Henri’s throat worked for a moment. “I’m saying that I never wanted you to leave me, Emile, but I’ve come to understand that I have to let you go. You need to escape and forget all about me and this accursed family.”
“But how could I ever forget you?” I asked, reaching through the bars for him. “Henri, I … I’ll come back for you.”
“And you’ll be in no better place than before.” Henri shook his head. “No. You must disappear, at least for a time. You will never be safe so long as my uncle watches for you.”
“I can’t do that, Henri.” I felt my throat closing. Tears welled in my eyes. “I can’t just leave you like this.”
“You can, and you will,” Henri said. He clasped my hand and held it, looking me in the eyes with tenderness. “I love you, Emile. And I wish you well. Have a good life, the life you deserve.”
“Henri …”
Henri dropped my hand and turned away. “Get him out of here, sister. Make sure he gets to safety.”
“Henri,” I repeated. “Please, Henri …”
Blanche dragged me away with more strength than I imagined her capable of. She led me back the way we’d come, and dazed, I allowed her.
A few minutes later, I was sitting in a chair at her vanity, staring at my reflection in her mirror. Could I do it? Could I leave my aunt to the mercy of Montoni? Could I leave my friends behind? Could I leave Henri behind and simply move on with my life? “Blanche, this isn’t right.”
Blanche stood over me from behind. She reached forward and hugged me. “Honey, it’s the only way this ends well for any of us. Me, my brother … we can’t escape the curse. Butyoucan. And knowing that you’re out there somewhere, thriving, would make it bearable. For both of us.”
I swallowed hard. “My aunt … I can’t let her die here.”
“Don’t you worry about your aunt. My uncle will be so distracted by your escape that it’ll give me a window to spirit her from Udolpho. I promise to make sure she gets away from here. But I am sending Annette with you. It’s become too dangerous here, and I need to ensure her safety as well. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her.”
I nodded slowly. The tears came then, and I buried my face in my hands. “I can’t just leave him, Blanche. I can’t.”
“We need you to live,” Blanche soothed me, stroking my arm. “That’s the best we can do right now. Maybe someday, years from now …” She let her voice trail off, neither of us believing the lie.
“I’ll miss you too,” I said, drying my eyes with my sleeve. “You’ve been a good friend.”
Blanche smiled thinly. “Thank you for saying that, but I haven’t been proud of some of my choices. I should never have been willing to trade your happiness for my own compromised freedom.”
I patted her hand and we gazed at each other in the mirror for a moment.
“Now,” Blanche said, clearing her throat, “we need to get you ready.”
“Ready?”
She nodded. “For your escape.”
I watched her warily as she pulled a dress from her wardrobe.
“And what did you have in mind?” I asked.
Blanche grabbed scissors from her vanity and winced as she held it to a lock of her hair, as if poised to lose a limb. “You are going to leave this castle as me.”
The scissors made a loud snipping sound, and I watched a long lock of blonde hair fall to the ground.
I stared at my reflection. I did good work. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but with a cloak, and a hood pulled low over my face, I could perhaps pass as Blanche. I puckered my red lips and resisted the urge to touch my powdered face. Blanche tucked another lock of her hair inside my hood, and I winced as I eyed her severed hair. It wasn’t cut evenly. It was crude and … terribly short. It actually kind of suited her, but it needed to be cleaned up, desperately.
“There’s no way your uncle won’t know you helped me,” I pointed out.
“And it’s too late now,” Blanche retorted, grinning at me. She patted the edges of her hair, scowling. “I won’t do as good a job as you, but I’ll fix it as best as I can.” She straightened. “Now, remember: You need to go into town to be measured for adjustments on a dress for the upcoming nuptials, since that scoundrel of a marquis has agreed to marry you.”
“A scoundrel, am I?”
She ignored me. “Annette will do all of the speaking for you, since a lady shouldn’t have to speak about fittings and the like to a servant, and if the point is pushed, you have a cold and lost your voice. Annette will accompany you, but they will send a driver with you. You will need to keep up appearances until you get to the village, at the very least. Hopefully, when you don’t return to the carriage, and the driver returns to inform my uncle, it will be far too late to track you down.”
