‘I hope not for ever. I hope you will reconsider your need to rebel against me.’
‘I’ll go back to Camille the first chance I get.’
Her father didn’t reply but she saw the edge of his mouth twitch.
‘She’s not worth your time or thoughts, Adalaide. She uses people, just like her father did.’
‘I went with her of my own free will.’
‘You didn’t see what I did. The girl was manipulating you, twisting your good, kind soul out of shape.’
‘We fell in love, Papa. I know that sort of thing is hard for you to understand.’
He shook his head. ‘She’s dangerous. I want you away from this battalion, they’re trouble. In that, my interests align with the duc’s. He wants his research back, and he believes your absence will motivate Camille to acquiesce to his demands.’
‘I don’t understand… How can that be?’ The duc had seen Olympe fall – why did they think she was alive?
‘I’m sorry, my dear, but your trick on the mountain didn’t work. The duc’s men saw the girl being smuggled away, quite alive. He’d hoped you’d realise she was more trouble than she’s worth and would hand her over in good faith. Unfortunately, you pulled another silly stunt. Camille’s idea, no doubt, but you left him no choice.’
Ada’s heart stuttered. No – they couldn’t have failed. All that work for nothing. And – oh god – Camille didn’t know.
She schooled her features into an expression of calm; she wouldn’t let her father get the better of her.
‘If you think holding me hostage will get Camille to hand over Olympe, it won’t work. You said it yourself, Camille will never choose me.’
‘The duc believes otherwise. My duty is to keep you safe. You’re my daughter. I brought you from Martinique, offered you an education and a place in the world that not many girls like you get the chance of. You should learn to take some advice and give up this fruitless rebellion. Camille du Bugue is not half the strategist she thinks she is. Let her fail on her own. Without you to help, she’s nothing.’
Ada regarded him coolly, crushing the bread to crumbs between her fingers in barely suppressed anger. ‘You think that’s a compliment, don’t you?’
‘I always wanted a clever child, but I see now it has many challenges.’ He smoothed the greying hair from his temples. ‘When I realised what you’d got mixed up with in this game of cat and mouse with the Royalists, I had to act. They are not good men, I know that only too well. Which means the duc won’t hold back in trying to get what they want. I couldn’t risk you getting caught up in that.’
‘That’s not your choice to make!’
It was then that her father’s temper finally broke.
‘Will you stop being so thoroughly selfish! Give up this hopeless fight. Let me protect you. Please, Ada. You know you’ll always have a place with me, whatever you do.’
Ada forced herself not to flinch, to meet his yellow-flecked eyes. She remembered fighting with him as a little girl, knowing that the moment would come when his affable demeanour disintegrated, and she stared at the churning mass of emotions and impulses that lay inside him, as it lay inside all people. She wanted to demand to know what was so wrong with loving Camille. But she knew it was pointless. So she lifted her chin as she had then, defiant and desperate.
‘I think you were right about Camille, is that what you want to hear?’ she said. ‘I know she won’t pick me. But I’m okay with that. I can still choose to fight for what I believe in for my own reasons.’
‘For god’s sake, this isn’t a revolution any longer. It’s a dictatorship. The Revolution was poisoned and left for dead by Robespierre and these fanatics. Can’t you see that? They think they can name as traitor anyone their paranoid minds tell them has turned against them, and murder without consequence. They no more respect the rule of law than the Roman tyrants did when their empire fell. I will not let France be dragged down under the weight of preening, arrogant fools. The tide is turning, Adalaide. Soon the moderates and reasonable men will rise and restore order and civilisation and we can actually get something done. There is no need for so much hungry violence. Why can’t we be calm and civil and discuss our ideas with respect for one another? Your mother would have understood that.’
And that was where Ada’s self-control broke.
‘My mother would have been ashamed of you,’ she snarled, eyes flashing. ‘You’re calm and civil because this doesn’t affect you. You’re not trapped and starving. I’ll sit down and shut up the day we’re equal, the day we’re all free. You just want people to stop causing you problems.’
Her father had withdrawn completely, hiding his emotions behind the calm facade of the rational philosopher. ‘You are young, and a woman. You do not have the same grasp of such things as those who have dedicated themselves to study and thought for decades. It is words like yours that damage the cause and set us far further back than if we had not started at all.’
‘I think you’re a coward.’ Her stomach was churning and she was glad she hadn’t eaten anything or she might have thrown up. ‘Mother would have thought so too.’
He rose, gathered up the tray and crossed to the door.
‘I knew you could be headstrong, but I never thought you would become cruel.’
She coiled back onto the bed, wrapping her arms around her legs, fighting the hot tears of injustice and loneliness that threatened to engulf her. The world was viciously, spitefully unfair and she hated it. She wasn’t going to let it drag her down, though. Camille might not choose her, but Ada was starting to understand why. There were bigger things than each other to choose. Olympe still needed them – and if they couldn’t put this right then the whole city, even France itself, could be in danger. The fight was more than just the two of them.
Her father would slip eventually, and she would be ready.
