Prologue

The Shadow of the Guillotine

Paris, 1789

The night was restless, cloaked in a heavy silence that only the

weight of impending doom could bring. In the grand halls of the

Chateau de Valleroy, Genevieve stood alone at the window, her

delicate fingers brushing the lace curtains aside. Beyond the glass,

the city of Paris was burning with the spirit of revolution, the

distant flicker of torches lighting up the streets below like scattered

stars.