A Powerful Little Love

Chapter 10

                  

Amorette let herself step backwards until she was leaning against the battlements, a shaky hand covering her mouth as she let out a sob.  Observing the scene before her that she had helped create, Amorette wanted nothing more than to drop the pistol from her hand.  Amorette did not think that Porthos would mind too much, but the pistol was not hers to discard and so she made a point of getting a better grip of it.  The banging of a door from what sounded like very far away told her the musketeers were in the house again.  Amorette's movements seemed alien to her.  There she was, walking slowly across the roof towards the doorway and she did not know how her legs were moving.  They should have been shaking, falling from under her.  But there was drive in her still.  Ann was in this somewhere and Amorette needed to prove it not just to Athos but to herself as well.

Amorette took the stairs carefully and slowly.  She planted her hand upon the thick stone wall of the spiral staircase and the shrill scrapping sound of the dagger dragging along the stone kept her grounded; kept her putting one foot in front of the other.  Round and round she went, counting on her feet to guide her as her eyes filled with tears.  Amorette wiped her tears away with her sleeve when she knew she was almost reaching the bottom of the staircase.  When she turned what she knew to be the last bend towards what should have been an empty doorway Amorette was not ready for what met her there.

Stood at the very bottom of the staircase; corset pulled so tight that her breasts were almost escaping it and hat at a jaunty angle upon her head stood Milady De Winter.  Amorette knew that her sister was involved, and it was not altogether an unexpected sight but she did not know how to handle it at all.  Her sister held no weapon though and Amorette held two.  That gave her some courage.  "I knew that this had your name written all over it!"

"And why would you think any different.  You will always blame me for your faults." Ann simpered.  "We were never destined to be close.  It is inevitable that you should hate me."

"I think it's the other way around.  You hate me!  This is proof!"  Amorette stared into the still smiling face of the woman who she once thought so very highly of.

Ann tilted her head to the side, looking even more devious.  "I must confess the thoughts of seeing your pretty little neck snapping in two as you fall from that tower is most appealing.  It's something I've desired since I was fourteen years old!"

The outburst didn't shock Amorette.  The idea had been forming in her mind all morning and the only acknowledgement she made was to avert her eyes and look over Ann's shoulder.  "I told you so."  Amorette was surprised that he heard her.  In the seconds after her sister's outburst, Amorette's fight and drive had drained from her. 

Ann turned swiftly on her heel to stare at Athos, shocked that she had not heard him approaching.  The blank expression he held as he stared down at Ann might have confused Amorette's sister, but Amorette herself knew just how much turmoil it really hid.  The man was ready to explode and Amorette found that she didn't want to be witness to such a private display of emotion.  Her work here was done.  Athos knew the truth now and it was all over.

Then he spoke, and the supressed anger and disdain was evident.  "Step away from her."  Amorette almost thought she saw Ann flinch, but she recovered it well.  Athos cocked his pistol and Ann side stepped.  Amorette stood watching them for a moment, waiting for one of them to make an unexpected move.  When they didn't, she gingerly crossed the doorway and once she was out of her sister's reach she dashed across the hallway.  The other musketeers walked around a corner and to Amorette's delight she saw that Aramis was not surprised.  He seemed to have put a little more faith in her theory than he had given away.  Porthos and D'artagnan shared a look and made their way towards the tower staircase and Amorette knew it was to check the dead.