(Babs, I fully intend to make Athos chase Amorette!)
I only own Amorette.
A brisk walk in the cool morning air was rather soothing to Amorette's mind. She didn't let herself dwell on the fact that she had dreamt many times of taking such a walk through early morning Paris and stayed away from the river. She was desperate to try and do something to help the young women less fortunate than she was who lived in this city, some of them in its very streets. Nothing came to mind though and she found herself seeking out familiar faces on the still empty streets. She had hoped that she might see Shauna again to try and decipher what she had decided to do with the money that Amorette had given her but if it was too early for even the fishermen and the bakers, it was certainly too early for prostitutes.
At length Amorette did find herself crossing the river as the fog began to clear and the sun rose. She met Claude in the Latin Quarter and they stopped to purchase some fresh pastries for breakfast. Together they walked into the Jardin des Luxembourg as they ate and talked of what had happened the day before. Amorette was well aware that Claude had come from her lover's lodgings to meet her and whilst that did make her a little uncomfortable, she would much rather have had her friends company so she said nothing of the matter. Instead she told Claude what had occurred the evening before between herself and Athos. She conveniently left Henry Fitzgerald out of the conversation to save her curious friend developing any unwarranted suspicions. At length they both decided to call on Constance, and finding the D'artagnan's lodgings empty the only other option was to wander towards the musketeer garrison.
Amorette didn't know how long they stood in the garrison courtyard talking, and was more sure with each moment that passed that someone would come out and tell what would have looked like three women gossiping to move on. No one did however and at length D'artagnan joined them.
"I just wish there was something we could do to help," Amorette muttered. "Perhaps we could set up a trust or collection of some sort for the young unfortunate women of Paris?"
"That's certainly a good idea to think about," said D'artagnan.
Claude shook her head. "We will need more than just ourselves to back such a thing. We may have more than enough money to do such a thing but without the support of other wealthy ladies we will be a laughing stock or perhaps even frowned upon. We could go to the Queen and ask for her help."
Amorette shared a knowing glance with Constance. "If you wish to take that course of action I won't argue with you, but I'm afraid you'll have to petition the Queen alone Claude," she said.
"Have you still not spoken with her?" asked Constance.
Amorette shook her head. "In the mean time we will start a campaign for more financial backers then!" Amorette announced to try and shift the subject.
"Financial backers for what?" asked Porthos as he emerged through the archway with Athos and Aramis.
"Amorette and Claude want to start up a fund for the unfortunate women of Paris," Constance confirmed as the three men joined their group. "I think it's a wonderful idea. I'll help any way I can."
Athos sighed heavily. "There are already numerous funds of the like, but there will always be one more poverty stricken woman than accounted for. Why not simply donate some money to one of the already thriving funds and save yourselves the hassle?"
Amorette let her jaw drop open in shock at his apparent unfeeling tone. "We want to take action to do something to help these women Athos! I want to campaign for our own fund so that we know that every single coin goes where it should."
Athos simply shrugged and began to turn away. For a moment Amorette thought that he may have prematurely indulged in some alcohol but D'artagnan's next question had her wondering. "How did things go with Madam Durand this morning?" the young Gasçon asked his fellow soldiers.
"You went back?" Gasped Amorette. Was Athos' surly mood really because yet again Madam Durand had not given him the information that he wanted. She felt something warm and comforting unfurl in the pit of her stomach for Athos and his gruffness. The reality was that he wanted to help the young women of Paris just as much as she did, and he was angered because the accused would not be frank with him.
"She still wouldn't tell us anything," said Aramis.
"No wonder," muttered Constance. "Look at you all! A woman like that is hardly going to tell musketeers anything! Her services are not illegal but they may as well be! She won't want to risk any blame being placed at her door no matter how small!"
Amorette gasped. "That's it! She won't tell you anything because you are men! But if a woman were to go to her in the guise of a customer then perhaps she would let something slip!"
"And who do you propose we send into her workshop Madam?" Athos' sharp eyes glared at Amorette and she was almost certain that he knew just what she was thinking.
