Page 130 of Love Beneath the Guillotine
Henry curled a fist into Léon’s shirt. “You are not leaving. You’re not going out there. I promised I would keep you safe. I promised I would take you away from it.” Closing his eyes, his forehead touching Léon’s, “And look what I’ve done.”
“Henri, no.” Léon kissed him. “No. You cannot help this.”
“A war zone, you said. You were right. This is… This isn’t attacking the King. This is killing the people. This is against everything this revolution should stand for. It’s a country eating its own children. And I have delivered you straight into the belly of the beast. But that stops now.” Henry swung legs to the floor, stood, and immediately collapsed. “Fuck!”
Léon jumped over the bed to him, arms at his waist. “Are you all right?”
“I just need to be able to…” He tried to push himself up, but got as far as his knees before the room spun away from him. He fell back, leaning his exhausted head against the bed.
“Don’t,” Léon said. “I can do this. I can take care of us.”
“You shouldn’t have to. This was supposed to change. And then this stupid bullet wound?—”
“You saved my life, Henri. And you almost died doing it. Now you can let me take care of you for a few days.” Henry tried to argue, and Léon silenced him with a finger on his lips. “We’re in it together. Till the end. That was your promise, wasn’t it?”
Henry’s head rolled across, his lips close by Léon’s. “You want to leave, don’t you?”
Léon shook his head, but he said, “I can’t put Émile and Souveraine through this.”
Henry laughed, bittersweet. “Always with your barmaid.”
“She knows about us,” Léon returned. “I told her.”
A disbelieving smile-frown furrowed Henry’s brow. “I’m sorry?”
“Émile knows too. They all know I’m in love with you. And that you love me. And except for what’s happening out there, this would be the happiest I’ve ever been. She’s in full support of us, just so you know. So you should be nicer to her. Oh, and she knows about Catherine now, too.”
Head tilting to the side, “How long was I asleep?”
Léon chuckled. “It was a very long night. But I think Souveraine had suspicions about Catherine a long time ago.”
“And Émile?”
Léon dropped his head to Henry’s shoulder, satisfied to stay on the floor and talk with him all day. “He seems happy. He adores you. Maybe not as much as he adores Destroyer.” Henry laughed, and Léon said, “You kidnapped the right child.”
Taking his hand, “You’ve raised him so well, Léon. You’re an excellent brother.”
In all those years, Léon was so rarely told that. “Thank you, Henri. You’re also an excellent brother.”
“I’m not.” He reached his good arm around Léon’s shoulder, kissing his temple. “I try to be, the best I can…”
“You got her out of a terrible situation in Reims.”
Henry gave a sad scoff, gesturing to the cracks and shattered walls of his bedroom. “And managed to throw her right into another one. All of us.”
“The most important thing is that we’re together.” Léon swivelled around so his legs were curled up against Henry’s. “But I want you to start thinking about what we can do next. What would make you happy. Because, thanks to you, for the first time in my life, I’m thinking about what I want. For my future. And it’s you. I believe we can do this. I believe, if we stick together, nothing can hurt us. We’ve proven it. But we need to plan our next move carefully. More carefully than we’ve done everything else. It’s dangerous out there.”
Henry shifted towards him and planted a soft kiss on his lips. “I’m not giving up. I’m going to help fix this. If that article made some impression, then why shouldn’t the next?” He groped for the bed, and Léon helped lift him back up.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to the competition. I’ll find another paper, and I’ll tell them the truth of the matter. I’m going to remind people what we’re fighting for. Help get things back on track. I’m going to condemn yesterday’s atrocities as exactly what they are. We’re fighting for freedom and fairness—safety from exactly this sort of persecution.” He pulled his inkstand across with a swath of fresh papers.
Léon watched him, heartened, but with a touch of cynical humour.
Then Henry said, “And if nothing else, it will make us some money so we can get out of here, right?” He raised his head to shoot that loving gaze straight into Léon’s heart, and how Léon loved that man. Nothing could touch that glorious spark. Nothing could dampen that fire. And when he made the comment, so flippantly, Léon knew he really would leave Paris for him.
He bent over the papers to drop a final kiss on his lips. “I love you.”
