“Thank you,” I whispered in his ear. “For everything.”
He blushed pink as he stepped away, but he kept a firm arm around my waist regardless. Reid looked as if he were trying very hard not to smile.
Beau leaned against a tree with his arms folded across his chest. “You know, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I said we could have fun together, Madame Diggory.”
I arched a brow, remembering his naked chest shimmying in the moonlight. “Oh, I don’t know. I thought parts of the evening were entertaining.”
He grinned. “You enjoyed the performance, then?”
“Very much. It would seem we frequent the same pubs.”
Madame Labelle’s fingers still moved lazily through the air. The smallest trickle of magic streamed from them as the smoke disappeared. “I hate to interrupt, but our rabbits are burning.”
Beau’s smile vanished, and he leapt to slide the blackened rabbits off the spit, moaning bitterly. “Took me ages to catch these.”
Coco rolled her eyes. “You mean to watch me catch them.”
“Excuse me?” He lifted the smaller of the two rabbits indignantly. “I shot this one, thank you very much!”
“Yes, you did—right through the leg. I had to track the poor creature down and put it out of its misery.”
When Beau opened his mouth to reply, eyes blazing, I turned to Reid. “Did I miss something?”
“They’ve been like this ever since we left,” Ansel said. I didn’t miss the satisfaction in his voice or the smirk on his face.
“The prince had some trouble adjusting to the wilderness,” Reid explained quietly. “Coco was . . . unimpressed.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. As the argument escalated, however—with no sign of either party backing down—I waved my hand to reclaim their attention. “Excuse me,” I said loudly. Both whirled to look at me. “As entertaining as all this is, we have more important matters to discuss.”
“Such as?” Beau snapped.
Ass. I almost grinned, but at the ferocity of Coco’s scowl, I caught myself at the last second. “We can’t hide in this forest forever. Morgane knows all your faces now, and she’ll kill every one of you for helping me escape.”
Beau scoffed. “My father will have her head on a pike when he learns what she’s planning.”
“And mine,” I said pointedly.
“Probably.”
Definite ass.
Madame Labelle sighed. “Auguste has failed to capture Morgane for decades—just as his ancestors failed to capture a single Dame des Sorcières in their long and gruesome history. It’s highly unlikely he succeeds now either. She’ll continue to remain a threat to all of us.”
“But now the Chasseurs know the location of the Chateau,” Reid pointed out.
“They still can’t enter without a witch.”
“They did before.”
“Ah . . . yes.” Madame Labelle cleared her throat delicately and looked away, smoothing her wrinkled, bloodstained skirt. “That’s because I led them to it.”
“You what?” Reid stiffened beside me, and a telltale flush crept up his throat. “You—you met with Jean Luc? Are you insane? How? When?”
“After I sent you lot off with those twittering triplets.” She shrugged, bending low to scratch the blackened log at her feet. When it moved, blinking open luminous yellow eyes, my heart nearly leapt to my throat. That wasn’t a log. That wasn’t even a cat. That—that was a—
“The matagot delivered a message to your comrades shortly after our disagreement. Jean Luc was less than pleased by a demon waltzing around in his mind, but even he couldn’t ignore the opportunity I presented him. We met on the beach outside the Chateau, and I led them within the enchantment. They were supposed to wait for my signal. When I didn’t reappear, Jean Luc took matters into his own hands.” She touched the crusty bodice of her gown as if remembering the feel of Morgane’s knife sinking into her chest. My throat throbbed with empathy. “And thank the Goddess he did.”
“Yes,” I agreed quickly before Reid could interrupt. His flush had spread from his throat to the tips of his ears during Madame Labelle’s explanation, and he looked likely to further derail the conversation by throttling someone. “But we’re worse off now than we were before.”
“Why?” Ansel’s brow wrinkled. “The Chasseurs killed dozens of witches. Surely Morgane is weaker now, at least?”