"Well…" Amorette grimaced, not liking her idea any more than any of her friends would once they had heard it. "We cannot send just anyone. A young girl from the streets would not come back out alive if she were to go there, no matter how much money she took with her. The only option is to send someone well known, who has people to come looking for her not long after she is missed!"
"No." Athos didn't shout, and it wasn't a gruff mutter either. It was a simple statement that the whole group heard.
"Oh come on Athos! I'll go down there and have a look around. I'll ask a few questions and if need be I'll say that I'm enquiring for a friend!" Amorette gazed at her old friend pleadingly but he seemed unrelenting.
"It's completely out of the question Mademoiselle! How are we to know that your nobility would protect you at all! If these people really are what we think they are, I doubt they care very much for your position within society!" Athos shook his head in disbelief as Amorette continue to stare at him. "You are right in saying that may be our only option, but it is not one that we will be taking!"
Amorette took the chance to look around her at the rest of the group. Everyone seemed reluctant to enter into what was sure to be another argument between herself and Athos. She caught Aramis' eye and decided to turn her imploring eyes upon him. He smirked almost instantly as he realised what she was trying to do and shook his head at her ever so slightly. "Athos, mademoiselle Amorette does make a very valid point that a man entering into such an environment cannot hope to gain any worthy answers to his questions. We need to think on that. In this case though I do think I agree with you in that the risks outweigh any plight for justice." Aramis words seemed to calm the rest of the group a little and Amorette realised that they all thought the argument all but over now.
"Well I'm afraid that you have an ultimatum on your hands Messieurs!" announced Amorette. "I'm going to go to this Madam Durand and ask my questions and you can choose whether to help me or not!"
D'artagnan threw a glance to Constance straight away. "Constance, no!"
Constance sighed and Claude immediately stepped forward. Amorette shook her head slowly. "Claude I cannot ask you to come with me in your condition. I'll go myself. Perhaps it will look more believable that way too!"
Claude's expression changed from one of determination to outrage in a matter of seconds. "Mademoiselle Amorette is right," said Aramis with a pointed look to Claude. "In your condition Madam we cannot permit you to accompany anyone to speak with Madam Durand!"
Claude raised a hand and pointed her finger at Aramis. "I have no shame in telling any of you that the child I currently carry was not fathered by my husband and said husband could care less what I do with my time and whether I live or die. My husband is the only man who can tell me what I can and cannot do. As such not one of you will tell me where I can and cannot go." Claude stepped forward and grabbed Amorette's hand and squeezed it tightly.
Amorette saw Athos glance towards her as he opened his mouth to speak. "And I have no husband to speak of!" she cried. "Until such a man is in existence, I too will have no one ordering me about. You heard what I said! Either help us or don't. it's entirely up to you!"
Three hours later and standing on the corner of the Rue du Murier in a gentle rain, Amorette still didn't regret her decision. She was a little worried about what might be about to happen, but she was determined to go through with it none the less. She had returned to her own rooms to change into her best dress and to fetch a purse of gold coins. She had then returned to the Garrison with Claude where Athos had drilled their plan they had formed into her again and again. Claude grabbed her hand tightly as they both gave one last look over their shoulders to where four musketeers stood in the distance before turning towards Madam Durand's premises. From the outside, the establishment looked nothing dissimilar to a slightly eccentric apothecary selling some of the more unusual herbs and spices. When Amorette pushed open the door and entered the shop with Claude following closely behind, she was slightly disheartened. The shop front looked as it ought to have done with dried herbs in jars all about the room and large books on plant-life strewn across the counter. Claude stepped forward and thumbed through one of the books whilst Amorette began to lift the lids of some of the jars nearby. Both women didn't really know what it was that they were looking for, but Amorette knew that they would more than likely need to speak with the proprietor to get anywhere near the answers that they wanted to find.
