Title: Sleeping with the Enemy

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Some French Revolution-esque stuff, only sans guillotine.  That was way too modern even for the Tortallans.  Blood.  Sex.  Language.  Alcohol.  The usual.

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize concerning Tortall belongs to Tammy.  Other inspirations were taken from Sandra Gulland's Josephine trilogy (The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.; Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe; The Last Great Dance on Earth), Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, and the film The Affair of the Necklace (starring Hilary Swank, Adrien Brody, and Christopher Walken, among others). 

Summary: The peasants and merchants of Tortall have revolted, overthrowing their king, butchering their nobles by the hundreds.  It is left to a small group of aristocrats, now underground revolutionaries, to take back what is theirs.

A/N: Unlike any other story I've ever written, that's for sure.  Recently, I have found two new heroines to add to my ever-growing list: the Vicomtesse de Beauharnais (aka Josephine Bonaparte), and the Comtesse de la Motte Valois.  Their incredible stories have inspired me to write this tale of life, love, and undying passion in a time of civil unrest and great social change.   Enjoy, mes amis!

In Which All is Explained

            I remember it all so clearly, though a year has passed since that terrible time.  The Midwinter of Blood, they now call it, when the commoners of Tortall stormed the royal palace and overthrew His Majesty the king.  They killed Jonathan IV and his beautiful queen Thayet along with their greatest supporters: the duke and duchess of Naxen, the baron and baroness of Pirate's Swoop, the mage Numair Salamin and his pregnant fiancée Daine, Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and his wife.  The duke of Queenscove and Lord haMinch were next, along with their wives and the count and countess of King's Reach.  More followed.  Cavall, Mindelan, Olau, I could go on forever.  These people were mercifully beheaded, but our wonderful king and his friends were burned while their families watched.

            My parents were killed as well, along with my older brother, but I was spared to live a life of misery, shouldering the burden of three younger sisters and a brother at the age of sixteen.  I had once known the life of a privileged debutante, betrothed to one of the greatest catches of the Season, and now I found myself impoverished and bitter.  There were no more nobles in Tortall, just a National Assembly made up of commoners.  Even the rich merchants had turned against us, for they were greatly aggravated by the condescending attitudes the aristocrats had towards them.  Tortall has fallen far, and no countries will help us.  Empress Kalasin of Carthak, herself a Conté, can do nothing for us.  Although it was rumored she wept for three straight days when she heard of the death of her parents, brother Roald, and sister-in-law, still no sign of contact.

            Part of me still yearns most painfully for that carefree life I once knew, but I also realize that that time is over for me, and I must move on and face every day with bravery and fortitude.  After all, I am one of the lucky ones.  I was spared the wrath of the Revolution.

            Snow fell lightly on Cecila's upturned face as she lugged an armload of firewood towards the small house she shared with four other people.  They were orphans now, no one to take care of them, but she had made quite a good amount of gold nobles by selling some of her old gowns, hard as it had been to part with them.  She knew it was wicked, but she had kept five of them for memory's sake.  Lovely they all were, though more than likely out of style now.  Not that it mattered, for the fashionable ladies of Corus were now uneducated common scum, and she, the daughter of a family in the Book of Gold, was nothing but a peasant.

            Indeed, Lady Cecila of Althol was a changed woman.  Never before in her privileged existence had she actually had to clean, cook, or milk a cow.  Nor did she have to take on the role of surrogate mother to her four younger siblings, being at the diffucult ages of six, nine, ten, and fourteen.  Gwendolyn, the next oldest, was a great help, as was eleven-year-old Elara.  Following her was Marco, the only boy, who was took it upon himself to be the man of the house and give orders, not follow them.  Poor little Meris did not understand where all their servants had gone, and why they no longer lived in a large, beautiful castle.  They now inhabited a tiny house on the edge of what had been their expansive country estate, granted to them so generously by the Assembly.

            She cursed them all, these heartless men who had taken her family and her happiness.  As she ran down the list of the Assembly leaders, a rider on horseback rode into the small front yard and dismounted.  It was Marius of Bocton, her former betrothed, looking haggard and sick.

            "Marius!" she cried, dropping the wood and running to him.  As she embraced him tightly, tears fell down her cheeks.  "Thank the gods!  I feared you were..."

