Chapter 8: The Tragic Story of Athos and Milady de Winter

The Musketeers decided to hold a funeral for Maria and give her a proper burial. Cosette hated the way that Emile Bonnaire had abandoned his own wife to save his own skin. Aramis prayed over her with last rites, and as he did that, Cosette saw that Athos was not amongs them. He must have been dealing with his own problems. After Maria's burial, Cosette noticed Athos had been acting even more strange the more they stayed there. She found him underneath a tree, thinking. She cleared her throat and said, "What are you doing?"

"There's someone I need to see in the village." She was worried about him.

"Let me come with you," Cosette said. "You haven't been yourself since we got to this place."

"Keep an eye on Porthos. Don't leave him alone with Bonnaire," he said instead. Cosette wished Athos would just OPEN up to her, but he always rebuffed her. He just would never reveal ANY secrets with her.

"At least tell me where you're going."

"Just get back on the road as soon as you can. Get Bonnaire to Paris."

Cosette rolled her eyes.

"Men!" Cosette muttered. She couldn't believe how stubborn they could be. She returned back to the manor, where she told Aramis and Porthos they were leaving by Athos' orders. However, Cosette was very worried for him. She couldn't just leave Athos to suffer but Porthos and Aramis had other ideas.

"We should wait for Athos," said Porthos.

"He'll meet us when he's ready," said Aramis.

"Porthos is right. We should wait," Cosette said.

"You should trust Athos to handle his own affairs. We're leaving now," said Aramis. The company stood out. However, Cosette refrained from moving as she held onto Sapphire's reins. "D'Artagnan, let's move."

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There is fire when Cosette comes back to the mansion with Sapphire right behind her. She panicked, just like when Porthos was injured.

Cosette heard a horse from a distance. But Athos was in the fire. She'd be crazy to get in there. Yet again, she was a fifteen year old girl disguising herself as an eighteen-year-old boy, so this wasn't any crazier. She yelled out for her friend's name, yelled. She put her arm over her mouth and nose and began coughing. Cosette opened the door and saw Athos on the floor.

"Athos. It's me. It's d'Artagnan," Cosette said. She ran to Athos and with all her strength, put his arm around her shoulder, but he still remained on the floor.. "Come on, get up. Get up!"

Surprisingly, Athos was easy to pick up off the ground. The two of them collapsed onto the grass. Cosette took off her waterskin and dipped the water onto a cloth. She quickly splashed water on his face and began clearing the soot off.

"What happened? Who was that woman?"

"Since we arrived, I felt her presence everywhere," Athos said. Cosette looked at him confused. "I thought I was imagining it."

"Who? Who?"

"My wife. She died five years ago now, by my orders. She was a cold-blooded murderer, so I had her taken from the house and hung from the branch of a tree,"

"Look at me. Look at me!" Cosette yelled. He looked at her. "Are you saying the ghost of your dead wife tried to kill you?"

"She's not dead, d'Artagnan," Athos said. "She survived."

"This was her revenge?" Cosette asked.

"It was my duty. It was my duty to uphold the law!" Athos mumbled then shouted as he gripped onto the grapples of Cosette's tunic. "My duty to condemn the woman I love to death! I've clung to the belief that I had no choice. Five years learning how to live in a world without her. What do I do now?"

The young woman didn't say anything as they stood their on the grass as the manor burned down to the ground. Now, she began wondering what Athos would do when he found out of her secret. Would he have her executed too? She could only imagine the utter betrayal Athos would feel when her, another woman important to his life, was also lying of who she was too.

Athos and Cosette said nothing to each other after that. They continued walking through the forest and were finally in Paris when Athos noticed the Spanish gentleman from before.

"Our Spanish friend," Athos said. "Leave him to me."

"No!" Cosette grabbed his horse's reins. "Athos that is a terrible idea."

"I didn't say it was good," Athos said. "If something bad were to happen to you, I won't forgive myself."

