Courfeyrac and the Several Amis: A Les Mis AU

Chapter 6

Off in a nearby kingdom, Combeferre was trapped by his mother for several days, doing the regular things that princes his age should be doing. For example, finding a suitable princess to marry.

He would be rather sit through another lecture about princes needing to be less interested in books and riding on a horse and pretending that he had a shot at being a real Prince Charming and more on what was necessary for the future of the kingdom.

She brought in multiple options for him to choose from, but he couldn't help comparing them to Courfeyrac. This one doesn't laugh as much as he does, that one doesn't take as much interest in him as a person as he does. Of course, he never said this to his mother. She would never approve.

Though they'd met by chance, and Combeferre wasn't one to believe in fate, if there ever was a time he would, it was now. It was so perfect, there was probably a story he'd read at some point where the Prince met his fair maiden that way. Courfeyrac wasn't a maiden, but that was as close as he was going to get.

"Mother," Combeferre said after yet another princess was shown out the door, "I might be able to help you."

"And what might that be?" The queen inquired hopefully.

Combeferre hadn't planned on this, but the last girl had got on his nerves, all laces and frills, more straight-man attracting than he could tolerate in general. "I don't want to marry a woman. Men are far more attractive." There, he said it.

The Queen paused for a moment, processing this. She finally said, "Oh, Combeferre, thank you for telling me. I'm so glad you said something to me about it. Don't you worry yourself, I will find someone to help you out."

"Help me with what?" Combeferre asked, getting a little concerned.

"Why, getting that fixed, of course!" she answered, "You don't want to live that way your whole life, do you?"

"I mean no disrespect, Mother, but yes. I would like to live that way my whole life. I really told you that so you would stop trying to find a wife for me. I would prefer to marry a man, actually," Combeferre explained, feeling slightly embarrassed that this was how the conversation was going.

His mother kept going on about how the kingdom would be better run if he had a queen by his side, and that it was unhealthy for him to be so involved with another man, and finally he had enough. He stood up from his seat, saying, "Mother, I told you that information with the hope that you would understand, but seeing as you don't, I feel it necessary to take my leave." And with that, he bowed respectfully, and left the room for the last time.

When he got outside, he saddled his horse, and rode off into the woods. Once there, he slipped off his horse and sniffed, trying to keep his emotions down, even though he was in the woods where no one could see him. He just wanted to have someone he could be with and not think he was crazy. Combeferre didn't think that was too much to ask.

Back at Madame's castle, she was hard at work trying to figure out how to get rid Courfeyrac once and for all. She had Jehan, forcing them to see where Courfeyrac was at the time. Since he was so close to the kingdom's border, it was even harder for them to see.

But Madame was persistent. She had a whole plan set up. First, find out where Courfeyrac was. Second, find out the one person he would trust the most in the world. Everything would be in place from there.

"Where is he?" she demanded from her prisoner. They had gone through quite a few nights with interrupted sleep and not a lot of food, and they were tired of it.

"I don't know where he is, I can't see him," Jehan whimpered.

"Well, the I guess I'll get the potion ready until you decide to tell me," Madame growled, heading to her secret lair under the castle. She had discovered a hidden passageway that led to a dark, empty room, and it was here that she mixed spells and potions, which were probably illegal, but she still did it anyway.

"All right, then. Let's see, something that will kill him, hmm--" Madame scanned her bookshelves, knowing she had some kind of deadly potion recipe somewhere. "Ah, there it is." She pulled out the heavy book, blew the dust off the top, sending a cascade of spiders along with it, and opened it on her desk.

"So, to make revenge, I'll need one cup of venom, two tablespoons of toxins, a pint of hatred, and a pinch of betrayal. Serve cold. This should be fun." Madame put the ingredients into a bowl and mixed them around, then pulled an apple out of the tray she kept in her lair--in case she was hungry--and dipped it into the sludge. The green apple turned red from the potion.

Madame took a second look at the recipe. "There's a cure for this? Seriously? 'True love's first kiss,' hm? We'll see how that goes for him. True love doesn't exist in people that young. I don't have to worry about that. Though, he won't take anything from me. I need some else to bring it. Unless..." she grinned. "Jehan, dear, who would you say Courfeyrac trusts the most in the world? Perhaps... someone he cares about an awful lot, maybe someone who he fancies he's in love with?"