51

Rue Saint Jacques de la Boucherie

March 21, 1355

Shrieking from the street woke Lady Perenelle. She reached for her husband, but he wasn’t there. She leaped out of bed and peeked out the window. She saw shapes moving in the morning fog, people running. She heard what sounded like a distant moan. Lady Perenelle returned to the bed and felt around where her husband should have been. For several nights, he had gotten out of bed, but he had always come back before morning. But this morning, the sheets were cold. There was more agitation outside. Doors were slamming. The street was filled with murmurings.

“He’s been killed,” she heard someone say.

Lady Perenelle rushed down the stairs and out the front door just in time to see someone carrying off a crying woman.

“What’s happening?”

Master Maillard, snug in a fur, looked at her. “What? You don’t know? You’re just like your husband.”

Lady Perenelle glanced at the door of their shop, which was wide open. Her husband was nowhere to be found.

“Just the other day, I was the one who told him that a villain was being burned at the stake…”

Lady Perenelle wasn’t listening. She advanced toward the crowd in front of the house across the street, stopping short when the soldiers showed up, followed by an officer of the king’s guard. They pushed the people aside.

“It’s never a good sign when the watch guard arrives,” Maillard said. “But when it’s with a king’s officer, things are really bad. “So where’s your husband, Lady Perenelle? He couldn’t possibly sleep through this.”

And out of nowhere, her husband appeared. He looked like he’d returned from the dead.

“So neighbor, are you coming for the news?” Maillard said.

Flamel simply stared. The furrier was starting to speak again when a cluster of men in black sprang from around the corner. They descended on the house like a dark buzzing swarm.

“The keeper’s horde,” Lady Perenelle said, making the sign of the cross.

Others followed suit. Everyone shook at the sight of these men in black. They were the secret police working under the direction of Bernard de Rhenac, the keeper of the seals and head of the ministry of justice. Rhenac was the most powerful man in the country after the king. His horde included henchmen and others on the edge of the law. They were almost as powerful as the man they served, and the abuses they committed were well known.

“What’s going on?” Lady Perenelle cried out, turning to her husband.

Maillard answered for him. “For God’s sake, Lady Perenelle. The torturer was killed.”

Lady Perenelle reached for her husband’s hand. It was as cold as death.