Cosette was surprised he was saying something like that. Then again, she did remember that Treville put Athos in charge of keeping an eye on her and that he revealed something he should never had said to her. Athos couldn't admit it but say that he trusted the girl disguised as a boy

"Go home, get some rest, I promise I'll be fine," Athos looked at her sternly. "Promise me you'll go straight home, D'Artagnan."

Cosette looked to consider the order but instead of inquiring anything else, she nodded.

"And d'Artagnan," Cosette stopped and looked at her friend. "Say nothing to the others of what happened."

"You have my word," she promised with a small smile and made her way to the Bonacieux house. Cosette heeded Athos' words and went home. When she saw Constance sitting at the table and noticed she looked troubled.

"You look troubled, Constance, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Constance lied but Cosette gave her a look that told her 'I know you're hiding something', so Constance sighed.

"There was a woman here while you were away. She said her name was Milady de Winter. She seemed to know you...quite well."

Cosette froze. She never heard of that woman. "Milady de Wi... I don't know any Milady de Winter."

"Dark hair, green eyes," Constance began. Cosette looked at her.

"What did she want?"

"She's offering my husband work."

"That's good."

"She frightened me, Cos," Constance said, calling Cosette by a nickname. She stopped herself from calling Cosette by her father's nickname but the girl really wouldn't care. Cosette wasnt sure how to respond.

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"Bonnaire has more lives than a cat," Cosette sneered. She just COULD NOT believe that Bonnaire was getting away with everything, especially having the Cardinal as a patron. She felt like punching a wall (if she could) She sat down.

"If only those Spanish spies had taken his last one, hm?" said Porthos. "Or I had."

"What did they want with him, anyway?" Armis asked. Athos came down from his report to Treville and revealed what the Spanish spy had told him.

"The Spanish King wrote to Louis demanding he put a stop to Bonnaire's activities," said Athos. "The spies were sent to make sure he didn't escape en route and to shoot him if he did."

"Oh, we should have let them." said Porthos. Cosette nodded .She wish they did. Athos looked at them in confusion, but Aramis explained, "Bonnaire's in business with the cardinal."

"He won't be punished?" Athos asked shocked.

"Rewarded," Cosette answered.

"Well," Aramis said, raising his glass of wine. "Here's to us dying together on some forgotten battlefield while Bonnaire ends his days old and fat and rich."

Cosette sighed as Aramis dumped the cup's content on the floor.

"That man... will go on to destroy thousands of lives..." said Porthos. "And there's not a damn thing we can do to stop him."

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The plan really wasn't that difficult. First, Athos had to find the Spanish gentleman again and convinced him to give Bonnaire to Spain if he left quietly. They made it back to le Favre, each rushing into Bonnaire's ordered Cosette to lead Bonnaire to the ship where the Spanish spy would be leading.

She promised that the captain would see Bonnaire's travel and left before he could inquire about the Spanish soldier.

The key to Bonnaire's warehouse,"she heard Athos as she went back. He was talking with Meunier. Cosette sat down, watching the exchange. "Everything in it is rightfully yours. If I were you, I'd move it before the cardinal takes an inventory. No-one must ever know of this. Technically, we're both guilty of treason."

"My lips are sealed," said Meunier. He and Athos shook hands and left with his key.

"So, as far as the cardinal is concerned, the Spanish kidnapped Bonnaire," Athos said.

"And spirited him away," said Aramis.

"Embarrassing," said Porthos. "But there's not much he can do about it."

"Godspeed, Bonnaire," Aramis said, raising his glass. "May your time in a Spanish prison be long and uneventful."

"Let's see him adapt to those circumstances." Porthos said. He and the other Inseperables took their glasses and clanked them together.

The quartet left the inn, ready to make their way back to Paris. Athos and Cosette shared looks with each other but said nothing. What she did not notice was the woman watching her and Athos in the fog.