I almost chuckled. Almost. Unfortunately, without irritation to distract me, panic crept back in. I couldn’t magic us out of here, and Reid couldn’t break the bars physically. Perhaps I could shield us within the cage somehow, like I’d done on the bridge. If they couldn’t see us, they couldn’t march us to the stake. Even as the thought formed, I knew it was no real solution. We couldn’t hide here indefinitely, invisible. Perhaps if they opened the cage to investigate, however . . . “The others will come for us.” Whether I spoke to him or myself, I didn’t know.

“Philippe won’t let Jean Luc within fifty feet of this room.”

“It’s fortunate, then, that Jean Luc isn’t our only ally. Coco will know where we are. She’ll bring Claud or Zenna or Blaise, and they’ll break us out.”

He leveled me with a frank stare. “I don’t think you grasp the number of huntsmen living in this tower, Lou.”

Leaning forward, I rested my elbows on my knees. “I don’t think you grasp that I lived here too.”

“You did?” Surprise colored his tone. “How?”

“I was your wife. The Archbishop couldn’t have separated us, even if he wanted to—which he didn’t. He arranged the whole marriage.”

“Why?” Now he leaned forward too, his eyes trained on mine. Hungry for information. His earlier words echoed back to me: Tell me how to remember. If we were going to die at sunset, Coco’s argument hardly applied anymore, did it? Another mad idea formed on the heels of that realization. If Reid remembered, Morgane would too. If the others didn’t come for me, she would. She’d tear this tower apart brick by brick if she learned the Chasseurs intended to burn me.

Of course, Reid still had a point. She’d never been able to tear it apart before. Stripped of her title, she’d hardly be able to do it now.

“You know why.” I shrugged, the thoughts tangling into a helpless knot of confusion. My foot tapped restlessly. “I’m his daughter. He wanted you to protect me.”

He scoffed again, an angry sound, and gestured around us. “I’ve done an excellent job.”

“Our friends will come for us, Reid. We have to trust them.”

“Where are they, then? Why aren’t they here?”

“Hopefully they’re out rescuing your mother and brother. That was the whole point of the endeavor, if you remember.”

His face flushed, and he looked away. “Of course I remember.”