At length they had both exhausted looking through the books and jars and Amorette turned her attention towards a curtained doorway that she knew must lead to the back rooms of the shop. There was silence except for the slightest of taps of their heeled shoes on the tiled floor so Amorette decided to venture a glance through the curtain. What she saw was not a back room but in fact a flight of steps leading down into a cellar. The musketeers had not been sure whether it would be stairs or another room beyond the curtain. Amorette listened for a few minutes but could hear no sound from the lower floor. She could feel Claude's rather shaky hand clinging to the back of her dress.
"Claude if you want to turn back, then go. I'm not asking you to go down there with me!" Amorette removed Claude's hand from her dress and gave it a tight squeeze of reassurance.
"Amorette I'm not leaving you to go down there alone but I don't think we should venture any further." Claude sniffed a little as frightened tears sprang to her eyes. "I think Athos was right. This is too dangerous."
"Leave then Claude! Go now before someone comes along and sees you!" Amorette pushed away from her friend and lowered her foot onto the first step. At once Claude let out a yelp and grabbed the back of her dress again.
"It'll look more convincing if you've brought a friend for moral support," muttered Claude as she tried to convince herself more so than Amorette.
"Stop worrying so," Amorette whispered even though there was a knot of worry building in her own stomach. "As soon as we disappear from sight of the front windows the musketeers will be waiting just across the street."
They crept on down the flight of stairs into a dark candlelit room. Immediately the almost overwhelming scent of incense hit Amorette and she had to cover her mouth to stifle a cough. There were more jars of herbs and books in the room but everything seemed to look so sinister in the darkness. There was a fire burning furiously in the grate that made the room almost too hot to bear and a long table ran the breadth of the room. There was also a smaller table around which were seated four dark leather armchairs. Something about the room had Amorette thinking that they would find the sickening answers they were searching for and more. Again they began to search but nothing stood out to either of them.
At length Claude gave up and lowered herself into one of the armchairs. "Where do you suppose this Madam Durand is then?" she hissed. "This shop seems deserted."
"I'm not sure," muttered Amorette. "But would you rather that she was here to watch us searching her shop Claude? It is strange that the door should be unlocked but I suppose we must think on the fact that I don't think anyone in Paris would want to steal anything. I don't know what most of these herbs and potions are and I'm well educated for goodness sake." At that moment the glass jar that Amorette was holding in her hand slipped a little. She caught it before it dropped, but that didn't stop it clinking loudly against the other jars on the shelf.
Almost at once the sound of footsteps from beyond another set of curtains had Claude jumping to her feet and Amorette backing away from the shelf. The curtain hooks grated against the curtain pole as the dark fabric was drawn back a little to let a tall woman emerge into the room. She was not what Amorette had expected at all. Amorette had thought that Madam Durand would appear to be an ordinary Parisian working class woman well able to hide her evil intentions but the woman before her now was wholly different. Amorette didn't know why she had expected Madam Durand to look unassuming, but the sallow stretched skin that was pulled taught over high cheekbones and a hooked nose seemed to fit the descriptions that she had been given of the woman so far. Heavy black hair was pulled severely back to sit in a messy coif on the woman's head and there was the distinct lack of grace about her. She walked strangely, throwing her legs out as a man would have done having just climbed down from his horse's saddle.
Amorette heard her own sharp intake of breath as the woman turned beady eyes on them both. Although the woman had yet to introduce herself, Amorette was in no doubt that she was certainly Madam Durand. Why though, would any young woman choose to come here to seek the help of such a frightening woman?
"Can I help you Mesdames?" simpered the woman and Amorette immediately knew that she was not a native Parisian.
"We… were just looking for something to help a friend of ours who has been out of sorts," rushed Claude in reply.
Madam Durand seemed to take Claude's excuse with a pinch of salt and Amorette knew that she would have to step in to try and diffuse the mounting tension. "In truth Madam we were recommended to you, but I cannot tell you by whom. I do not wish to break anyone's trust," she lied, "But this friend of ours has found herself in a predicament and I was told I could come to you for some advice on…ah… removing the predicament."
Madam Durand let out a rather sickening chuckle. "I'm afraid that I do not give out advice to 'friends' of my customers. Your friend shall return here alone with her predicament and I will speak with her myself! Good day Mesdames!"