            He kissed her tears away, unaware that he was crying as well.  "They let more people out last week.  Many more."  He shuddered, trying not to remember the horrors of prison.

            Not wanting to dwell on horrible memories of her dank, cold cell, she pressed him for information.  "Who else is out?"

            "Lady Yukimi, Neal of Queenscove's wife, although he's still in there.  Princess Lianne and Prince Jasson, although their brother Liam was detained 'for further questioning.'  They mean for further torture.  They've killed so many, including the two oldest Naxen girls and Thom of Pirate's Swoop."  He furrowed his brow, trying to remember others.  "Lady Alianne came out with me but her twin brother stays, the youngest Naxen girl was let out, her two remaining sisters are still held.  Keladry of Mindelan is out, but all of her brothers were executed.  Lady Adalia of Nond, her sister, almost died of pneumonia, so they released her.  Cleon of Kennan was executed in the first round.  Wyldon of Cavall's daughters are free now, and that's all I can think of."

            Cecila looked away, biting her lip.  Roxana of Naxen and Thom had both been good friends, and she had also known Roxana's sister Iona quite well.  And poor Yuki, cruelly separated from her husband, not knowing if he were to die or not.  She knelt to pick up the pieces of wood she had dropped, just so she could distract herself from the humming in her ears that grew louder with every second.  "Forgive my manners," she said quietly.  "Do come inside, my lord."

            Right before they walked in through the door, he grabbed her elbow, holding her back.  "I want you to know that my offer of marriage still stands, Cecila.  Prison has changed nothing between us."

            She smiled sadly.  "I do thank you for your generosity, Marius, but I'm not a charity case."  She walked inside, leaving him puzzled in the doorway.

            "That's not what I meant!" he exclaimed as he entered the tiny kitchen.  "It's not like I have anything but the clothes on my back either."  He knelt down next to little Meris, playing with dolls Elara had made for her out of twigs and twine.  She looked back up at him frankly, her blue eyes serious.  "Hello, Meris," he began.  "What's that you're playing with?"

            She blinked.  "My dolls.  Elara said my old ones were lost, so she made me new ones.  They're not as pretty, but I like them."

            Marius looked back up at Cecila, a painful look in his eyes.  "I'll get your dolls back," he promised the little girl.  He looked over her head to where Gwendolyn was trying unsuccessfully to start a fire.  "Stop," he ordered, and then used his Gift to do it for her.  She smiled and brushed her dark blonde hair out of her eyes; she had always been a little in love with her sister's fiancé.

            Marco ran in from where he had been chopping wood and jumped almost a foot.  "It's Marius!" he shouted.  "You're alive!  When did they let you out?"

            "Stop pestering him, Marco," Cecila scolded.  "Gwendolyn, we'll need an extra place at the table for my lord Marius.  Elara, Meris, and Marco, go wash your hands for dinner.  Now."

            Five minutes later, the six of them sat down at the table in the next room over that doubled as the younger children's bedroom.  Gwen and Cecila slept in the drafty loft above them, suffering from severe cold and wetness.  They all ate their soup slowly, as if savoring every spoonful; quite a change from the multiple-course meals they had been accustomed to all their lives.  Once they were finished, the children ran out to play in the snow before it became too dark.  Gwen followed, shooting her older sister a significant look, to which Cecila wrinkled her nose.

            "Listen," Marius began, "I came here for a reason.  I've found a priest who will marry us.   No, don't protest.  When our father's signed the contract, you became a member of my family.  Now that I am the count of Bocton, I am the head of the family, and therefore you must follow my wishes.  He is coming tomorrow."

            She sighed.  "It's not that I don't want to marry you, it's just now really isn't the time.  I can't leave my brother and sisters out in the cold, and it would be too much to ask you to take them in."

            He smiled.  "Don't worry about that; I've got everything taken care of!"  He leaned in closer to her, as if he didn't want to be overheard.  "There is a house in Corus that we can move into in the spring, a large one, used to belong to the Nond family.  It was sold to a priestess of the Goddess, a Royalist sympathizer, who in turn has handed it over to myself and a few other nobles.  Things will progress from there..."

            "What d'you mean, 'things will progress from there'?"  She scowled suspiciously. 
"And Corus?  Don't you think that's a bit rash, given as we're all being watched somehow?"

