She batted the thoughts away. No matter how she felt about him, she was going to protect her sister and her friends, and if that meant betraying Wolfgang, then so be it. Nothing ran thicker than blood, and she loved Elise more than anything or anyone in the world.

“There’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about, too,” she started, hesitantly.

“Go on,” he said.

She looked down at how shiny his black boots were and found herself wondering if he polished them himself as he passed her on the narrow part of the track. But she quickly forgot his boots as she realized it was her chance to leave the scarf, her sign for Elise. She unlooped it then as he moved ahead, quickly letting it slip from her fingers to catch on a branch while his back was to her.

“Addy, what were you going to tell me?” Wolfgang asked, suddenly turning back around. Her heart sank when she saw him look past her and frown. “Isn’t that your scarf back there? Did you drop it?”

Adelaide feigned surprise as he brushed past her to retrieve it, taking it from him, knowing she had no choice but to accept it. She could feel everything starting to unravel and a bead of sweat broke out on her top lip. “Thank you. Silly me.”

He gave her a strange look but kept walking, and she took his arm, trying to stay calm.

She’d been going to tell him that there were rumors of Allied soldiers, send him in the wrong direction, anything to keep him and his men away from her home, and she knew it would be plausible if she kept her head. He had no reason not to believe her; she had his trust, and she’d also already brought a British soldier to him. All those nights worrying that Peter might have given them away had been for nothing; he’d clearly kept his mouth shut. Either that or he wasn’t alive any longer.

And she had to do it soon, before it was too late. She’d already taken too long deliberating to waste another minute.

“Commander!”

The shout was loud, and two soldiers came running toward them. Adelaide jumped back from him, not sure whether he wanted to be seen with her so intimately cuddled against him, but he reached for her hand and kept her close.

“It had better be important.” His voice was more growl than anything, but the two men were not deterred.

She swallowed, instinctively clutching Oscar’s lead.

“Commander, there’ve been reports of two men on the run. They’re not from around here, and we suspect they’re Allied soldiers.”

Wolfgang’s hand pulled away from hers as he gave the soldiers his full attention, and she wished the ground would open up and swallow her. It had to be Jack and Harry.

“Where were they coming from?” Wolfgang asked.