The Female Musketeer

Chapter 44 | Dans L'Obscurité De La Nuit

"No, Charles. I will not help you feed into your delusions."

My brother dramatically gets onto his knees and clasps his hands together.

"Please Daria. I have to know if she likes me."

"Then talk to her yourself."

I pull him back up to stand.

"You live with her Father, you see her more often than I. Find out the things she likes."

"Then what?"

I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Then do them. What woman doesn't love a nice gift."

As if on cue, Pierre walks up to us in the Garrison yard.
He holds a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

"Charles, good to see you."

"And you." My brother nods absent minded, then excuses himself.

Pierre turns to me, a brilliant smile on his lips. He bows and holds out the bouquet.

"What are these for?" I take them from his hand.

He stands, but leans close to me.

"Does a man need a reason to gift flowers to a beautiful woman?" He kisses me. It's a comfortable one, sure. But the act seems more familiar than it felt.

Someone clears their throat.

"Athos. Always a pleasure." He sticks out his hand to shake it. He takes it, which suprised me greatly. Athos seemed to have a special sore spot for the upper class, but maybe it was due to Pierre's connection to the king.

"Viscount, I just need to steal Daria for moment. It's important." He looks to me when he says the last part. His face is a bit flushed, i assume from riding, he must be in a hurry.

"Actually, I think he should stay. We all have a lot to catch up on. Plans have changed."

Pierre doesn't seem to catch on but Athos nods his head.

"Either way, we need to go now." He insists.

"We could take my Carriage." Pierre suggests.

Athos shakes his head.

"No carriages, too much attention. I rode here quickly from the Palace. Aramis sent word, the meeting is happening within the hour in the downtown district. Grab a stallion and let's head out."

Pierre is noticeably confused, so as we hurried into the stalls, I did my best to summarize.

"So you told them everything?"

"Yes. I know I promised not to." I watched his face for any sign of anger.

But he just cooly says "If you trust them, I trust them."

He goes to mount the horse but I stop him.

"You can't wear that."

He looks down at his outfit, confused.

"What's wrong with it? This is all the rage in Paris."

"In the court. We can't have you sticking out." I grab a cloak someone left on a rack. "Put this on."

He pulls it over himself. We both get onto our horses and ride out, meeting Athos outside the gates. Athos leads us down various streets. The sky was dimming as we rode, it was a chilly blue by the time we stopped. We tied up our horses a few streets down and walked to an Alley. Out of the shadows comes Aramis.

"It's almost showtime. We intercepted a letter he sent out this morning, confirming their meeting spot and time."

Pierre looks around "We?"