"Oh, and by the way, where are my weapons?" I whispered discreetly to Athos as we trailed behind Theresa.
Athos bowed his head slightly and murmured back while barely moving his lips, "Several of your daggers are in my boots. I don't know entirely how you can walk with so many. The rest are in my temporary chambers."
I had passed the weapons to him last night so that Theresa and Anna wouldn't see them. They hadn't noticed the fan being one, so that one was still on me.
"Practice." I muttered back and he gave me an eyeroll, which caused me to shoot him a smile before I sobered quickly as Theresa looked back at us.
We came upon a set of double doors and Theresa knocked on one of them. The door opened slowly, then a servant bowed out of the way, opening the door completely, and Theresa walked inside, bowing her head respectfully.
"Countess Angel is here, your Majesty." Theresa informed the Queen, who was sitting at a marble table that had a chess set on it.
The Queen put down a book and smiled at me, beckoning me closer.
Athos escorted me to the chair, then pulled it out for me. Once I was seated, he retreated to guard the now closed doors. We were alone now, all the servants having left.
We were in a huge library, right in front of massive windows that showed the palace garden, and such a pretty spectacle it was too.
"Do you play?" The Queen asked as she gestured to the chess set.
I dipped my head respectfully, "Yes, your majesty. My mother taught me to play when I was young."
The Queen laughed slightly, a tinkling sound, like that of small bells. "There is no need to be so formal now, when we are alone save the presence of the noble Musketeer." She nodded to Athos, "So please, refer to me as Anne when we are alone like this."
"Very well," I said as I raised my eyes to hers, "But only if you call me Angel."
She smiled at me, "I think that is a deal I can agree on."
We began to play chess, talking about mundane things like flowers, my favorites were wild iris and Anne's were red roses, cooking, sewing, and children. How we got onto that subject, I'm not sure.
However, the Queen switched topics, and called out to Athos. "Athos, I heard through the servants that the inseparables got a fifth member."
Athos dipped his head, and I knew we were about to talk about me. Or the me that I should be but wasn't right now. Confusing much?
"You are correct, your majesty. Rogue Dieithr recently joined us as a recruit a few months ago." Athos responded, not moving from his place beside the door.
Anne looked at me, then leaned forward slightly towards Athos. "Dieithr?"
"It's Welsh." I offered. "Is this…. Rogue… Welsh?" I asked, pretending to be intrigued.
Athos' eyes shifted slightly in humor before going back to his usual look before he responded, "You are correct, Countess. Rogue comes from a blacksmithing family in Wales."
Anne's eyes lit up and she stared at me appraisingly before asking, "Is he handsome?"
I almost choked on the tea I was sipping, but quickly fought back the cough rising in my throat.
Athos also was taken by surprise and stiffly responded, "I wouldn't know, your majesty."
I probably wasn't going to get out of this situation, so I laughed and said, "We didn't expect your personal opinion on the matter, Musketeer. Does he have any one pursuing him?"
This he should know. Since the whole children kidnapping fiasco added upon by my Musketeer brothers (Not just the four I was close to) my name had spread through most of Paris like wildfire. What resulted was numerous stalkers, eligible women who followed me around when they saw me like teens, in fact that was how old many of them were. Because of them, I had many more baked goods that I knew what to do with, as well as a vase full of flowers they found cute to give me.
Somehow, I think they got it into their heads that whoever showed me that they were the most proficient in home-making would earn my love. And, because of how 'dashingly brave' I was saving not only the children (The fact that I had a lot of very good help seemed to have been lost in translation) but my poor, dear, elder sister I was instantly a good protector, and apparently I would be a good parent.
Also, the fact that I had very nearly died, which I reminded them of, seemed to have no effect on my 'heroicness' and only served to have them try to convince me they could play nursemaid and nurse my battered body back to full health, all the while feeding me too sweet baked goods (Aramis had spread the rumor that I had a sweet tooth) and kissing away my pain.
