"Corinne, are you serious!?" Aramina gasped "I mean… really?"

Corinne sighed and covered her eyes with her hands "I don't know what else to think!" she looked around at her friends from where she was laying on her bed, her head hanging off the end "Three fires and… I just don't know."

Renee frowned "But would a guy do that?"

Aramina shrugged "Jealousy is a strong thing. We all know that. It can drive a man to do things he wouldn't do otherwise." then she sighed "But Louis… I know he's been acting strange, but I'm not sure he's capable of that."

The blond didn't respond as she stared across the room, looking at nothing in particular.

"Well..." Viveca said slowly "It was sweet of Chad to run into the fire. Wasn't it? I mean his whole 'stay here while I go' was just too cute with that accent!"

"I know!" Aramina squealed "Is there any way to capture that voice?"

Renee sighed "And we've lost them." then she walked over to the blond and looked down at her blank face "What's up?"

"Why me?" Corinne mumbled "Why not all of us?" a frown slowly started to set over her face and she slowly started to roll over onto her stomach.

Renee took a step back "I think she's onto something."

Aramina looked over at Corinne and nodded "I think you're right! Look at that face."

"Wait..." Corinne suddenly said as she finished rolling over "That's it!" then she accidentally rolled right off the edge of her bed and landed on the floor with a *thud*

"Are you okay?" Aramina asked.

"Yeah." Corinne quickly got back to her feet "I can't believe it! It's so obvious!"

"What is?" the other three echoed.

"I know who's after me!" she started pacing the room "A little over a year ago, when you three went home for the holidays but I couldn't because we had a bad snow storm, someone tried to assassinate Louis, but I managed to stop him. Remember?"

"That's right!" Aramina gasped "He escaped from the dungeon two nights later! That would explain everything! The reason he's only after you is because you were the only one here!"

"But that doesn't explain the fires." Renee pointed out.

Corinne sighed "There can only be two explanations for the fires, and only one of them is right. Either we have two assassination attempts going on here and someone is trying to kill Louis… or he's setting them himself."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as the words sank into the four.

"But how do we know?" Aramina finally whispered.

Corinne pushed a stray piece of hair from her face "I'll… just have to ask him." then she left the apartment.

"This… cannot end good." Renee mumbled.

Aramina bit her lower lip then she spun and ran from the building.

~*~*~*Love's Fate*~*~*~

Corinne sucked in a deep breath before she knocked on Louis' office door.

"Come on in." Louis' voice said from inside.

Taking another breath, she walked in.

Treville sent her a nod of acknowledgment from where he stood in the far corner.

"Captain, would you… give me a moment?" she asked "There's a matter that I must speak to the king about privately."

Treville's eyebrows rose but he left without a word.

Louis looked up at her as she went to stand in front of his desk "Sounds important from all the formalities." then he smiled slightly "Am I in trouble?"

Corinne let out a large rush of air as she planted her hands on the top of the desk "I don't know yet, Louis."

The smile completely left his face and he leaned back in his chair "What's wrong?"

She was silent for a moment before asking "Are you the one setting the fires?"

Louis sat straight up as if he'd been shot "What?"

She looked him in the face and repeated slowly and deliberately "Are you the one setting the fires?"

He stared at her for a full fifteen seconds before he shook his head in disbelief "You think I did it?"

"Louis, just answer me."

"Why would I try to kill myself?" His voice was low and hard as he slowly raised up from his chair and planted his hands firmly on the top of the desk, leveling his gaze with her.

"All I want is a yes or no." she responded calmly.

Louis gritted his teeth "Who put you up to this? Chad?"

"No!" she shook her head emphatically as she straightened up "Louis, I have to know! Just answer yes or no! That's all I want!"

"Why do you think I did it? What reason could I possible have for trying to barbeque myself? You think I've become one of these unstable psychopaths?"

"What!? I just want an answer!"

"So do I? Since when did you think that I, the king, was a nut case?"

"I don't!" She watched as she walked around his desk to stand directly in front of her.

They were almost standing nose to nose when he stopped. His brown eyes had darkened incredibly and were burning with anger "Then why are you accusing me of setting flames to my own home?"

"Because I don't know what else to think!" she exclaimed "Every time the fires have started, you were alone and I… was with Chad. How do you explain that?"

"Oh, so you do think I've lost my mind!" He whirled around and stomped away from her, shaking his head in anger, then he turned to face her again "Why on earth would I lose my mind over you?"

Corinne took a step back, her eyes widening "I…" she closed her eyes for a second, trying to keep all her emotions at bay "Did you set the fires?"

