A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Keep them coming!
CHAPTER 6
As we rode to the palace, I felt slightly better until we approached the palace itself when I felt a sickening feeling in my stomach begin. And it wasn't because I had fallen eight feet off a roof. This was nerves. We were greeted by stable boys at the entrance of the gate, meaning we have to get off. I clenched my jaw, knowing that it was going to hurt when I dismounted. One by one we did this, and like I predicted, a twang of pain shot through me making me moan slightly as I reached the floor. Treville looked at me and frowned. I gave him a quick smile before a man in fine clothing greeted us.
"This way." He said, inclining for us to follow him. I trailed along at the end of the group as we moved swiftly through the grounds of the palace into a large room. I felt my eyes widen at the sight of it. I had never seen anything like it before. It was so unique and beautiful. The room was amazing, from the painted ceiling down to the material of the large curtains which looked soft to the touch.
"The King and Queen will be shortly with you." The man said before exiting through the doors we had just entered. I heard him close them loudly, causing my head to snap round to them. I suddenly felt on high alert, adrenaline rushing through my veins, but I also felt scared. I was way out of my comfort zone and I really didn't like it. At all.
"Are you sure she wants to see me too?" I asked quietly. I felt all eyes turn to me, Treville facing me fully. "I think I should go." I looked at Porthos and then Aramis before turning to leave when I heard the doors behind me open.
"Your majesties King Louis and Queen Anne." A man said, his voice echoing in the room. I froze turning back around; thankfully Porthos blocked my view of them so they couldn't see me.
"Ah, Treville." I heard King Louis say, a smile in his voice. They all bowed, leaving me standing frozen, locking eyes with Queen Anne. I swallowed, my body frozen to the spot.
"Erm, Treville. Who is this?" King Louis asked, my gaze moving to him. He didn't look too impressed and I looked to Treville who had now straightened up along with the rest of the musketeers. Treville shot me a warm smile before introducing me.
"This is my companion your highness." Treville said, ushering me forward. I gave Porthos a terrified look as I walked forward in front of the King and Queen. I bowed before them, straightening up and looking at each of them in turn.
"Companion?" King Louis asked raising an eyebrow. I nodded.
"My father was a good friend of Captain Treville, and when my father passed, he left my care with Treville." I explained, feeling proud of myself because my voice sounded confident despite my inner feelings.
"What is your name?" King Louis asked.
"Roxanne." I said to him. King Louis nodded, giving me a reassuring smile, which I returned. I gave myself a mental sigh of relief before looking at Queen Anne. She looked at me giving me a warm smile before turning to Treville.
"Would it be alright if Roxanne could walk the grounds with me?" She asked Treville whose eyes nearly popped out of his head. He turned to me before looking back at the Queen.
"Of course." He replied and I looked at Treville, barely believing what just happened. The Queen smiled at him and then turned to me.
"Come Roxanne." She said before nodding to Treville. She walked past Treville, giving me a warm smile and walking towards the four musketeers. I saw Aramis gaze at the Queen, and I noticed her gaze back at him. I looked at Porthos who was smiling at me. I looked at him, taking in all of his beautiful features. The way he held himself, the way his smile made my heart stop, his muddy green eyes that were so full of love and care, and his arms which could probably squash me into soup, but yet were so gentle and warm. I smiled to myself before realising Porthos was staring back at me with a big grin on his face.
"Roxanne? Are you okay?" The Queen asked with a small smile, knowing exactly what had happened. I blushed, looking at my feet.
"Never better." I said to her, looking at Porthos and then at her. She caught my glance and looked over at the musketeer who dropped his gaze from me, looking at his own feet. She laughed to herself as we exited the room walking towards the grounds.
"So Roxanne-" Queen Anne began.
"Please, call my Roxie. All my friends do." I said to her smiling. Queen Anne grinned.
"Call me Anne, all my friends do." She said winking at me. I nodded, laughing to myself. We walked among the grounds for a while talking about our lives and what had gone on recently. I told her about my past, about my family, about my husband-to-be and about my life currently. I don't know why, but I felt like she was a long-lost friend even though I had known her for about ten minutes.
"If you don't mind me asking Anne." I said to her. Even her name felt alienated to me as I said it. "Do you and Aramis have history?" I whispered the last part as we wandered back to the palace itself. She looked around, smiling to herself before she answered.
"I think he's the most handsome person I've seen in my life." She sighed, and I giggled. "Oh if I wasn't married…" She trailed off smiling to herself. I grinned at her imagining Aramis as King, as well as Queen Anne being a normal girl married to the King's musketeer. We walked towards the doors which lead into the palace and stopped outside.
"So you and Porthos?" She said nudging me playfully. I was taken aback slightly, underneath all the fancy dresses and manners and jewels, was just a lonely woman wanting company. I smiled to myself.
"We shared a kiss, which was interrupted by D'Artangan." I said rolling my eyes. "I hope Porthos feels the same way I do." I looked up to Anne, and realised my statement had fallen on deaf ears. Anne was looking over my head, and I followed her gaze to find her staring at three intruders which were running towards us. I heard Anne let out a cry as I pulled my sword out clashing metal with one of the intruders.
"Anne get inside!" I yelled. "Get the others!" I pushed the man back away from me before running my sword through his body. He slumped to the ground as I heard the Queen run off through the doors. I saw the other two come after me as I followed Anne into the room, locking the doors. I saw her frozen to the stop as there was a smashing of glass. I ran over to her, shaking her arm.
