LES DÉSCENDANTS

Chapter 18: La Rose et Permets-Tu, Partie 1.

I slowly wiped my eyes across my sleeve so I could see the owner of the voice which had taught me so much in the past several minutes.

"Who..." I repeated.

"Shhhh..." the figure said, lowering his long lashes. "It most likely has been a very long day for you, if you have seen the various visions of the past, present, and now future."

"I want to know who you are," I begged. "You...you were there for my brother, I know you were...I am indebted to you, monsie-citizen," I corrected myself. I certainly thought it was a man, and his silken voice was certainly manly, but his face was feminine, with rosy cheeks and a slender build.

"Monsieur," the man said, chuckling slightly. "And the question you want to know most, I cannot tell. As it was, I had to hide my identity from the entire Les Amis de L'ABC. I was not welcome there."

"Why?" I cried out. "You were the only person there for him, when he needed it most...he was always a lonely soul; I saw the yearning in his eyes...to know that he had someone, to support him, and guide him..."

The man bowed his head. "I did my best, it wasn't much."

I placed a cautious hand on his shoulder. I, too, knew this song. "When you couldn't feel, you tried to touch..."

"I told the truth, I didn't come to fool ya..." we sang to the air, to the nothingness, to the ether.

And even though it all went wrong, we stand before the lord of song,

With nothing on our tongues but Hallelujah...

Each of us had sacrificed so much for the ones we loved.

"You're a...Guardsman, then, aren't you," I said, staring at my boots.

"A what...? Oh," the man said, then raised his eyebrows in sudden understanding. "No. I am not...not that bad. I cannot tell you who I am..."

"You're related to one, then..."

"No."

"Well then, why can't you tell me? Such an air of mystery, monsieur..."

"It is in my nature."

"I'll tell you a secret first, then...Jehan and I, we are-"

"I know that you belong to the Soult bloodline. I know a lot more than you might give me credit for." His eyes of emerald pierced mine, and within them, I saw pain, oh, so much pain...

He continued: "If you find out my identity, that is all very well, however, I am not welcome in L'ABC, so you cannot tell Enjolras that you have been speaking to me. Otherwise, I fear the repercussions."

"I cannot stress enough that I trust Aurélien Enjolras with my life, sir. He understands that I am of a bad bloodline, but I am trying to make things right. We are here, in this moment, at my brother's grave, for a reason. Jean Prouvaire wanted us to get to know each other, because it is clear he trusted us both the most. Please, monsieur..."

A sudden gust of wind blew out of nowhere, over and under and through the graveyard, and it almost blew the cap right off my head. The red rose which had lain atop the slab of granite bearing my brother's name was blown off, falling to the ground, and rolling closer, closer, closer...until it stopped at my feet.

"He is here..." gasped the man hoarsely, just as I gently picked up the rose, carefully, so I wouldn't prick myself.

"Hard exterior, beautiful, soft and fragile on the inside, but a strength unseen among other flowers..." I mused, deep in thought.