"Monsieur de Laincourt wishes to be initiated this evening, does he not? Well, let him show his mettle. If he carries out this mission successfully then he shall have what he wants."
After Gagniere's departure, the vicomtesse climbed into the coach, which immediately set out. She sat facing the person the marquis had been unable to see and to whom she had entrusted the precious reliquary.
"It's the Sphere d'Ame, isn't it?" asked the man as she took the casket from him.
"Yes. Without it, nothing that will take place this evening would be possible."
"I am anxious to see that."
"I believe you. But the experience is painful. And sometimes, fatal."
"I don't care!"
Full of confidence in him, the young woman smiled at monsieur Jean de Lonlay, sieur de Saint-Georges . . . and captain of the Cardinal's Guards.
If he survived, there was no question at all that he would become an initiate of the first order in the Black Claw's French lodge.
12
As La Fargue had not informed anyone that he'd recruited Saint-Lucq, the half-blood's entrance on the stage took the others off guard but was not altogether surprising. First, because the Blades could not claim to be complete without him. And second, because Saint-Lucq had always been an irregular soldier who was most effective when he was off on his own, operating in the shadows. The news that he brought, moreover, took priority in their minds. He announced it at once, without pausing for preliminaries, in the courtyard of the Hotel de l'Epervier.
"Agnes has been abducted."
'"Abducted?" Ballardieu roared.
Bursting with anger, he took a menacing step toward Saint-Lucq, who did not make any gesture, either to defend himself or to retreat. It took more than this to impress him.
La Fargue, on the other hand, moved to interpose himself between the two Blades.
"Let him explain what happened, Ballardieu."
Impassive, the half-blood recounted his tale.
"I was watching this house according to your orders. ..."
"Cecile's house," the captain clarified for the others.
"I suppose that Agnes entered around the back because I didn't see her beforehand. And the same for the men who came out with her and took her away."
"But what men, by God?!" shouted Ballardieu.
"Hired swordsmen," replied Saint-Lucq calmly.
"And you did nothing!"
"No. Agnes didn't want me to intervene. She wanted these men to take her away."
"How do you know that?"
"Agnes saw me in the street. She threw me a glance and I understood."
"You're very clever ...!"
"More than you."
"What?"
Ballardieu, red in the face, seemed to expand in volume. Saint-Lucq looked at him disdainfully, without so much as a quiver, and said: "You heard me."
"That's enough!" intervened La Fargue in a loud voice.
Leprat, who had come down into the courtyard despite the wound in his thigh, forced Ballardieu to move back, taking him by the arm. Only Marciac was missing, having gone to find Cecile in her room just as the half-blood was announced.
"Go on, Saint-Lucq. What happened next?"
"Next? Nothing. ... I followed them for as long as I could, but they soon mounted horses. I was on foot."
"What's going on?" demanded Marciac, coming out of the stables and passing Leprat, who was still trying to calm Ballardieu. "Well! Hello, Saint-Lucq."
"Agnes has been abducted," explained La Fargue.
"Oh? By whom?"
"By hired swordsmen led by a one-eyed man afflicted by the ranse," said the half-blood.
"My one-eyed man with the ranse?" asked the Gascon. "The one from last night?"
"And the same man as this morning," added Almades. "The riders we passed on the road, they were also led by a man whose eye was ruined by the ranse."
"That means that Agnes is in the hands of the Black Claw," concluded La Fargue. "She allowed herself to be taken in order to unmask our adversaries, but she couldn't guess that—"
"I'm afraid I have another piece of bad news to announce," declared Marciac. "Cecile has disappeared. She has run away."
"Merde!"
The captain's profanity rang out like a musket shot in the courtyard.
The Blades searched the Hotel de I'Epervier from top to bottom and, when Cecile's disappearance was no longer in any doubt, they gathered in the main room. The young woman had almost certainly slipped out through the garden, where they discovered the gate ajar—from there, she would have had no difficulty losing herself in a maze of alleys and passageways. A wider search would thus have proved futile.
"I think she must have been listening at the door during our meeting," said Marciac. "No doubt wishing to avoid answering the questions that we intended to ask her, she preferred to duck out. We were too trusting of her. She wasn't the poor orphan that we believed, mixed up against her will in a dark intrigue. I would even wager that her sister, who supposedly disappeared at the same as the chevalier d'lreban, never existed."