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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

Camille shut the door behind her and shut away the pang of homesickness for a life long gone.

But the memory of James’s lips against hers lingered still.

2

The Parlour, Au Petit Suisse

Oh God, fiancé.

Ada could barely draw in a ragged breath around the shock.

She watched this stranger call Camille ‘Cam’, reach for her hand, move into her space as if he belonged there. Her Cam, hers to touch and tease and snap at and love. Couldn’t he tell Camille was incredibly uncomfortable? Why did he keep holding her hand? If he was her fiancé he should be able to tell when she was uncomfortable.

Ada really disliked him.

Camille bundled him out of the parlour, and Ada sank onto a chaise longue, burying her face in her hands.

A chair scraped against the floor followed by the glug of liquid into a glass.

‘Chin up, Ada.’ Al set the glass on the arm of her seat. ‘I think he’s about to get dumped.’

Ada made an incoherent noise into her hands. ‘She wrote him letters. Even after we came here, she wrote to him. I’m such an idiot.’

‘Oh, I don’t think so. It’s common enough in monied circles to have a few side pieces. I wouldn’t worry yourself about this Teutonic slab of British beef.’ He tossed her a walnut. ‘Not very subtle. You get bored of boys like him quickly enough.’

The walnut hit her head and dropped into her lap.

‘Oh my god.’

‘I think my mother had about three of his type a week. They’d always turn up with pineapples and ice cream and toys for us children, and then I’d never see them again. It’s actually probably a good thing she decided I was a disgusting aberration, or she’d steal all my boyfriends.’

‘Al, can you please shut up right now.’

‘What? I’m trying to help.’

Raised voices came from the other room.

‘I told you. Definitely breaking his heart as we speak.’

They listened to the muffled argument. Then a door slammed, and Camille reappeared.

For a beat, Ada thought about going to her. It felt a lifetime ago that she was rushing across the room to kiss a river-soaked Camille.

Then she thought about James kissing Camille, as he probably had. More than once. Ada stared at her feet. Fiancé. She felt so spectacularly stupid. She could feel everyone staring at her out of the corner of their eye.

Well, everyone but Camille.

‘This man ... James,’ started Guil. ‘Can you trust him?’

Ada was grateful to him for breaking the silence. And that he didn’t say fiancé. She didn’t know what she’d do if she heard that word again.

‘I’m still thinking about it.’

‘We could use an ally—’

‘I’m not talking about him now.’ Camille cut him off.

The battalion sat in silence, so many questions hanging unspoken between them.