Page 46 of Lord Ramsey's Red-Headed Ruin
The streetvendeurshad erected their tents and stalls earlier. They were farmers or craftsmen from beyond the Periphique city zone who came to the city to sell their produce, animals, and wares. This market attracted about ten families from the distantfaubourgs. They sold everything from freshly butchered beef and pork to live chickens. Others offered ripe red strawberries, honey, jams, and a rainbow of assorted vegetables. Ram bought much too much, but he was glad he could. He and Amber had eaten very sparingly the last two days as they traveled to Paris in the most uncomfortable carriage he’d ever sat in. His arse was sore from the jostling.
But all of his wares were purchased for a good cause. He could not be more pleased that Amber was cooperating with his need to keep her safe, hidden from any of Vaillancourt’s men.
*
“I like thisone.” Amber pointed to two small perch in thevendeur’s wooden box.
She had come out with Ram at dusk, wearing her new straw farmer’s hat that he had purchased for her this morning. She felt refreshed to breathe the sweet summer air and stretch her legs in the city she loved.
Ram promptly paid the man, took the fish in its old paper, and dropped it in Amber’s basket. They strolled leisurely toward the abbey.
The old church stood proudly among the lesser shops and houses. She was majestic, a survivor of the Terror, but she bore the hideous marks of that time. Her outer walls were falling apart. The buildings were pocked with stones that had been thrown, and marred by blackened walls where some had tried to set the whole on fire. At one point, a mob had broken into the abbey prison and killed more than two hundred people.
Amber paused before the west door, knitting her brow and biting her lower lip. This looked so different than when she had been here last. The heat of deep July did not change a place that much. She wondered if the change was only in her mind. She’d been away from here for so long that she’d forgotten how it looked? She did not think that was so. Instead, she wondered how her superior had taken to the news that she had fled Paris in fear for her life.
Did you come to meet me at our appointed time more than the required twice?
Were you here, wondering about me, worrying about me?
I worried about you. I still do.
Ram was beside her, regarding her. “Shall we go home now?”
“Yes. I am so sad that the whole complex looks so old and ragged,” she said to Ram as they turned away to head back toward their little house.
“All the churches were attacked during the Terror and many have not recovered,” he replied.
“Yes. Many were sacked. Others burned. In Compiègne, the churches were robbed of their altar pieces. The lovely Cathedral of Reims is now taken over by city lawyers. Even the archbishop’s residence there wears battle scars.” She shivered.
“All that is finished.” He put his hand to her back.
“But what we have in its place are men who are just as greedy as those the mobs swept away.” She nodded toward two young women who stood on the corner hawking news sheets. “Let’s buy them.”
This part of town was notorious for harboring and hiding those who wrote pamphlets and news sheets that criticized the government and those who ran it. While the government harassed many who printed them, they were too prolific and popped up everywhere. People bought them for news of the day, but many delighted in those that were gossip sheets.
Ram dug coins from his pocket and paid for both copies. “The news will be interesting.”
“When in a vacuum, always buy scandal sheets.” She opened one of the sheets and skimmed the tiny print but stopped at once when she saw Gus’s name. “Wait, here is a story about—” In the fading light of day, she squinted and read the story. “Ram,” she said to him in a hushed tone when she was finished, “Gus and your Ashley are married!”
“What?”
“Look here.” She gave him the paper.
He stood reading for long minutes.
“They went away as lovers, and when they returned, they had the British envoy marry them.” Amber had a hand to her chest.“I hope to heaven she loves him. That she didn’t marry him because of rumors that she was his mistress.”
“It says they were away for weeks and visited many towns in the north.” Ram glanced up from the sheet, folded the papers, and stuck them in her basket. “Among them, they went to Reims.”
“Reims,” Amber murmured, thinking about why the couple would go to the city where she and Maurice had lived. “Dear God, Ram. They were looking for me.”
He nodded, his face dour with concern. “He had to find you. So did she. And they put the news of their wedding in the sheets. You and they are popular.”
“I am too popular, it seems.” She gave a forced laugh.
But when she turned, she was looking straight into the faces of two people across the street. Two she knew very well. She could not move. Nor could she turn her back on them.
Ram paused. “What’s wrong?”