            He kissed her cheek gently.  "Don't worry, darling, all will reveal itself in time.  Really, it's nothing of consequence right now."

            True to his word, the priest showed up early the next morning, and Marius and Cecila were married in a simple, rather hasty ceremony, rather than the large and lavish wedding they were to have had the past June.  She was now Countess of Bocton, though it mattered none in the new society.  Although she never said it out loud, she was glad of his presence in their lives during those bitterly cold winter months.  On Gwen's fifteenth birthday, he sculpted a large gift box out of snow with the help of Meris and Elara.  He began giving Marco fencing lessons to make up for the fact that he wouldn't begin his training as a page that fall.

            When the snows melted and the ground had thawed (somewhat), they packed up what few belongings they had (including the gowns), piled them on the back of the old mare, and began the long walk to Corus.  Marius kept them all entertained by regaling them with stories of the ridiculous things he had done with his brothers as a boy.  When they arrived at the gates of the city, he lied to the guards flawlessly.

            "I am Marius Thatcher from the hill country, with me are my wife and our children."

            One of the men frowned at Cecila.  "They look awfully old to be yours, Citizenne."

            She gave him a breathtaking smile and shrugged, tightening her grip on the horse's reins.  "I have been told by many that I look young, but alas I am already twenty-nine.  My oldest is only thirteen."  She kept eye contact with the man.  "I, like you, Citizen, am blessed with seemingly eternal youth."

            The guardsman blushed and waved them through.  Once they were safely in the marketplace, Marius hissed, "I didn't know you could lie like that, Citizenne."

            She smiled innocently at him.  "I can do many things you don't know about, Citizen Thatcher.  Lying is merely one of them."

            They meandered their way through the Lower City, finally reaching the temple district, and the neighborhood where Nond House was.  "We have to go around the back," he whispered to all of them.  "Remember, we've been hired as servants by the priestess, if anyone asks."

            Meris gripped Cecila's hand rather tightly as they walked around to one of the many walled gardens around the house.  Luckily, no guards were in sight, so they were able to slip in unnoticed by anyone.  They pulled the saddlebags down, and Marius let the horse to be stabled, while they walked into the house very quietly.

            "Gwendolyn!" a voice shrieked, and someone came running down the hall at breathtaking speed.

            Gwen squealed, and ran to embrace Kassandra of Naxen, whom she had not seen since they had been at the convent together.  It appeared the mansion was somewhat of a haven for homeless, parentless nobles.  The two girls ran off, followed quickly by Elara and Marco.  "Cecila?  Is it really you?"

            She spun around to face two of her oldest friends from court.  But as she was walking to embrace them, she stopped at the dead, heartbreaking look in their eyes.  Alianne at least managed a smile as she hugged her tightly, but Princess Lianne couldn't bring herself to it.  She bit her lip as she thought of words of comfort to offer; both had seen their parents burn, and then their oldest brothers beheaded.  And they both had brothers still in prison, hanging onto life by a thread, high on the list of the nobles the Assembly wanted out of the way.  Aly was alone in the world but for her twin, but Lianne at least had Jasson.  It broke her heart to see the two prettiest and liveliest girls at court orphaned, impoverished, and practically broken.

            "Look at us now," Lianne said, reading her mind, "wearing gowns that are a year-and-a-half out of date, our hair shamelessly down, and looking like the world just ended.  Oh wait, I forgot, it did."  She looked away.  "I'm sorry, I must be more cheerful.  At least I'm alive, right?"  A tear slid down her cheek.  "Roald and Shinko weren't as lucky..."

            "Is it true that you and Marius were married?" Aly asked quickly, with a panicked look towards the princess.  "That's what everyone has been saying, but we were never quite sure."

            Cecila smiled and nodded.  "I wish you all could have been there.  I wish..."  She was about to say she wished it could have been a full-fledged court affair, but that wouldn't have been tactful in the least.  "I wish it could have been in a warmer month," she finished hastily, although they both understood what she meant to say.  They were silent for a few moments, letting the reality of their situation sink in.

            "Come," Lianne said suddenly.  She reached out for Meris's hand and smiled at Cecila.  "Let us go have some tea and catch up, shall we?"