Maybe he was right and she was being naïve, but it was hard for her to make sense of it all. Tears swam in her vision then, but she didn’t want to acknowledge them in case Elise saw.

“Tell us what he said.” Elise was looking worried.

Adelaide noticed that her sister was angled away from Harry, not looking at him and certainly not appearing overly friendly.

“He said that the British soldiers are gone, evacuated from the beach at Dunkirk in their thousands,” she said. “And he also told me . . .” Addy took a deep breath as Elise and Harry seemed to hang on her every word. “He also said that the German army is here to stay, that they’re expecting to occupy our country, and that our government will turn France over to Hitler within days.” Adelaide couldn’t hold her tears back then; they fell rapidly down her cheeks. “The French army has as good as surrendered, and there’s no other country coming to save us, which means our alliance with Wolfgang could mean everything to us. He might be able to keep us safe.”

“He told you he’d keep us safe?” Elise asked.

“Yes,” she whispered.

Harry went quiet before turning and walking straight back upstairs. “I’ll go and tell Jack the news. But Adelaide?”

She waited for him to speak, saw the anger in him as he balled his fists at his side.

“Using this Nazi is one thing, but don’t forget who he is. Every single man in my regiment had a family, too. They were all sons, husbands, brothers and sweethearts. They were men who deserved better than to be slaughtered while their own captain held a white goddamn flag.” Tears were glistening in Harry’s eyes now, his pain so real and raw that Adelaide felt a fool. “That man you’re flirting with? One day he’ll be called to answer for what he did, because as long as I survive, I will never forget. Never.”

As he left, Elise opened her arms and hugged her, holding her tight as Addy cried into her hair, her body shaking. Was she being naïve to think Wolfgang wasn’t capable of murdering Harry’s friends in cold blood? Or was she right, and Harry just wanted to blame him because he wore the same uniform as the man who’d given the order that day?

“We’re going to be fine, Addy, I promise you,” Elise whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry I’ve been so short-tempered with you, I just hate sitting at home, worried about whether you’re safe or not. Whether you’ll even make it back home. But I trust you. There’s no way someone as sweet as you would ever fall for a monster like Wolfgang.”