Page 58 of A Night of Secret Surrender
‘What the hell are you talking of?’
‘This.’ He held out his hand and Shay saw half his ring finger was missing, too. ‘And this.’ The light finally rested on the ruined flesh of his face. ‘She came back to Paris and accused the head of Les Chevaliers and me of treason. Surely you had heard? Benet was convicted and he hanged. He was made an example of for the death of the Dubois family.’
‘He ordered them dead?’
‘For his own benefit, apparently. He was due a good deal of money on the death of Dubois and had seen fit to collect early. Even Napoleon has his limits of depravity, I expect, and with the deepening political crisis in the Empire, there is little leeway to absolve those who break the rules. Henri Clarke vouched for me, though an agent from Benet’s coven took matters into his own hands when I was first accused and hence the damage. Les Chevaliers was disbanded subsequently, as were four other deep-level intelligence agencies, so the results of these allegations were far-reaching. The Ministries of War and Police were both well-suited by the total destruction of their competition.’
Such unsettling news left Shay reeling, his breath hitching in shock. Yet Aurelian was still not quite finished.
‘When your companion opened her mouth to anyone who would listen, I had a feeling she did not care much about her longevity, so perhaps for her it was a way out, too.’
‘And she died because of it?’ He could barely ask the question.
‘She disappeared, but she is most likely dead. An unmarked grave on the edge of town and the problem of her existence solved. Breaking silence on your superiors is hardly a wise personal choice and the stigma of betrayal is never forgotten, especially if you are a member of the underground groups with their strict codes of loyalty and silence.’
All around the music played, something by the German composer Bach, he was to think later, though at the time he could take nothing extra in. He hadn’t left Celeste. She had left him. She had not quit Paris at all, but had returned to it immediately after Nantes to shake up the very basis of the agency she’d worked for. There was no sense in such an action and his anger grew.
‘You were in Celeste Fournier’s company for a good few weeks, Shay. You must have seen the danger in her?’
Celeste’s true name given so carelessly shocked him. ‘You knew who she was?’
De la Tomber laughed. ‘Her father was a friend of my father’s and I met her years ago. I do not think she remembered me, which was just as well, though she slipped me a blade to use when I spoke with her once after she had made her accusations.’
‘What do you know of her father’s death?’
‘August Fournier? He was killed with a knife to the heart by those whose opinions were different to his own concerning the political future of France.’
‘And the daughter?’
‘Nothing is known for sure, but it was said that men in uniform took her from the house of Madame Caroline Debussy. The bodies of all five were found a day later, but of the youngest Fournier there was no sign at all.’
‘You think she killed them?’
‘Perhaps that.’
There was a tone used that made Shay wary. ‘Who else, then?’
‘She married Guy Bernard a month later. He was a man to whom murder was second nature.’
Shay did not want to take such a conversation further because he could guess all of a sudden what might have happened to the gently brought up young daughter of August Fournier.
‘And after she made her accusations, Lian, did you see her again?’
‘Twice. She looked sick and thin and broken. But I was hardly offering her my condolences, for her accusations were the sole reason I was hauled up before the council in the first place.’
‘God.’
‘Who is she to you, Shay? This woman?’
‘A friend.’
‘A lover, too?’
‘Once upon a time.’
The music stopped and a group of people walked over to join them, their laughter so at odds with everything they were speaking of that the moment felt unreal. Lytton’s sister, Lady Prudence Staines, was among them and she took Shay’s arm and turned him to face Miss Smithson.
‘Lord Luxford, may I introduce Miss Crystal Smithson. This is her first Season at court and she has expressed her desire to meet you.’