The woman turned to leave and Amorette groaned inwardly at what she knew she was about to do. "Wait, please Madam! The friend I speak of is in fact here-"
"This is her?" Madam Durand interrupted with a glance to Claude. "If so then I'm afraid I cannot help. My services are only offered to those still in their first trimester. Your friend is far too fat now for me to be of any help."
"Oh goodness no, Madam Morreaux here is perfectly happy with her condition I assure you," whispered Amorette as she reluctantly stepped closer to the woman. "The friend that I speak of is me!"
Amorette placed her hand across her stomach for emphasis and tried to shape her expression to look lost and desperate. "Well why didn't you say so?" Madam Durand laughed and led them back towards the armchairs. When they were all seated she placed her beady gaze firmly on Amorette. "Well child how far along are you?"
Amorette swallowed a large gulp. A thought had just entered her head so bold and imaginative that she was scared to even think through it again. If the musketeers caught Madam Durand in the action of trying to inhumanly dispose of someone's unwanted child, then they would have reasonable grounds to arrest her. "I'm only a few weeks," she said gently. The fear in Amorette's voice wasn't entirely put on. "It cannot be any more than that, I'm certain of it. You see I am to be married soon and I cannot marry whilst I carry another man's child Madam. You understand?"
Madam Durand frowned and nodded, almost like a disapproving mother. "I do understand your predicament but a fine young woman such as yourself should be more than aware of how to guard yourself against such a dilemma. The truth is that I can help you, but how am I to be sure that you will not be back on my doorstep begging for help again in a month's time? What I can offer is only a quick solution for now. You must ensure that you are more careful in future!"
Amorette felt sickened to hear such words of motherly admonishment from the woman that had certainly had a hand in Nathaly's death if she had not killed the girl herself. She was even more surprised when Claude spoke up. "We cannot help who we love though Madam. My friend has had to break from the man she has loved all her life to marry for duty's sake. They will not see each other again." Amorette really did feel nauseous. The story that she and Claude were concocting did feel a little too close to home.
Amorette watched Madam Durand's eyes soften in apparent sympathy but Amorette was sure that she didn't believe the woman capable of such a sentiment. "Well," the older woman began as she got up from her chair and approached the shelves along the wall. She moved jars around as she searched and eventually she pulled free a small vial of clear liquid. Approaching the table, she set it before Amorette and took her seat again. "This is Pennyroyal. One drop in sweet tea every evening for one month will rectify the situation."
Amorette chanced a quick look in Claude's direction before crying "One month? No Madam I need something quicker than that! Is there nothing else you might try? Some other method?" From the folds of her skirts Amorette pulled two thick gold twenty-four Livre coins. "I am willing to pay whatever it takes. The money is yours if you will help me!"
Amorette was almost sure that her shaking hands would give her away as she pushed the coins towards the woman who looked at them greedily. "The Pennyroyal mixture is usually priced at four Livres as it is the simplest method if used correctly, but there is another."
"What is the other method? What does it entail?" badgered Amorette as Madam Durand rose with the vial of Pennyroyal and retreated to the shelves again. For a long moment the woman didn't answer and then she returned to the table with a cup of strongly brewed sweet tea.
"This will help with your nerves child," she said as she took her seat again. "The truth is if I was to tell you of the other method it may frighten you. I'd rather not tell you and simply get on with it. It will be painful and you will need a few days' rest afterwards but in a weeks' time you should be fully restored to health. The child within you will die instantly though. There will be no month of waiting."
Amorette gave a pretend sigh of relief and took a large gulp of the sweet tea. "Thank you for your advice Madam. I have somewhere I must be today, but I will return later to take you up on your services."
As Amorette and Claude made to stand the woman threw her arms out to stop them. "You cannot go now child. If you go about your business and really think on what I have told you then you will not come back. Think of what is best for you! You can be rid of this predicament and marry this future husband of yours safely in the knowledge that you are not harbouring someone else's child. You seem so sure right now of the path to take so you must take it." Madam Durand's apparent tone of care was not something that would have affected Amorette had she really been pregnant. The pretence of motherly care and advice was something that only added to the creepiness of the whole situation. Amorette took another large gulp of tea as she tried to think of a reply, nearly emptying the cup. "Child I must ask your friend to leave now though!"
