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Back Dangerous Remedy
Chapters (86)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Contents
  7. Paris, June 1794
  8. PART ONE
  9. 1
  10. 2
  11. 3
  12. 4
  13. 5
  14. 6
  15. 7
  16. PART TWO
  17. 1
  18. 2
  19. 3
  20. 4
  21. 5
  22. 6
  23. 7
  24. 8
  25. 9
  26. 10
  27. 11
  28. 12
  29. PART THREE
  30. 1
  31. 2
  32. 3
  33. 4
  34. 5
  35. 6
  36. 7
  37. 8
  38. 9
  39. 10
  40. 11
  41. 12
  42. 13
  43. 14
  44. 15
  45. 16
  46. 17
  47. PART FOUR
  48. 1
  49. 2
  50. 3
  51. 4
  52. 5
  53. 6
  54. 7
  55. 8
  56. 9
  57. 10
  58. 11
  59. PART FIVE
  60. 1
  61. 2
  62. 3
  63. 4
  64. 5
  65. 6
  66. 7
  67. PART SIX
  68. 1
  69. 2
  70. 3
  71. 4
  72. 5
  73. 6
  74. 7
  75. 8
  76. 9
  77. 10
  78. 11
  79. 12
  80. 13
  81. 14
  82. Postscript
  83. A Ship in Le Havre Port
  84. Acknowledgements
  85. About the Author
  86. About Zephyr

The duc levelled a cold glare at her. ‘I do not take kindly to being tricked. If you won’t give me the girl sensibly, I will take things into my own hands. And your father is going to help me.’

He walked away into the crowds.

Ada looked at her father, eyebrows shooting up in disbelief.

He gave her a strained smile. ‘Time to leave, Adalaide. Things have gone too far – all of this,’ he gestured to the ragged remains of the festival, ‘has gone too far. It’s time some order was restored.’

‘But – but you hate the old system. You don’t want the monarchy back, I know you.’

‘You’re right. I don’t.’

‘Then why on earth are you working with them? We have to stop them!’

‘No, darling. I have to stop you. It’s the only way to keep you safe. The duc has promised me you will be.’

It took a long moment for his words to sink in. To let the truth stitch itself together.

She almost laughed. It was too much. And yet, it made a terrible sense. Her father had always done whatever he thought necessary to achieve his goal, even when her mother died and they were alone in the world, when they came back to Paris and struggled to survive while he set up his publishing house. He’d published the Revolutionaries’ work, but maybe it had always only been a means to an end.

Just like now. He was doing whatever he thought he had to to get her back. She nearly laughed. He must really think he was doing the right thing to protect his daughter.

‘Let me go!’

‘Shhh, there now.’ He pulled her tight against his body, her back nestled against his front. He’d held her like this in the days after her mother died, when her sobbing wracked her body so she thought she might snap in half.

A shiver of pure anger sparked in her.

‘Traitor,’ she spat, then a cold, noxious-smelling cloth closed over her nose and mouth.

She wriggled and thrashed, trying desperately to twist away. She sucked in foul-tasting air through the rag, and her head began to spin.

As her knees gave, she felt herself being lowered to the ground. But then she was gone, spinning eternally into a cold, black pit.

All she could think was that she didn’t want it to end like this.

7

At the Top of the Mountain

In the empty space where Olympe had stood, Camille felt her heart break. The last thing she’d seen was Olympe’s eyes, pooled with inky black. Then the recoil of her pistol had smacked into her.

Olympe was gone and her gun felt hot in her hand.

Molyneux was leaning over the edge, yelling something she couldn’t make out. Comtois had fled, scrambling down the path to hunt for the body.