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“You saidmore pleasant. I always findMacbethmore pleasant thanHamlet.” She held her hands up to ward him off as she must have read murder in his expression. “Very well. ?For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother, be he ne’er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition; and gentlemen in England’—or perhaps I should say France?—?now abed shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap—’”
“At least their manhoods are warm,” he interrupted. “Do you know no plays but Shakespeare?”
“Of course, but I do know how much you enjoy Shakespeare.” She smiled thinly.
He sat again, leaning one elbow on his knee. “You really do hate me.”
“Excessively.”
“Is it because I kissed you?”
“What has that do to with anything?”
“You liked it. You cannot be a very good royalist if you enjoy kissing a revolutionary.”
“Perhaps you are not a very good revolutionary if you enjoy kissing a royalist.” She shivered and rubbed her arms to try and keep warm.
“Mark me well, citoyenne. I am a very good revolutionary. I do not agree with some of the policies of the current faction in power, but nothing could persuade me to attach myself to this plan to rescue Citoyen Capet.”
“My mistake. I thought you had a heart somewhere under that layer of ice.” Her teeth chattered as she spoke.
“If my soul is cold, it is the nobility you want me to rescue that made it so. Do you see this scar on my chin?” He pointed to the scar that still pained him at times, including tonight when the weather was cold and damp. “I have this as a reminder of the night my family was killed and I was attacked.”
“And no one will blame you for wanting revenge, but others who have suffered as you have will also tell you that revenge fuels a fire while forgiveness extinguishes it.” She stood and paced, hands running up and down her arms. “Do you want to sleep at night, monsieur? Then forgive the men who hurt you and make amends for the horrors you have inflicted on the people of France.”
“Ihave inflicted? I am not on the Tribunal. I have not condemned a single man, woman, or child.”
“Nor have you stood for any. A child is suffering in the Temple—”
“Iwas little more than a child.Isuffered.”
“And you will never stop feeling like a victim until you stop feeling sorry for yourself and find a cause greater than yourself. Believe me. I know.” She turned away from him, but not before he caught the sheen of tears in her eyes.
“You know?” he said softly.
Still facing away from him, she shook her head. “Do you think you are the only person ever to suffer at the hands of men more powerful than yourself? Do you think you are the only one to have your innocence ripped away from you?”
He rose. “Alexandra.” He would have gone to her, but she held up a hand.
“Do me the courtesy of not pitying me. I did not pity you.” She spun around, and tears sparkled on her cheeks. “And do you know why? Because you are stronger than the events of that night. You are more than an act of violence and humiliation. Look how far you have come. Look at the power you now wield. How will you use it, Chevalier? To hurt or to heal?”
He didn’t have the answers. He wasn’t even certain he understood the question. “Do you want to talk about what happened to you?” he asked.
“No.” She began pacing again. “Not withyou. Right now I want nothing more than to stop shivering and dry off!” She said the last with an accusatory glare at the leaking roof above her.
“Come here,” he murmured.
She glanced at him, her eyes wary. “Why?”
“Because I think I know a way we can both be warm.”
“If this is a plan to seduce me—”
“It’s only an embrace.” He raised his brows at her. “Even royalists need to share the warmth of a body once in a while.”
“Fine.”
He opened his arms and she almost stepped into them. She paused and narrowed her eyes. “But do not attempt to kiss me.”
