Her bloodless lips moved, emitting a catlike mewling.
Eyes raging like a demon, Hitler smacked the table again and shouted like a madman.
Baldur, Henriette’s husband, pulled his wife to her feet and drew her from the room. Silence crackled in the air, the slightest noise poised to ignite the stillness into a blaze. Hitler’s eyes darted around the table, daring anyone to speak again. A few chairs down, Eva sank lower and lower in her seat as she shook her head slowly back and forth. Pushing back his chair, Hitler threw his napkin on top of his uneaten vegetables and stormed from the room.
A full two minutes passed before the first voice whispered, followed by another and then another like the rising drone of a beehive.
“What was that about, I wonder?” Though whispered, Kat’s voice bounced off the wood panels to hit her ears like cymbals.
Mr. Speer, who had ignored everyone thus far, cleared his throat. “Frau von Schirach related an incident involving Jewish women and children she witnessed while in Amsterdam. It seems she thought their treatment too stern.” Working a piece of food from his back teeth with his tongue, he laced his fingers together around his finished plate. “She dared our Führer to consider what was happening to the Jews.”
Kat returned her fork to her plate and pushed it away as nausea crept up her throat. “A bold demand.”
Speer scratched at his receding hairline, boredom drawing his mouth down. “Quite so. The Führer was quick to inform her that his duty is to his people alone, and the Jews are not his people. A shame about the von Schiraches. Hetty’s such a lovely woman, but she’s just ruined them.”
Eric nodded, his sleek blond head shining from the overhead lights. “At uncertain times such as these it’s important to keep only those loyal near, for you never know when a traitor will rear its ugly head.”
Air squeezed out of Kat’s lungs, battering her heart against the restraints of her chest. “Then we must take precautions for those we most care about.”
Eric took another sip of his wine. “I couldn’t agree more.”
A scraping of chairs broke the ring of vibrating tension as the other guests declared the dinner ruined.
Barrett stood from his chair and offered his hand to Kat. His head bent to her ear. “I thought after all this time you’d learned to keep your mouth and emotions shut. You know we have the chance to do something here, something greater than us that can put an end to this bloody war. Prodding Eric like that won’t help us in any way except to the Gestapo’s secret room.”
Kat stood to shaking legs. “He thinks he has the right to command people because no one stands up to him.”
“You’re being reckless.”
“At least I’m doing something.”
He dropped her hand as if she’d burned him. “Guess I was too busy stuffing my mouth to help hang ourselves right along with you.”
“I guess so.”
Turning on her heel, she left him and his glare, hurrying out of the room to catch Ellie. She grabbed her sister’s hand and yanked her to the side of the staircase as the rest of the guests made their way back into the great hall. Eric was buried too deep in conversation with two other uniformed men to notice.
“Ellie, why won’t you talk to me?” As the words crossed her lips, her floodgates trembled with release. Tears pricked the backs of her eyes.
“I . . . I’ve been busy today, getting ready for tonight, and Eric had lists and lists of things to talk about with me.”
“That doesn’t explain why you won’t even look at me. Ellie, please.”
Ellie raised her eyes, taking a deep breath as if to steady herself. “Last night I came to your room to check on you and found you in Barrett’s arms like that with an empty champagne bottle and clothes scattered about . . . I didn’t know what to think. No, that’s a lie. I know exactly what I thought. You’re supposed to be the good sister, Kat.”
The disappointment tinging her last words pierced Kat like a double-tipped arrow. “Nothing happened beyond a simple kiss.”
Ellie’s face scrunched in doubt. “That kiss didn’t look so simple to me.”
The memory of Barrett’s insistent lips and the way she’d given in to their persuasion burned through her. There was nothing simple about that kiss, or the judgment in Ellie’s tone. People-pleasing again, eh? Barrett’s voice rattled in her head. What do you have to say