Her hands finally met the cold iron of the bars which had been placed in front of Danton window. The vast majority of prisoners in this heinous place did not have windows, but Danton, like many other nobility, had bribed the guards to spend his last days in relatively pleasant accommodations. Élise freed her right hand to take out her pistol and slammed its tip into the window, shattering glass.

First she saw an unidentifiable bit of an empty room. Then the man himself arrived to inspect the rude aperture. His blue eyes met hers as his burly face stared in astonishment. "My word!" he exclaimed. He was wearing a white undershirt, his wig off his head, but a face like his could be recognized anywhere.

"Monsieur Danton, you do not know me, but I know you," she said, speaking with haste. "You were betrayed by Robespierre and I must know why and whatever secrets of his you can tell me!"

"Oh I know you! Élise de la Caen. Charlotte Corday. The one who took the life of Mar-"

"And now your world has turned upside down, has it not? Your friends have become your enemies."

"Because I simply questioned the need for so much bloodshed! The Revolution's goals are noble but what do any of them mean if we devalue human life to a pittance? Robespierre said I had become weak, that I had changed! Maybe he was right. No, I know he was right, but -"

Élise cut his rant short.

"You were far from the only one he betrayed."

"Oui, he seems to have a very narrow vision for the future, one only a few may accompany him on."

"It's time for you to avenge his betrayal. Tell me everything you can about Robespierre and his Illuminati cult!" She had to move the conversation along quickly, for things could change below at any moment.

He fell silent. He blinked.

"Avenge my betrayal?" Danton laughed. "Oh this is quite ironic, n'est-ce pas?"

"Please sir, we don't have much time!"

He stared at her again, as if in indecision. Tense about the situation below, she finally, simply asked "Where is the Apple?"

"Pardon?"

"The Apple of Eden. The key to your power."

"I know not what you speak of."

This frustrated her. Was he playing dumb, or genuinely ignorant?

"Please, Monsieur! Your order holds a precious treasure, and it could -"

"Wait, I may know something! At a time Robespierre and I were walking together through Le Marias, near the old Templar fortress, he bid me farewell and said he needed to retrieve something crucial for his work! I politely requested to know what. He smiled, told me it was a most marvelous secret, and if I kept my loyalty to the order, I would soon have the privilege of seeing it for myself!"

That was great information!

"Do you know anything else?"

"No. Maximilien became...distant before this betrayal. Only that enigmatic man Weishaupt seemed to have his ear. Weishaupt, and his new pet Saint-Just."

"Thank you, Monsieur. Thank you beaucoup!"

"Vous êtes les bienvenus, Madamoiselle! Don't let yourself get lost in rage like I once was!"

She did not say anything in return, simply began to depart. But as disappeared from his line of sight, Danton yelled after her:

"Oh and Madamoiselle! Perhaps you should heed these cryptic words Maximilien said to me. 'If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.'"

She froze in place. Her stomach dropped.