"Hide behind there." I said pointing to a curtain near a cabinet that held china cups and cutlery. I pulled out my dagger handing it to her.
"Use this in defence." I told her before she ran off, following through with my instructions.
"Well well well. What do we have here?" One of the intruders said. He was much taller than me but was skinny, the other one stood beside him with a medium build and medium height, and both of them were masked making it hard to see their features. This wasn't going to be easy.
"Your worst nightmare." I hissed, charging at the skinny masked man, clashing swords with him, I then turned on the other masked man clashing swords with him. I pushed the skinnier man away, sending him flying into some chairs while the bigger man charged at me pulling another sword out of his holster, the blade slicing through the air, followed through by the other sword. I dodged the first and met the second with my sword, causing my hand to twinge with pain slightly, it did however make the bigger man stagger back slightly giving me enough time to strike him on the leg, slicing the fabric of his trousers and his skin. He cried out in pain before charging at me like a bull. I staggered back, the man knocking my sword of my hand, causing me excruciating pain making me yelp. The man sliced my arm but thankfully it only cut the fabric and didn't cut my skin, even so, I jumped back picking up my sword and swinging for him. I missed him by a millimetre allowing him to smirk at me, building my anger even more. I waved my sword in a figure of eight multiple times, watching the skinny guy finally come to his feet, meeting his companion by his side.
"Come on girl." The skinny man said and ran at me. I dodged his first swinging which allowed me to put out my foot causing him to trip over, he's sword sliding away from him on the wooden flooring. I turned to the larger one who kicked me from under my feet. By this time my heart was beating and I needed help. I put my sword up to my face just in time otherwise I believe that my head would have been half way across the room, not attached to my body. I let out a scream using all my body weight to push him away from me.
"Game over." He smirked before taking out a dagger. I stared at him before using his gender against him – I kicked him in his fundamentals. Hard. His face screwed up into a tight ball before he fell to my side rolling around in pain. I heard the running footsteps of the musketeers as I got up and I saw the skinnier man move over to where Anne was hiding. He pulled back the curtain revealing her, fear in her eyes.
"Well aren't you a pretty thing?" He said his voice making my skin crawl. I looked around, grabbing the dagger that lay on the floor next to the man who was still rolling around.
"Anne!" I heard Aramis shout. I turned round to see him grabbing his pistol. I turned back to Anne and saw the man get close to her. I clenched the dagger in my hand before throwing it letting out a cry of anger. I watched as the dagger hit the man directly in the back making him fall forward on impact and then onto his back. The dagger had killed him as soon as it had entered his back. I sighed in relief. Anne came out from her place running towards me, embracing me into a tight hug.
"You saved my life." She whispered to me. I couldn't help but smile, releasing her from the hug.
"It's fine." I replied smiling at her. I watched as Athos and D'Artangan picked up the man off the floor, unmasking him. The blood drained from my face as I recognised him.
"Andre?" I whispered. Athos and D'Artangan looked at me.
"Roxanne?" He replied. I knew him from the life I had run away from, but it seemed like it was catching up on me lately. I nodded slowly.
"What are you doing here?" Andre asked looking at me; taking in everything. "I knew you would look good in uniform." He grinned but I didn't return it. Andre was my ex-fiancée's best friend.
"What are you doing here." I asked shooting him a glare. D'Artangan gave me a weird look before nodding over to Porthos. I looked at Porthos who looked like he was going to rip Andre limb from limb.
"Business." Andre said, his voice becoming serious. I opened my mouth to reply but it was greeted by a loud bang from behind us. We all turned around to find another masked man running towards Anne, his sword pointed and ready. I picked up my sword and stopped him from possibly killing the Queen of France, and allowing her time to run back to Aramis who had his gun pointed at the man. He shot but the man dodged the bullet – barely. I was so thrown by the bullet that just brushed my ear that it gave the man a perfect opportunity to knock the sword from my hand. I backed up turning to Porthos for some help who was trying to calm down Anne, before turning back round to the man. That's when I felt it.
The cold blade of his sword ran through my body, my warm blooding spilling to the surface. I gasped for air as he withdrew his sword, our faces close. I put my hand on his shoulder, steading myself as my knees buckled slightly. I looked into his eyes which seemed very familiar to me for some reason. I saw the man's eyes widen in fear as he pulled off his mask.
"Roxanne?" His voice trembled and I felt my blood run cold.
"John." I whispered as I felt my knees buckle from beneath me and I fell, crashing to the floor. I saw him run back through the way he had come from, as well as hearing Porthos shout out. His face suddenly appeared in my view, his eyebrows knitted together in worry and anger. I gave him a small smile, as my breathing pattern became irregular.
"Roxanne." He muttered stroking my hair. I looked into his eyes, fear and pain consuming them. I reached up and touched his face, soothing him.
"I'll be fine." I whispered. Physically I would recover, but mentally, I don't know about that. After all it had been one hell of a day. I mean I was kissed by Porthos, fell off a roof, met the Queen of France and now I had just been sliced open. All in a day. But the worst thing that played on my mind was the face I had just seen, the one that was attached to the end of the sword which ran through me. The face that I thought I would never have to see again, ever. I felt my hand slip away from Porthos' face as my body pulled me into unconsciousness. I prayed that the person I had just seen was a figment of my imagination and that I had dreamt the whole thing, but I knew I didn't. I saw Porthos' mouth move as my eyes closed, coming to the realisation that, well… My ex-fiancée had just tried to kill me.