She swallowed. Simon need not worry. She had no intention of throwing herself onto the guillotine platform. If she could just concentrate for a moment or two, all would become clear. She felt her head fall forward and her eyes close. She jerked herself awake again. “Perhaps if I just lie here, just for a moment?” She leaned to the side, the weight of her body pulling her down to the dirt floor.

Matteo gestured for a young lady to come forward. “Would you allow her to rest her head on your skirts?”

The young lady smiled and gently lifted Scarlet’s head, sliding her body beneath.

The bliss of sleep enveloped her. As she was slipping away into incoherence, a gentle thought reminded her, But we must escape. She countered, Yes, yes, we have time for that later. And Scarlet began to quietly snore.

***

“She has been ill for days and needs this rest. We can carry on without her, and she won’t feel the strain of trying to assist.”

Simon eyed him. “Trying to assist.” He shook his head. “Without her, we are nothing.” He stared at the wall for a moment. “But while she sleeps, we can try to reach our contacts here in the prison.”

“Abella. She never came—just left my door unlocked. I don’t know why.” Not for the first time, he worried for her safety.

Simon began talking with the group, analyzing their strengths. But Matteo felt a new sharp awareness. The more he thought about their plight, the more he realized the inevitable outcome and his own part to play.

A clang sounded at their door, the metallic turning of a key in the lock. A scrawny, rat-faced young man waved a group behind him into the room. Each person carried a tankard of water for the prisoners to share. Placing them on the filthy floor, the servants filed back out.

Simon approached them. “Wait.”

The rat-faced man ushered the others out and turned to Simon.

“A large group of men, impersonating soldiers. Do you know where they are being kept?”

“I might.”

“Is there a way to get word as to their whereabouts or to get a message to them?”

Rat face eyed him, almost squinting. “No. And now that I know your kind of aristocratic scum is looking for them, I’ll make sure no one else does either.” He spat on the floor in front of Simon and then walked out and locked the door behind him.

Night passed in the longest torture possible, dragging out by the seconds, measured in drops of water falling in the corner from some moisture in the ceiling. Scarlet woke and listened then slept again. The longer the night dragged, the more certain Matteo became of his options, and his angst turned into peace.

Chapter Thirty-Three