Amorette immediately grabbed Claude's wrist. "No I'd like her to stay!"
The heavy sound of footsteps had Amorette swivelling in her seat towards the curtained doorway where a tall, heavily set man stood. "Mesdames this is my son Wiatt. Your friend cannot stay child. There is enough trouble dealing with you fainting during the procedure without your friend also." One look at the menacing Wiatt had Amorette nodding swiftly to Claude. Her friend was being offered an open opportunity to leave which she should not refuse. Amorette would work out how to get out of the disturbing shop herself. Claude seemed baffled by Amorette's decision but as Wiatt stepped forward into the room to lead her towards the door she seemed to rethink her protests. "Don't stray too far from the shop door though Madam. Your friend will need help walking home when this is done." Amorette sucked in a frightened breath and hurriedly looked to her friend who shared with Amorette a knowing glance just before she turned the corner and disappeared from view on the staircase. In minutes Claude would have sent the musketeers down into the strange cellar below the shop and Amorette didn't mind them tarnishing her plan. All that she wanted now was to leave but she didn't know how to with Madam Durand's hawk-like eyes watching her every move and reaction. Had she been wrong to present those two coins? The woman would know now that Amorette had much more money concealed about her person. Would they rob her blind and then throw her out onto the street if they had the chance, or would they kill her for her money?
Amorette gave a start when Wiatt followed Claude up the stairs. "Do not worry child. Wiatt simply goes to lock the doors to preserve your modesty. Come with me to the table will you?" Madam Durand held out a bony hand for Amorette to take and when she stood the whole room spun on its axis. Amorette clutched her mouth for fear that she would be violently sick. "That will be the tea working then!"
"What?" snarled Amorette as she tore her hand from the woman's grip.
"I put a drop of Pennyroyal in your tea to dull the senses a little. Trust me, you'll thank me for it when this is all over." With that Madam Durand led Amorette rather haphazardly towards the table and patted the middle of it. "The drug can cause an ill feeling the first time it is taken, but hopefully you will not be in as much pain because of it."
Amorette managed to slide herself onto the table and was promptly pushed back so that she was lying down. Seeing a shadow looming from the corner she turned to find Wiatt back in the room. "What is he doing here?" she asked a little incredulously.
"He is here to hold you down child," muttered Madam Durand as she bustled about the table. She stopped as if remembering something and loomed over Amorette. "You never did mention who the father's child was Mademoiselle?"
Amorette's mind jarred for a few seconds and she was sure that she would be caught in her lie. "Musketeer…he's a musketeer."
"That's funny…" Madam Durand threw a suspicious look towards her son. "There were musketeers poking around here asking questions last night and again this morning about some poor girl that died."
"The father doesn't know!" Amorette cried to try and buy more time. "He cannot know. I'll never see him again now that I am to be married."
She didn't know why, but Amorette's lie seemed to placate the older woman a little. Amorette observed Wiatt through heavy lidded eyes and noted the broad and strong shoulders that threatened a mass of strength. It occurred to her then that Wiatt had yet to speak and she brought her gaze to rest on his face. His cold and hard features reminded her of a statue carved from marble. Those large hands would surely cause some damage in a fight. As a pair of menacingly beady black eyes met Amorette's she tore her gaze away. The man before her had been the one to hurt Nathaly, she was sure of it. Deciding that she wanted to leave now, Amorette placed her hands flat on the table to push herself up but found that she couldn't. Cold metal pressed against her wrists and Amorette realised that she was chained to the table. She let out a yelp of fright as Madam Durand loomed over her again. "I've changed my mind! Let me go now, I've changed my mind! Amorette screamed out the signal sentence as loudly as she could and sure enough, above them the thundering heavy footsteps across the shop floor began.
"Hush now, you'll be glad when it's over I assure you Mademoiselle!" simpered Madam Durand.
