Disclaimer: The Musketeers are not mine. I'm just borrowing the concepts and characters for a little while.
Spoilers: 2.05 The Return
A/N: I read some comments speculating about Catherine's true role in Thomas's death, causing my imagination to run away with me. Sometimes I wonder about my brain… ;D
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"She destroyed all my hopes…" – Catherine, 2.05 The Return.
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Anne can't believe what she is hearing. She never knew Thomas could be like that, she can't believe that her husband's brother would ever be so cold and calculating.
"You would dare to blackmail me?" she asks.
"Why not?" Thomas replies. "You are a liar and a thief and I have the proof. You will do as I say or I tell my brother about how you purposely put yourself in his path, that you seduced him into thinking you loved him."
"But I do love him!"
"No, you love his money, my family's status," Thomas says.
Anne lowers her head slightly, knowing that what Thomas said was the truth – at first. As time had gone by though, she had come to love her husband in her own way.
Standing tall once again and looking her blackmailer in the eye, she asks, "What do you want?"
Thomas's laugh is full of arrogance. "I knew you'd come around to my line of thinking."
"Damn you to hell! Just tell me—"
Her husband's brother holds up a hand to silence her. "I want you," he says with a smug smile on his face. "In Paris, when I accidentally stumbled upon the truth of who you really are, I also learned that you have certain…talents in the bedroom."
"You want me to become your mistress?" she asks, almost impressed at how bold Thomas is daring to be in his brother's house.
"No," Thomas says with another laugh. "I am betrothed to Catherine, but our marriage is still some time from now. Until then, I just want you to be available whenever I want you."
Anne feels a shiver cascading down her spine. The way her brother-in-law is speaking is so unbelievable for a man she once thought was as good and honorable as Athos.
"What makes you think I won't tell your brother about this?"
"My brother might be besotted by you, but it is me he will believe – the beloved younger brother. And if by chance he doesn't, he will believe the signed and sealed affidavits I have in my possession."
Anne knows that she is at a huge disadvantage in the current moment. Hoping to gain herself time before Thomas eventually does inform her husband of the false pretenses under which they met, of the all the other lies she's told, Anne decides it's in her best interests to play along. Perhaps she can find the papers Thomas mentioned and destroy them, keeping the life she worked so hard for intact.
Stepping up to him, she kisses him passionately. Thomas brings his hand up to the back of her neck and grips it hard so that it almost hurts as he takes control over the kiss.
When they break apart, he says, "I take it that kiss meant yes."
She kisses him again and arranges her expression into one of subservience and desire. "Hmm. Maybe I married the wrong brother…"
Thomas's oily smile silences her. "You knew exactly what you were doing when you seduced my brother, Anne. Don't even try to play me."
He grabs her, roughly pulling her close to him as he kisses her lips with crushing force even as he runs his other hand down the length of her body. When he's done, he's pushes her back hard enough that she stumbles a little.
"Catherine is due to return to her father's estate tomorrow morning."—Thomas turns and starts to walk out of the room—"I expect you to be in my chambers as soon as my brother goes out for his mid-morning ride."
Defeated for the short term, Anne walks over to the window to consider potential long term plans.
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Catherine is just about to lay her hand on the doorknob when she hears voices coming from the sitting room.
Recognizing the voices of Thomas and Anne, she puts her hand on the knob, intending to join them, but stops just shy of turning it when she hears Anne say the word blackmail.
She stops to listen and though she can't hear every word, she hears enough; an anger, the likes of which she's never before felt, swells within her.
First Anne took the man she's loved since they were little children away from her, ruining her dream of becoming a comtesse, and now she's somehow bewitched Thomas. Her betrothed, the man whom she was passed onto, has changed to become some depraved version of the affable man she has known all his life. And it's all because of her, all because of Anne – or whatever the witch's real name is.
Catherine hardly notices that she grabs a dagger from the display on a nearby wall. All her thoughts are centered on her feelings of betrayal as she goes through the door into the sitting room and sees Anne, who is staring out a window.
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Anne turns towards the sound of a door opening, half expecting Thomas but is surprised to see Catherine.
What surprises her even more is seeing the dagger in Catherine's right hand.
Only one possible conclusion can be made.
"You heard," she says to the woman would someday be her sister.
"Yes."
The answer is calm and the voice eerily so, but given the other woman's body language, Anne knows that she must be very careful what she says next.
"Then you know that I did not instigate this, that Thomas is the one at fault – not me."
Apparently her words are the wrong ones because Catherine is suddenly coming at her with the dagger. Anne evades Catherine's clumsy thrust of the blade, but the other woman recovers quickly. Trying again, Anne catches hold of the wrist holding the dagger and they struggle for control over it.
In the end, it's not really a contest. Her years of training to be a thief out on the streets of Paris make taking the dagger away from Catherine almost child's play.
Flaunting the dagger in front of Catherine, Anne says, "You would do well to forget—"
Interrupting what she was about to say, Thomas bursts into the room, evidently having heard their scuffle.
Anne turns towards Thomas, dagger still in hand. She's about to explain what's going on when she is pushed hard from behind.
Stumbling forward, her momentum has her colliding with Thomas. She feels the dagger briefly meet resistance before it sinks further into Thomas's chest.
Somehow, as Thomas drops to the ground, Anne keeps hold of the dagger. It's immediately obvious that Thomas had died instantly.
Shock sets in even as she hears Catherine scream. Anne looks at the blood-soaked dagger in her hand and numbly releases it so that it drops to the floor with a muffled clang as it hits the carpeted floor.
"He's dead! Your brother's dead! She did this! Your wife, she murdered Thomas!"**
She can hear Catherine's words, knows that she is being set up to take the fall for the other woman's actions, but she can't make herself move at first. By the time she can make her feet move, her husband's men are entering the room and are taking hold of her.
In only seconds, she comes up with a plan – a partial truth – hoping that it will save her life. Anne knows the evidence against her is overwhelming, but she also knows that Catherine can't dispute her claim without admitting that she was also in the room when Thomas was killed.
Her plan fails.
"Make your peace with God, Anne…for you must die."** Athos says as he turns and walks away from her.
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She hadn't really meant to kill Thomas, but once it happened, all Catherine could think to do was blame Anne for everything.
Anne tries to weasel her way out of the situation, but when the truth of her origins is revealed, Catherine knows nothing can save the witch from Athos's sense of justice and honor. Athos loved his younger brother and will not let his murderer go free, especially not when the woman who did it has betrayed him on so many levels.
She will miss Thomas, but his death may yet provide her with an opportunity.
Catherine is shipped back to her father's estate almost immediately after Thomas's burial. Despite her repeated pleas to see justice done, Catherine is denied permission to see Anne hanged.
She is denied the satisfaction of seeing the peasant whore who had dared to marry above her station be put to death for destroying so many of her dreams.
Catherine thinks that Athos will visit her when everything is done. She believes that he will eventually rekindle their relationship and that they will marry once the mourning period is over. She looks forward to being restored to her rightful place by Athos's side as the Comtesse de la Fère.
All her dreams are shattered once again when Athos disappears shortly after Anne is hanged.
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The end.
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A/N: I started to think how Catherine could actually be involved based on those flashbacks and the line of dialogue in the first season where Milady calls Thomas a hypocrite. I hope the theory I came up with is at the very least plausible.
**The italicized lines of dialogue are not my words and are lifted directly from the episode written by Simon J. Ashford.
No beta and barely checked over for grammar; my apologies for the remaining errors.
Thanks for reading!