A/N: Thank you Undertheoaktrees, SnidgetHex, Musketball1, and pallysAramisRios for reviewing!

Chapter 2

Anne sat on the edge of her bed in the golden rays of the morning sun lancing through the sheer curtains, watching the way they glanced over Aramis as he shrugged his doublet on. She stood up and crossed the few steps toward him, wearing nothing but a simple shift gown, all her finery stripped away. He turned toward her, and she reached out to fasten the clasps for him.

She'd gotten what she wanted—a brief blissful moment without ceremony or expectation. Just herself, and a man who saw past it all, saw her. Part of her felt guilty, that she had done this on the night of her husband's funeral. But she and Louis had never been lovers, not in the spiritual sense. He had never loved her, nor she him, not in that way, even though they had tried at times. They had been children when their fates had been arranged by their parents, had grown up more as friends or at least companions than anything else.

But Aramis…he looked at her with such unadulterated love that it made Anne's heart both ache and soar. Even now, his soft gaze meeting hers filled her with more warmth than she had felt…ever.

She bent down and picked up his sash from the floor, handing it to him. He tied it around his waist, then picked up his weapons belt and headed for the door. Anne knew this dream had to come to its end, that he had to quietly slip away before they were discovered, but she already mourned the breaking of the illusion, even as she was grateful for it, a memory to hold onto in the coming darkness.

Aramis opened the door, only to stiffen and stop short. Anne looked past him and saw Constance sitting in the outer room, the baby swaddled in her arms. Constance's eyes widened at the sight of Aramis, and Anne in her shift dress. Thankfully, there was no one else there.

Aramis cleared his throat awkwardly. "Your Majesty," he said with a bow and hastily left.

She nodded, swallowing past her discomfort. "Constance, come in."

Constance rose stiffly and tried not to look at Aramis's retreating back as she came into the bedroom. "I didn't want to disturb you after yesterday…" She trailed off, cheeks flushing and averting her gaze.

Anne bent down to pick up the black dress she'd been wearing yesterday for mourning. "You must think me a terrible person."

"No," Constance replied, but she still looked uncomfortable.

Anne draped the dress over the bed and hugged herself self-consciously. "You wouldn't understand. You married for love."

Constance's expression softened. "I do understand. You saved me from an arranged marriage, remember?"

Anne gave her a weak smile. Yes, she remembered that.

"Do you love Aramis?" Constance tentatively asked.

At the thought of him, Anne's smile instantly brightened. "I do."

Constance nodded. "Your secret is safe with me. I won't even tell d'Artagnan."

"Thank you, Constance. You are a true friend."

She smiled back. "Well, not that I think you shouldn't be careful for a while, but now that you're regent, it wouldn't be treason for you to be with another man. Later."

Anne furrowed her brow. "I hadn't thought of that." She had only seen a lifetime of loneliness and isolation ahead of her. To think there was hope that she could have love…she smiled gratefully.

Her son made a fussy noise and Anne automatically reached out to take him from Constance.

"Oh! Did you have him all night?" Anne asked in realization. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right, I didn't mind."

Anne rocked her son in her arms for a few moments, then forced herself to lay him in the middle of the bed so she could get dressed. She pulled out a stately blue gown from the armoire, respectfully dark in deference to her husband's passing. Constance helped her dress, which she was grateful for; she wasn't ready to be surrounded by ladies and attendants.

As Constance laced up the back of the dress, Anne stared at herself in the mirror. Just like that, she was a queen again, and what happened last night became a dream once more.

.o.0.o.

Aramis walked quickly through the palace, flushed at having been caught by Constance. It could have been worse; at least she would be discreet. But he regretted putting her in that position, and the Queen too. He couldn't, however, regret last night. He had been with many women, had loved each of them in his way for the time he was with them. But Anne was different. She was…kind and brave and possessed a strength of character that marveled him at every turn. Aramis had cared for her long before last night, but last night he had given her his heart and himself, wholly and completely. Whether it was wrong or treason, there was no taking it back. Nor did he want to.

He finally exited the palace and nearly ran into d'Artagnan on his way inside.

"Hey, is everything all right?" d'Artagnan asked.

"Why wouldn't it be?" he reflexively replied, flustered.

D'Artagnan quirked a brow at him. "Because you're here really early…"

Aramis floundered for a response but was saved from having to come up with one by d'Artagnan going on.

"Constance stayed the night looking after the Dauphin." He gave himself a sharp shake. "The King," he corrected. "That's going to take some getting used to."

Aramis nodded mutely in agreement. A lot of things had changed in such a short amount of time.

Ayelet suddenly appeared flying overhead, screeching urgently. Savron, who was standing guard at the end of the grounds, whipped his head up, then belted out a roar and took flight. Aramis and d'Artagnan looked around in alarm as Rhaego and Vrita came loping over from their posts at the other sides of the palace and took up flanking positions at the front.

"What's happening?" d'Artagnan exclaimed.

"Something's wrong," Aramis said needlessly. The problem was they couldn't see from their vantage point. But the dragons obviously had.

Savron flew south, only to bank sharply and start heading back. Aramis caught sight of a dragon in the distance giving chase. He turned and leaped onto Rhaego's back, gripping the saddle pommel firmly as his dragon immediately gave a mighty thwack of his wings to leap into the air.

They rose high above the palace where Aramis was finally able to see what was wrong—a small army was marching toward them, including four dragons. Rhaego shrieked and started to dart forward, but Aramis squeezed his knees to hold him up. Rhaego aborted the movement and pulled back into a hover, gurgling unhappily as Aramis reached for the spyglass in his saddlebag. There was no way these were Spanish troops, and a quick survey of the banners confirmed they were French. Aramis recognized the emblem of the Duke de Lourraine. Just as he was questioning what the hell he was doing here, his spyglass swept past two familiar figures at the head of the army—Magnier and Boudier.