"And you're still asking?!" he basically shouted.

"Why won't you just answer me!?" she finally blurted, her hands clenched into fists at her sides "Why won't you just simply answer the question?"

"Because I don't have to answer to you." He responded as he stalked back over to her "I'm the king. I don't have to answer to anybody, let alone a crazy country girl who decided to become a stupid musketeer!"

Corinne's mouth dropped open "What!?" then she backed away from him "I don't know why I bother with you. Or why I ever did." with that she spun around and ran from the room.

Louis slammed the door behind her and let out a frustrated growl before his anger slowly started to diminish. He stared at his office before he raked a hand through his hair "Louis… what did you just do?"

~*~*~*Love's Fate*~*~*~

"I told you that wouldn't end well." Renee mumbled as she and Viveca watched Corinne jump on her horse and take off across the courtyard and out the castle gates.

Viveca sighed "She's going to be blowing off steam for days!"

Aramina stepped into the apartment and shook her head "That was not pretty." then she looked over at her friends "In fact, that's the worse fight I've ever heard her get into. The king lost his temper!"

"Oooh." the other two whistled slightly.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on their door, since Aramina was already standing there, she opened it.

"Where's Corinne?" Captain Treville asked "I need to explain something to her."

"She's mad and took off." Renee answered "We generally wait fifteen minutes before trying to follow her."

Treville groaned "Where does she normally go?"

"There's a hill just East of here." Aramina answered "You can see Paris and several miles towards Gascony. She says it's the closest she can come to home and still be close to Gascony too." Treville nodded a thanks before he turned and left. Aramina bumped the door closed "He's braver than I thought."

The other two chuckled as another knock sounded on the door.

"I guess he chickened out." Aramina commented as she pulled open the door, only to see the young king standing there "Oh! Um… can... I help you… Your Highness?"

Louis let out a deep breath "Is Corinne here? I really need to talk to her."

"No. She's not." Renee answered.

He sighed then reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper "Can you give this to her when she gets back, please? It's… important."

Aramina nodded as she took the letter "Of course."

Louis nodded then turned and walked away.

"Hm..." Aramina mumbled as she closed the door, studying the paper closely "I wonder what it says."

"Aramina." Viveca warned "It's for Corinne."

"But she's not here!"

"So?"

"Well…" the red head looked at her friends then at the taunting letter as a small smile crossed her face "Well, we should make sure there's nothing wrong in here. You know, stuff that'll make Corinne blow another brain cell."

Viveca and Renee looked at each other then shrugged "Okay." then then ran to look over the red head's shoulders.

Dear Corinne

look, I'm sorry for what just happened.

I don't know what possessed me to say that, or even act that way.

You had every right to ask if I'd been setting those fires due how I'd been acting lately.

You weren't accusing, you were just simply asking, and I know that.

I know it's no excuse, but I'm afraid I was just stressed out from everything going on right now.

Between those fires, the Council and whoever is trying to kill you, I'm afraid I've been at my wits end wondering what would happen next.

But I guess what's been plaguing me the most is wondering if I might lose you to Chad Dailey.

It's not my place to try and force you to decide. It's your choice, not mine.

But I just had to let you know that you are the most amazing and beautiful person I know.

If there's anyway we could try and talk this out, please let me know.

I'm sorry.

King Louis

P.S No, I have not been the one setting those fires. I promise.

"I think I'm gonna cry!" Aramina gasped "Have you ever read such a sweet letter?"

"Never one that didn't belong to me." Renee responded "And now I'm feeling bad about reading it!"

"Don't." Viveca waved her off "Just wait till Corinne reads it and we can watch her reaction and know exactly what she's reading."

~*~*~*Loves's Fate*~*~*~

Treville slowly approached the blond haired girl as she hurled large rocks and sticks through the air, wondering if he should actually be getting closer.

Finally he stopped and called "Corinne. May I have a word with you?"

She looked over her shoulder at him and dropped the rock she had in her hand "What do you want, Captain?"

He finished walking to her and looked around at the scene "This is a nice spot."

"It's my favorite in Paris. Well… second favorite." she pushed a strand of hair from her face "I don't think you came up here to talk about the scenery."

"No, I didn't." he turned to face her "Corinne, I think I need to explain something to you."

She raised an eyebrow "Is it the whole Training thing and why you lied and said that every musketeer had to do it?"

"Yes." he chuckled slightly "I should have known you'd figure that out." then he became serious again "You've done a good job training Chad in such a little time." he cleared his throat "The reason I wanted you to train him is because… Corinne, you're going to be the next Captain."