"You don't understand!" Amorette gave up all pretence and began to kick out at Wiatt when he grabbed her ankles to hold her down. "I'm not with child! I'm not carrying a child!"
Madam Durand stilled above Amorette as she stared at her. Amorette couldn't read the woman's expression as she glanced towards the celling and the sounds of footsteps. Then from nowhere a knife was in Madam Durand's hand and she tore open the bodice of Amorette's dress. A few of the decorative beads broke from their fastenings and flew into the air. Amorette sucked in a horrified breath as the woman reached for the hem of Amorette's corset and plunged her hand underneath it. Feeling Amorette's flat stomach, a disgusted look crossed her face.
The knife disappeared and Madam Durand lifted an oddly shaped metal contraption that Amorette had never seen the like of before but strangely; she knew suddenly in that instant what it was used for. She let out another cream as she felt Wiatt taking the coin purse from her pocket and then begin to bunch up her skirts. She kicked out at him ferociously, her feet colliding with his face numerous times. A deafening crack told her that the door had burst open and then it all descended into chaos. Any medical instruments or glass jars that Madam Durand had close at hand she threw across the room as her son reached for his musket. Shots flew back and forth across the room and Amorette couldn't discern the shouts amid the din.
She didn't know that anyone was near her until she felt the chains slide from her wrists and she was yanked up from the table to press against a broad chest. Clinging to the Lapels of Athos' doublet Amorette let him walk backwards towards the doorway as he still fired shots. Amorette kept her face turned into his chest, smelling that unique scent of faint leather, gunpowder and the garrison. There was something else there too; something that Amorette remembered from her earliest childhood. It was not strong enough to be a cologne, but she remembered it all the same. She tuned out the room and focused on only that as they moved backwards still. Athos' hand was clamped firmly around her waist, his hand splayed against her corset underneath what must now resemble more of a doublet than a dress bodice. Amorette didn't care though.
The touch of a gloved hand to her cheek had Amorette starting. Athos pulled her chin up gently to look at her, taking in her dazed eyes. Without hearing his unspoken question, she answered, "She gave me tea to drink. There was Pennyroyal in it. It's made me feel ill but I'm not hurt."
Athos nodded slowly, turning to Aramis who came up on her other side. "Take her back to the garrison, Porthos and D'artagnan can handle things here I expect."
Later on, Amorette wouldn't recall their walk back to the garrison. Her first memory of it all would be sitting at the worn table with Athos at her side, Claude looking on worriedly and Aramis facing her. "I sent Claude back this way to fetch some things just in case. I couldn't be sure that you would need it but I mixed some dried herbs with the wine that will counteract the Pennyroyal. It may make you feel sick Mademoiselle but let it run its course."
Aramis pushed a glass towards her and Amorette threw the marksman an apprehensive look before taking a sip of the wine. It tasted rather unremarkable so she gulped the rest of the drink down. For a few seconds everyone was watching for her reaction. She shrugged. "Nothing, I feel fine." It was true. Her eyes regained complete focus and her weariness was beginning to ware off. Just when Amorette thought she had gotten away with it her stomach lurched and Amorette threw herself sideways towards a bucket to the right of her feet. She'd have fallen from her chair with the force of it had Athos not clamped an arm around her waist. He held her up as she emptied her stomach into the bucket.
At length the retching subsided and she was able to sit up on her own, feeling far better with the drug completely gone from her system. She could feel tiredness creeping in again though. By the time that Athos walked herself and Claude back to the palace an hour later, Amorette was almost sleeping on her feet. They left Claude at the turn of the staircase and carried on towards Amorette's own rooms. She let Athos throw open the door and she trudged in, ready to throw herself down onto one of the couches but to her astonishment someone was already sitting there. She gave a yelp of surprise as she glimpsed the shock of blonde curls before she threw herself across the room into Fabien's arms.
So Fabien has returned! This is probably my least favourite chapter but it was one of the pivotal scenes I had in my head at the beginning and it wouldn't have felt right to leave it out.
