I bite the inside of my cheek, harder and harder until warm, rusty blood slides down my throat. I’d scream if I could. Even if I wanted to return to the Louvre, it’s impossible now. Mother knows I’ve been with the royals. The only way she will welcome me back is if I lead her to this hideout. Or if I kill them myself and return to the Louvre bearing their heads on a platter. It would be my ticket, my sanctuary. With that one act, I would secure her throne, become her favorite daughter and a hero to the Shadow Society.
“We’re out of options. Out of time,” the boy I healed says. “I say we abandon this hellhole and seek refuge and allies in Savoy. Between the two of us, perhaps we can best the rebels at the blockades.”
“You honestly think we can battle a dozen guards?”
The boy flashes a cocky grin. “Iamcaptain of the watch now.”
Of course he’s a police captain. Only an officer would be so cruel and calculating. The screams of his comrades near drove me to tears during the siege of the Louvre, but now I happily imagine Lesage’s smoke beasts tearing this deplorable boy into a million bits. Guilt slowly creeps in and I scold myself for entertaining such wicked thoughts.
The bastard princeling casts a sidelong glance down the tunnel. “Do you think the girls can make it that far? They can hardly sit upright.”
“What other choice do we have?”
“She could help them, how she helped you… .”
The officer rubs the back of his neck. “She made it perfectly clear she won’t help. I say we finish her off, dump her in the Seine, and leave at first light.”
“First light?” the princeling sputters. “We haven’t any supplies or transportation. And we can’t simply dump her in the river. She helped us; I won’t have her blood on my hands.”
“Better hers than ours.” The officer turns on his heel and knocks the princeling’s shoulder as he saunters down the tunnel. “Like you said, she’s half dead already. It will only behalfour fault.”
I close my eyes and press against the jagged floor until pain blossoms across my forehead. If I do nothing, the royals will kill me at first light. If I return to the Louvre without their bodies in tow, Mother will do the same.
This is hopeless. Impossible.
Nothing is impossible.Father’s defiant voice pricks my memory.Think!
My heartbeat quickens. My thoughts whir. In an abstract way, my situation is similar to developing new compounds in the laboratory. All I have to do is run the calculations, find the proper ingredients, and make the circumstances combine to my benefit.
Alchemy in its purest form.
Here’s what I know: The bastard can’t afford to kill me. Not while his sisters need my antidote.
Letting out a breath, I drag myself up from the ground like a corpse rising from the dead. “Your plan will never work,” I say. “Not without my help.”
8
JOSSE
La Voisin’s daughter arrests me with those fathomless black eyes. Crimson blood trails from a scrape on her forehead and drips off her chin. It makes the hairs on my arms stand on end. “Y-you’re alive,” I stutter like a fool. “I thought—”
“Now that the horrid police captain is gone, perhaps we can speak reasonably, princeling.” She accentuates the title.
I cough and reel back. “How do you know—”
Her grin spreads wider. “You bound my hands, not my ears. Such a pity Anne and Françoise are unwell. Are the dauphin and the madame royale ailing as well? These foul accommodations can’t be helping matters.”
Indignation burns my cheeks, and I drag a hand through my hair. What I really want to do is shout. Or punch something. Why did I slip and say their names? Another costly mistake. The more I fidget and mutter, the more the girl smiles. I draw a deep breath and blow it out through my nose.Be calm.
“I’ve learned better than to negotiate with your kind.” I wave at the crumpled missive from her mother. “La Voisin doesn’t want you, which means you are useless.”
I turn on my heel, retrieve my hat from the floor, and slam it over my head. Rivulets of dirty water stream down my face and drench my coat. Fantastic. On top of everything, I’ll have a soggy, sleepless night.
“I’m not useless.” The girl’s ragged voice chases me down the tunnel. “Theyneed me. Your sisters.”
“We need nothing from you,” I retort.
We both know it’s a lie.
