Evening My Lovelies

Well... This chapter was interesting to write... Usually, I go into a chapter knowing at least most of what I want to happen in it but not today :D Today all I knew what who I wanted to reveal being behind the gunshots but other than that I had no idea what was going to happen so fingers crossed the chapter still makes sense and that you all like it :D

Notes On Reviews:

beeblegirl: Thanks for the review - Maybe... You'll have to read on and find out :D Enjoy the new chapter! x

Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - I'll admit the more I think about it the more I'm loving the idea of the king proper coddling D'Art once this is all over and they're safely back in Paris so I think that's likely what's going to happen. As for Montague, I have mentioned him in a previous chapter but it was quite a while ago and only once so I'm not surprised people don't remember him (I had to scroll back through to figure out what I called him lol) I'll be clearing up who he is in a later chapter so no worries :D Enjoy the new chapter! x

pallysAramisRios: Thanks for the review - Haha well that would just be too easy then if he did what he was told :D Enjoy the new chapter! x

Chris Johnson (Guest): Thanks for the review - Not sure if you'll read this any time soon as your review was for the first chapter of this story but I'll reply here anyways. Thank you I am so glad to hear you like my work :D Always makes my day to get reviews and comments like that. As for transferring my stories onto kindle, I have absolutely no idea how I would do that so I did a quick google search and it looks like there is a way to transfer it over but that's something you would have to do on your end and not something I can do so I would suggest googling it (I just searched transferring fanfiction to kindle) Enjoy the new chapter! x

As always much love and many thanks for following/favouriting/reviewing/reading

Love you all!

Enjoy!

xxx

Chapter Thirty-Two: Unexpected II

Athos, being the only one of his brothers still on a horse had the hardest time defending not only himself but also his baby brother, who still laid unconscious in his arms, so when the arena exploded into a shower of bullets the swordsman truly felt despair at the arrival of a possible new threat to those he loved.

However, it only took a few moments after the bullets began to rain down on the clearing to realize that his fears appeared to be unfounded as they were only hitting those attacking them.

"PORTHOS!" screamed a panicked Aramis, pulling Athos's attention away from the possible allies and to the horrific sight of his brother falling to one knee with his hand pressing against his side as a smirking man stepped closer, clearly about to make another attempt on the larger musketeer's life now most of the clearing was distracted by the gunshots.

Aramis was about to sprint to his brother's side, ignoring the threat to his own safety when another shot split the air and the man who had been about to kill his brother fell to the ground, blood pooling from the newly made hole in his head.

Not wasting a moment Aramis, along with Blaise who had been valiantly fighting by his side, rushed towards the injured musketeer, the medic dropping to his knees the moment he was close enough to start assessing the damage done to his friend.

"ENOUGH!" bellowed the leader of their attackers, his voice cutting through the sound of battle as it drew the musketeer's attention towards the man and, more importantly, to the hostage he was now holding a pistol to the head of.

"This. Is. Treason!" growled Louis with no small amount of fear lining his voice as he struggled in this captor's grasp.

"Oh," smirked his captor despite the situation they all now found themselves in, "We are well beyond that by now…" Looking away from his captive the man stared at the trees, addressing the figures he knew laid in wait within. "If you don't want to see the king end up the same way as my man I'd reveal yourselves… Now."

For a few moments, it appeared that the mysterious allies were going to ignore the order, much to the king's growing fear, but then a single figure stepped out of the trees, the sight of which caused the eyes of one musketeer, in particular, to widen in both shock and surprise.

"A…Alain?" breathed Blaise as he drank in the sight of the man he loved as a brother. The torture he had been forced to endure during his captivity had been brutal but the memories of those his silence protected, mainly the now smirking musketeer approaching them, greatly helped to ease that pain.

Alain on the other hand was refusing to look at his brother, knowing that doing so now he was close enough to truly see the damage done to the man would cause his anger to get the better of him and they couldn't afford that right now.

Instead, he focused his attention on the men holding the king hostage, "Release him," he ordered, eyes narrowing at the slight scoff he heard from one of the pair, "Most of your men are now dead or dying," he continued coldly, gesturing to the battlefield where indeed a lot of the ambushers were laying in various states of distress. "You can let the king go and live to see another day or me and mine will exterminate you and yours."

Athos and his men could only watch in stunned silence as Alain, a typically bright and cheery young man coldly threatened the man before them.

Stepping forward to stand beside his companion Montague crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You think a squadron of musketeers is enough to bring us down when not even your best men could?"

Now it was Alain's turn to smirk as he mirrored the man's posture, "What makes you think I only brought a squadron?" and with that, the clearing became flooded with musketeers who wasted no time in moving to defend their weary and injured brothers-in-arms.

The man who had held the musketeers captive seemed truly surprised by the large number of musketeers now standing before him and it didn't take him long to realize that even if the musketeers hadn't already taken out a good deal of his men they would still be outnumbered and this realization caused him to loosen his grip on the young monarch, who wasted no time in stumbling back a few steps, only to be grabbed by Montague, who quickly placed a gun to the king's head once more.

"I am not going back to prison," growled the man desperately as he scanned the area for an escape route, confident that the musketeers wouldn't try anything when he held their king's life in his hands.

Only, he hadn't prepared for the possibility that not all of the musketeers had revealed themselves so was caught unaware when a dagger came whistling through the air to bury itself deep into his shoulder, causing him to release his captive and to let out a sharp cry of pain.

"BROTHER!" bellowed the other man as he moved to head to Montague's side, only to freeze when another dagger landed in the ground just in front of his feet.

Alain, looking completely unsurprised by the turn of events nodded to some of the men beside him, who wasted no time moving to arrest the pair and to get the king out of harm's way.

Seeing this the remaining musketeers almost moved to assess the state of the rest of the ambushers, arresting any who still lived and ignoring those already dead whilst Alain, who now felt things were handled enough to give in to the desire to look towards his brother, who was already limping towards him, pride gleaming in his eyes as he pulled the younger man towards him, both men relishing in the feeling of having their brother back as they remained locked in a tight embrace.