Aramis cursed and stuffed the spyglass away. "Take us down."

Rhaego tucked into a steep descent, swooping back toward the palace and pulling up into another hover several feet off the ground.

"It's Magnier and Boudier!" Aramis shouted to d'Artagnan. "They have an army, four dragons!"

D'Artagnan's eyes widened, but Aramis didn't wait to exchange more words and tapped Rhaego's neck so they could head back up. He grabbed his musket from the saddle holster and loaded it with an acimite ball. Savron was still on his way back as the Duke's dragon closed in on him, and Ayelet had gone on an intercept course. But three more enemy dragons were rushing to overwhelm her. Aramis raised his musket and took aim.

.o.0.o.

D'Artagnan ran into the palace, bellowing the alarm. Athos and Porthos came jogging down the stairs toward him.

"What's goin' on?" Porthos asked urgently.

"An army is coming. Magnier and Boudier."

"An army?" Porthos repeated. "Where the hell did he get one of those?"

"Doesn't matter," Athos said tersely. "We need to get the King and Queen out of here."

"What about Treville?" d'Artagnan asked.

Athos shook his head regretfully. "He's still in no shape to be moved."

D'Artagnan's jaw tightened at that, but it wouldn't do any good killing the First Minister in an attempted escape.

"Split up," Athos ordered. "Find the King and Queen!"

They took off in different directions: Athos toward the Council chambers, Porthos to the nursery, and d'Artagnan to the Queen's apartments.

D'Artagnan found both the Queen and infant King with Constance on their way downstairs.

"What's happening?" the Queen asked in alarm.

"The governor has returned with a small army," d'Artagnan said, ushering them toward the north side of the palace. "We have to get you out of here."

"I can't leave," she said in dismay.

"You have to." He snapped at the guards they passed to get to the south end to defend the grounds.

"I will not concede the throne," Anne said staunchly. "As regent, it is my duty to defend the Crown for my son."

D'Artagnan ignored her protests, pushing them all toward the outer doors. They ran into Porthos, who seamlessly took up position helping to herd the women outside. Once there, d'Artagnan let out a sharp whistle.

The Queen finally dug her heels in. "You take my son. Protect him. I'm staying."

"We don't have time to argue about this," d'Artagnan said.

Vrita came lumbering around the corner in answer to d'Artagnan's call.

He turned to Constance. "Take the King." Keeping the King safe meant keeping Constance safe.

Her expression pinched reluctantly, but she nevertheless climbed up onto Vrita, and d'Artagnan took the baby from the Queen to pass up to her.

Anne took a step back from them, face set resolutely. "Take care of him, Constance."

"Your Majesty…" she pleaded.

Dragon screeches reverberated from the other end of the palace grounds.

Porthos threw a harried look at d'Artagnan. "You go."

He shook his head. As much as he wanted to stay with Constance, Vrita was Porthos's dragon. And he trusted them both to protect their charges.

Porthos seemed to read all that in d'Artagnan's expression, and he nodded gravely before climbing up behind Constance. D'Artagnan watched them take to the skies and fly away. He then turned to take the Queen back inside.

"D'Artagnan!" Athos shouted, jogging toward them. "Where's the King?"

"Porthos and Constance took him on Vrita. The Queen, uh, wanted to stay."

Athos shot Anne an exasperated look.

"My place is here," she said, undaunted.

"Get to your apartments and lock the door," he said sternly.

She started toward the stairs as the two musketeers hurried back out to the south side of the palace. They burst outside to find the air full of dragons dogfighting. D'Artagnan caught a glimpse of Aramis still clinging tightly to Rhaego's saddle as the russet dragon tried to shake a brown dragon on his tail. The head of the army was just reaching the edge of the palace grounds, and a horn was blown. The enemy dragons abruptly abandoned their fights and veered away sharply. Explosions immediately erupted from the ground troops as they opened fire on the exposed Musketeer dragons.

A large net shot through the air and snagged Ayelet, catching her wings and sending her spiraling to the ground. Rhaego shrieked and dove after her. Savron was hit with a pouch that exploded blue powder in his face. He reeled back, then started making a drunken descent before he crashed to the ground and stopped moving.

D'Artagnan drew his pistol and fired at the line of troops shooting at the dragons, but he was too far away to make a clean shot.

Rhaego and Aramis were trying to pull the net off Ayelet, but then one of those pouches struck Rhaego, hitting him with that blue powder. He screeched and tried to shake it off before his movements quickly slowed and he plopped on the ground, out cold. D'Artagnan recognized the compounds Boudier had used when he'd tried to capture Clara's dragons. These men had come prepared.

Aramis fired off two shots at the encroaching enemy, but their return fire struck an unconscious Rhaego, so Aramis darted away from his dragon and back toward the palace. Yet before he could cross the grounds, one of the enemy dragons came swooping down on top of him, knocking him to the grass and pinning him there between its talons.

"Aramis!" d'Artagnan yelled as he and Athos charged forward to help.

But another dragon landed in front of them, blocking their path. It turned and swung its tail around, slamming into both of them and taking their feet out from under them. D'Artagnan hit the ground hard, the wind almost getting knocked out of him. Before he could try to get up, a dragon paw jammed down on his chest, pressing him against the dirt. Next to him, Athos was similarly trapped.

The army was moving in, and the palace guards that charged out to fight were quickly shot down. It was only a matter of moments before the rest of them surrendered.

D'Artagnan strained futilely against the dragon pinning him in place as Magnier and Boudier strode over to smirk at him and Athos.

The palace had been taken.