Just the Outlander chapter
Claire and Jamie take a trip away from Louise’s country home during the chapter. They need to get away from the servant’s watchful eye, waiting out their final days in France before they travel.
Jamie makes it clear that they have no choice but to leave France. Louis will have him locked back up in the Bastille. However, Louis is giving Jamie time. More importantly, Louis is giving Jared time to get back from Germany so he can take over the business again. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when Jared got a letter to say to return home.
Claire does wonder whether Lallybroch is the best place to go. Have they done enough to prevent Culloden? Maybe they should head to Rome instead. Or they could go to Germany. Jamie is ready to return home now that a pardon has been sought.
Plus, it sounds like they’ve done enough to prevent Charles raising an army. There’s no way anyone will loan to him after this failed venture.
So, the conversation moves on. Claire and Jamie have time to reconnect, but first, Jamie needs to know about King Louis.
There is an element of jealousy about it. Despite Claire not telling him in the previous chapter, Jamie knows that Claire slept with the King. Was this something she wanted? Did she enjoy her time with Louis?
Claire is honest at this point. She makes it clear that it was only ever about getting Jamie out of the Bastille. She didn’t want to have sex with the King.
Can Jamie forgive her for that? Personally, I’d have to question why he wouldn’t be able to. She did this for him, after all. She could have left him to rot there until Louis had decided he would release Jamie. Instead, she sacrificed some of her dignity to get him out.
Jamie decides that he can forgive her. He can move on from it. However, he makes it clear that she is to never sleep with another man again.
Another important section of the chapter is Jamie telling Claire what happened to Black Jack Randall. The man isn’t dead, but that doesn’t mean Frank will be born. Jamie tells Claire that he stabbed Black Jack Randall in the groin. BJR will never have children. It leads to the question of how Claire still has Frank’s wedding ring.
The two join together again intimately. Everything is going to be put behind them.