Estelle set her bag down in the grass and crouched in front of Sophie’s brother. She looked up at him and sucked in a sharp breath. He was painfully thin, his face gaunt, with dark shadows beneath his eyes that could not hide the same magnificent bone structure that had made his sister a Nordic princess and, in a different time, would have made this man a Nordic prince. He had the same arresting, pale eyes as Sophie but, unlike his sister, Will’s were empty and flat, his pupils mere pinpoints.

Morphine, no doubt. Estelle had seen it a million times in the field, along with the muddled confusion and disorientation that came with it. In truth, it probably didn’t matter what she said to William Seymour in this moment because he probably wouldn’t even remember any of it.

His hands lay listlessly atop the blanket that covered his lap. His bony knees jutted out beneath the blanket, and on the right, a booted foot rested on the ground below. On the left, there was nothing but an empty space.

“Hello, William,” Estelle said quietly. She reached out and gathered his hands in hers. His skin was cold and clammy to the touch, and if he objected to her gesture, he didn’t show it. Estelle was quite certain he wasn’t even aware she was there.

“I was a friend of your sister,” she started. “She talked about you a great deal, and I could tell how much she loved you.” Her fingers tightened on his, as if she could make him acknowledge her by touch. “I didn’t know Sophie long but I wanted to tell you how brave she was. How smart and selfless and brilliant she was. I admired her, William, so much. I didn’t get the chance to tell her this so I’m telling you.”

Estelle stopped talking, her throat closing on her again. William didn’t stir.

“She saved my life,” Estelle whispered. “She saved so many lives. Almost no one will ever know what she did. What she accomplished.”

Because it had been Estelle who had watched the promised Lizzie drop from the sky at an alarming angle to land in a moonlit field. The little plane had been guided in by Vivienne’s resistance fighters, and after touching down, the pilot did not shut off the engine. Estelle had been waved aboard, along with a man who identified himself only as Henri.