It was not a bad plan. He could admit that much. But it would mean going back to the safe house and reasoning with the League. He wanted to go to the princess and rescue her now. Today.
Laurent tamped down his impatience and reminded himself it would do the children no good if he was captured before he’d saved them. He would have to wait another day or so.
“Where are you to find patriotic clothing?” he asked. “I might have something I could wear, but I don’t have a wardrobe of women’s clothes.”
“I suppose I shall have to dress as a man then.” She waved a hand. “I am used to disguises.”
Laurent did not mention that she would make far too pretty a boy. He was ashamed to say he rather wanted to see her dressed in male garb.
Outside the sun had risen and the gray light of morning faded. “We had better begin if we want to use the executions as our story. They start between ten and noon,” she said.
He ran a hand through his hair. “I must disguise myself as a patriot so I am not killed when I leave my own house,” he muttered. “If this is liberty, I miss the days of tyranny.”
