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Back The Guardian of Lies Save as PDF
Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  18. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  20. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  21. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  42. CHAPTER FORTY
  43. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  52. Acknowledgements
  53. ‘The Survivors’ Ad
  54. ‘The Betrayal’ Ad
  55. ‘The Liberation’ Ad
  56. Copyright

I jerked back. Tried to run. An elbow thudded into my back, a foot hooked around my ankle. I stumbled, scrabbling on all fours, fingernails clawing at the concrete to find a hold. My body braced itself for limbs to be blown apart but, when the explosion came, it wasn’t what I expected. I heard the boom all right. But then it felt like being hit by a truck from behind. I crashed to the ground face-first and crimson pain seemed to scorch right up inside my head. I knew I must be standing at the mouth of hell.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

I risked opening one eye a crack. The light was dim and I could taste blood on my teeth. I opened my other eye. Not a good move. Pain turned into blinding light inside my head. I closed my eyes, waited till I could catch hold of a few ricocheting thoughts and attach them together, then opened my eyes again.

A sense of grief sat heavy on my chest, crushing my ribs, but I didn’t know why. It took me a full minute to work out that I was in my own bed in my own bedroom and that the grunting noise I could hear was my own breathing. I tried to pull together the images spinning through my mind but they kept splintering apart again and again until the only one I was left with was Mademoiselle Madeleine Caron on her knees, blood darkening her blouse and seeping from her mouth. Her eyes huge with rage. And hate.

I raised a hand to my face and found a bandage on my forehead, a dressing on my nose, and as I touched it with cautious fingertips I swore under my breath.

Léon? Where was Léon? Was he hurt? An image of him lying bleeding on the ground tore through my mind, but surely he’d been too far back with the colonel. Dimly I dragged forward the memory of him in conversation. He must be safe. But . . . I could still see a blurred image . . . of a dark uniform shredded.

‘Please.’ I whispered the word out loud to give it strength. ‘Please let him be safe.’

‘Who do you mean, Eloïse?’

My head rolled to the side. A man’s face broke into a thousand pieces and slowly re-formed. Amber eyes. Sandy hair. A look of concern softening his features.

‘André,’ I murmured.

André was seated in a chair beside my bed. He was smoking a cigarette and had a book open on his lap. Even though I couldn’t see its cover, I knew by the extreme thickness of it that it was Les Misérables. He reached out, slotted my hand in his and closed his fingers around mine. His were warm, mine were cold.

‘That was close, little sister.’ He squeezed my hand. ‘Too close.’ He leaned forward and kissed my head.