Harry had not believed Elizabeth was really leaving Paris until the carriage arrived in the street. She'd packed only one trunk and felt such a sense of freedom to be leaving alone to venture wherever she wanted to go. A few months in the country with some peace and solitude was what she desired above all else so that she might heal both physically and emotionally. She had seen many doctors over the last weeks at Harry and Athos's insistence to see if they might recommend aids for her recovery. They had said the same as Aramis, that there was no right answer to what might befall her. She still felt dreadfully ill after weeks of abstinence from the poison she had unwillingly consumed for years. The effects of it upon her person were undefinable. The damage might be irreparable after such repetitive use. The country called to her as it had never done before. Such recovery; if it were possible needed to be something that she fought for alone. Elizabeth felt shamed and hostile to Paris after all that had happened and she did not know if she would ever return.
Athos understood her feelings readily. They were not lovers any more, just friends. She liked him just as well as a friend. Without his help and interference, Eric would likely have succeeded in ending her life. Now she had the chance to really take that life back if she gave herself the chance to recover.
Harry carried her trunk downstairs and out to the waiting carriage. He shook his head as he deposited it on the seat and turned back to her. He thought she was still too ill to travel. Elizabeth thought he was likely correct, but Paris was suffocating her just as Eric had attempted to do. She needed to leave before it completely overwhelmed her. Her brother in law hugged her fiercely and Elizabeth knew that he blamed himself for Eric's behaviour. Harry thought that if he had intervened he might have been able to stop his brother. He even blamed himself for not marrying Elizabeth so that he might have saved her from the torment she had endured over the last six years. It meant a great deal to Elizabeth that he felt such a way, but it only made her more determined to leave. Harry needed to live his own life, and he could not do so whilst he spent every waking minute trying to atone for the actions of his brother.
Elizabeth stepped out of his arms and into the waiting ones of Athos. He kissed her as he had done the first time and Elizabeth knew he was not trying to make her stay. He was reminding her that if she could attract such a wounded soul as Athos was, that she could make friends and lovers and a family anywhere she went. He was yet again sewing together the broken pieces of her heart. Elizabeth did not want to say goodbye to him, so she did not. When she finally pulled out of his embrace she patted his chest lightly, just over his heart.
"You know, every once in a while you must learn to let someone in there musketeer. You are not all that you think you are. I could have loved a man like you, married a man like you. I could have built a life and a family with a man like you. There will be other women who will think the same. You do not have to share those feelings. You can still love without planning for the future. God knows, I did. Let this be a lesson to you that lovers can still part as friends. You are worth caring for Athos, worth loving. Once you learn that you'll be able to let someone feel for you, and you for them. It does not have to end in marriage and a family if you don't want it to. You are already an honest man so there shall be no miscommunications. Just allow things to happen that might help you heal over time. You give so much to others; after all you did give me a life in just a few weeks. That's special Athos. Don't forget it."
He did not speak, and Elizabeth was glad for it. She was able to turn away from him and climb into the carriage without crying. Once she was comfortably seated she slapped her hand against the side of the carriage and it moved off. She dearly longed to look out at him from the window or to throw her hand out in a wave but she knew that she couldn't. She had made a promise to herself that there would be no more looking back.
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The de Vere Inheritance
FanfictionEric and Elizabeth de Vere have been running for years by the time they reach Paris. With a doomed marriage, political quarrels in England, Eric's gambling debts and more sinister crimes finally catching them up, there is nowhere else for them to...
