“It’s me they’re after,” she said. “I was seen listening outside a room in which officers were talking.”
“This way!” Malcolm took a sharp right toward the gate, but then suddenly, he changed course, slipping down the narrow way between the building and the wrought iron fence on the river’s side of the palace. There were steps down to the quay, if they could just reach the other side of the enclosure.
“We’re trapped,” she said, feeling her heart hammering.
Without hesitating, Malcolm pulled her forward. “There is a way over the fence. I have a friend who has made sure of it.”
Ignoring the yelling behind them, they used a perfectly placed crate as a stool to clamber over the iron fence, the only casualty being the hem of Serena’s dress, which got caught upon one of the spikes, tearing as she jumped down the other side.
Crossing the Quai du Louvre, they ran toward the Pont Royal to cross the Seine, where they could disappear into the streets of the Left Bank.
“There are guards ahead,” Malcolm said, grabbing her hand. Instead of venturing onto the bridge, he dragged her down the steps beside the quay to the Port Saint Nicholas and directly into the path of three men.
Chapter Eighteen
After a moment of abjectterror, Serena breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized two of those who now stood before her.
“Excuse us,mes amis,” she said to Guillaume and Jean-Paul. “We are in a hurry.” Behind her, she could hear shrill whistling and the calls to apprehend “les espions!”
Malcolm started to push past the men, but they barred his path.
“Are youwiththis man?” Guillaume demanded.
“With him?” she asked. “What do you mean?”
“He is English!” he spat out. “Felicity told me. He is the tall man from Café des Aveugles. Clearly, he seeks to overthrow our emperor. So I ask again, are you with him, thisbaker?” Guillaume said the word with scorn, knowing Malcolm was in disguise. “Serena, do you side with the Seventh Coalition?”
She hesitated. However, her loyalties were not torn. She stood with her family always. And her grandparents stood for peace over any temporary ruler. They’d always worked to maintain or restore peace in any way they could, no matter the regime, republic, empire, or kingdom.
“Je suis pour la France!”Serena told him firmly and tried to push past.
Guillaume’s hands were suddenly restraining her, holding her by the shoulders.
“Then why are you helping him?” he gestured his head toward Malcolm, who quick as a whip, knocked Guillaume backward with a shove to his shoulder, effectively freeing her.
Guillaume bristled, raising his large, fisted hands in front of him. “If you are by his side, helping him to escape, then you are not for France!”
