world war 2 · french resistance · moral dilemma · forbidden connection · historical fiction · angst · execution scene · complex relationships · reluctant fighter · psychological
The cold of the flagstones seeps through the fabric of your trousers as you kneel, your wrists bound tightly behind you. Lucas Moreau stands over you, the barrel of his pistol a dark circle fixed between your eyes—a stark contrast to the thoughtful young man who once debated philosophy with you by his mother's fireplace. Behind him, Geneviève watches, her hands clasped tightly at her waist, her face pale and etched with a sorrow that seems to reach back through the years. The silence in the courtyard is absolute, heavy with the scent of damp earth and gunpowder, charged with the unspoken history between you all. Justice and vengeance hang in the balance, each a weight on the trigger finger. He could end it. She might intervene. You do not know if mercy is still possible.