Mon Dieu,” whispered Landrieu, drawing up abruptly.
Wearing a delicate muslin gown with kid half boots, a soft blue velvet pelisse frogged with silver, and a jaunty plumed hat, Fanny Carpenter stepped out of the shadows of one of the tunnels behind the stairs. The identity of the man who ranged himself beside her was unknown to Sebastian, but his lean form and the set of his head and shoulders were as unmistakable as his hitching stride.
“S’il vous plaît,” the man added with a mocking half smile as he leveled the muzzle of his gun on Sebastian’s chest.
“So, did you follow us or figure it all out yourselves?” said Sebastian, moving up to stand beside Hero and Landrieu.
Fanny simply shook her head. “All we want is the amulet. Give it to us, and you’ll come to no harm.”
“Sounds fair enough,” said Sebastian, even though he knew it for a lie. They would shoot him first, he figured, thinking that they could then deal easily with Hero and Landrieu.
But then, they didn’t know Hero.
“Give it to me,” said Fanny, holding out one finely gloved hand.
“It’s in my pocket,” said Sebastian. “I’ll need to set down the lantern to get it.”
“Move very carefully, monsieur,” said the man with the gun.
Slowly setting the lantern at his feet, Sebastian caught Hero’s gaze, held it for one significant moment, and saw her give a barely perceptible nod as her fingers began to work at the ties of her reticule.
“And here I thought your sole interest in all this was simply to hide the truth about your husband’s activities during the war,” said Sebastian, reaching into his greatcoat as he straightened.
An expression he couldn’t quite decipher flitted across Fanny’s small, even features. “It was,” she said, “until we saw the talisman case.”
And he understood then how it all fit together and felt a tide of cold rage sweep through him. “So whom will you give the talisman to? Marie-Thérèse? Or Napoléon?”
She gave a faint shrug. “Whoever wins, of course. They will no doubt be most appreciative.”
“And thus reward you handsomely.” He drew the amulet from his pocket and held it up by its chain so that the reliquary swung back and forth, the old mellow gold and finely polished gemstones glimmering in the flickering torchlight.
At the sight of it, a smile of satisfaction parted Fanny’s lips. “I’ll never understand why you’ve expended so much time and energy interfering in the death of a woman you never even met.”
“Don’t you know? She was my mother,” said Sebastian, and threw the talisman at her companion’s face.
Caught off guard, the Frenchman was still scrambling to catch the piece of delicate gold when Sebastian charged.
Grabbing the flintlock’s long barrel, he shoved the muzzle to one side and twisted it hard enough to jerk the man’s finger off the trigger. He heard the man’s breath expel in a startled grunt of pain, heard the clatter of metal against stone as the flintlock fell to their feet and went skittering away.
“Bâtard,” swore the Frenchman, his hands coming up to clamp around Sebastian’s neck, squeezing hard as he jammed his thumbs painfully up under Sebastian’s jaw.
His lips peeling away from his teeth in a grimace, Sebastian slammed his fist into the side of the Frenchman’s head. The man grunted, then lost his footing as he tried to jerk away from a second blow.
He went down hard, dragging Sebastian over with him. Sebastian saw an outcropping of rock rushing toward them and twisted as they fell, driving the side of the man’s head into the stone wall of the tunnel with a sickening thwunk.
“Look out!” shouted Hero.
Then a deafening roar echoed around the enclosed space and the air filled with smoke and the stench of cordite and burned powder. Sebastian felt an explosion of pain tear through his right leg, spinning him around to slam him back against the wall beside him.
He was dimly aware of Fanny crouched at the mouth of the tunnel, the Frenchman’s flintlock clutched in both hands. But his sight was beginning to blur, his legs buckling beneath him.
The last thing he saw was Fanny’s look of triumph. Then everything disappeared in a spray of blood and shattered bone when Hero pointed her muff pistol at the woman’s chest and squeezed the trigger.