One of them had actually managed to kiss me once. Thankfully on the cheek, but she was very close to my lips.
And if that wasn't traumatizing enough, now they were convinced that I was already seeing someone because I had told them all in the nicest way possible 'I'm not interested'.
Like I could ever actually have that kind of life. Even if it was knowledge that I was a woman, I'd never really have a family of my own.
I couldn't have kids, which made me very undesirable to men who wanted to settle down and have kids. Not that I'd know what to do with them to begin with.
But I had been shot and stabbed one too many a time in the stomach, and had permanently damaged my internal organ that made babies.
So, yeah. Motherhood tossed out the window!
Anyway, Athos was giving me his version of a discreet 'I'm going to kill you later' look.
"Yes. Numerous women have sent him love letters, to which he has no idea how to respond to, as he had not gotten attention from women before coming to Paris." Athos said formally. My jaw almost dropped. So, that's how he wanted to play.
Anne laughed and exchanged a look with me, "How old is this Rogue?"
"I believe he is nearing his 20th year soon, your majesty." Athos replied. At least he remembered my birthday. Aramis had managed to wrestle it out of me a month ago, and he had told nearly every Musketeer he could.
"Hmm, I believe I have heard of Rogue's exploits in the city. He is quite popular if rumors are to be true. So tell me, did he really save his sister's life at the near cost of his own?" Anne asked.
Athos seemed to pale slightly, hesitating before answering. "Yes, your majesty. The rumor regarding his near death is very true. He was shot point blank range from a flintlock pistol after…. Taking out…. The assailant who not only ran a child slave trade, but also manipulated his sister into helping. He would have killed her had Rogue not gotten there in time. As a result," Athos caught my eye, "Rogue was nearly dead by the time our group medic, Aramis, found him. Aramis managed to heal him, and Rogue was in a week long sleep before he awoke. I can honestly say it was one of the most frightening thing I had seen from Rogue. Though I had not known him long before this event occurred."
Anne sighed with a small smile, "You Musketeers can never do anything by halves, can you? You must have been worried."
Athos dipped his head, "We were. D'artagnan rarely slept, and Aramis was beside himself with worry. As you may understand, today we are very… Protective of our youngest member."
Anne looked at me, "Yes, the younger ones seemed to be the protected one when it comes to elder siblings." Then she turned back to Athos, "Would it be possible for us to meet him? If he is a recruit, perhaps I could put in a good word for him with the King. Louis has already thought about making Rogue an official Musketeer already with the rumor's floating around about him, but my words may speed things along."
Of course, the one time that I couldn't come to the palace as Rogue, is the one time that the Queen wants to see me. Perfect.
Athos huffed in surprise slightly, "My apologies, your majesty. But Rogue has journeyed out of the city, to Wales, to visit his sister, where she resides with their uncle. I am not certain when he'll be back, but I expect within a fortnight at the latest."
It was so weird being talked about as if you weren't there, when, technically, you weren't actually there. And this just gets more and more confusing the more I talk about it…..
Anne pouted, "Pity. Ah well, I suppose I could wait a bit longer to meet this dashing young man I've heard so much about. Anna has been very… absorbed with this new Musketeer, though she hasn't told me directly about it."
Wonderful. I really, really, really hope that I wasn't expected to get married. Ever.
I moved my rook and said, "Perhaps there are others as well. I can't imagine someone like Rogue being very interested in marriage at the moment, if he cannot figure out how to respond to advances, perhaps it is a better task to be patient, and see what he himself does."
Anne moved her King out of the way of my Knight. "Wise advice, Angel."
I smiled at her, "I do try." Then I checked her King with my Queen, who had been slowly creeping down the length of the board.
She gave me an honestly happy smile, then flicked her King over. The golden piece hit the marble countertop with a defiant clack, and she asked, "Play again?"
"Love to." Was my reply.
