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So, Athos and L'Hernault Part Two!
CHAPTER 98
Tréville slammed the younger man against the wall and knew, from Athos' cry, the impact had hurt his side but perhaps the pain would bring him to his senses.
With his full weight and one arm across Athos' chest to hold him in place, Tréville twisted so that he could see L'Hernault edging towards the door.
"Don't even think it!" the Captain roared, and the prisoner froze. "Either of you," he added quietly, feeling Athos shaking against him in barely contained rage and waiting until Athos had regulated his tortured breathing and dared to open his eyes.
"Enough," Tréville said to him, still keeping his voice low. He knew the moment the tension drained away from the younger man.
Athos jerked his head in submission, green eyes filled with shame.
"You may release me," he whispered.
As the Captain lowered his arm and stepped away from him, Athos pulled on his doublet to straighten it and swallowed hard, trying to ignore the agony that had erupted in his side. His mind was racing, different emotions battling for supremacy, but the three that were definitely in the forefront were a sense of sick helplessness, self-doubt and even self-loathing.
Tréville righted the table and indicated the chairs.
"Sit," he commanded and both men complied, picking up their chairs, setting them at the table once more, and sitting down.
"Never talk of my brother like that again," Athos warned. His voice was again low, the words clipped and carefully enunciated. They were signs best known to Tréville that he was far from calm and, subsequently, still at his most dangerous.
"Why do you persist in denying the truth?" L'Hernault whined, still visibly shaken by the Musketeer's eruption.
"I might ask the same thing of you."
"My father told me what happened, how you were his."
"He lied," Athos said flatly. "I have said before and I will say it again. My mother did not love your father. There was no affair. We are not related."
"You cannot prove that you are not my brother," L'Hernault persisted.
"And you cannot prove that I am!" Athos shot back.
"Your father killed mine because he could not face the truth!" the Baron was beginning to sound desperate again.
"My father killed yours in self-defence when he was trying to protect and preserve the reputation of his wife, my mother."
"Your father has twisted the tale in his favour."
"Why would he do that when he told me the truth, a truth corroborated by my mother when I asked her about it?" Athos demanded.
L'Hernault had the audacity to laugh. "Because she was scared of him and the hold that he had over her. She had to agree with him; she dare not say otherwise. Your father, Olivier, could be a hard man; you of all people knew that."
"What do you mean?" the words were uttered through clenched teeth.
"Oh come on. Stop trying to play the dutiful son! You gave up that role when you gave up your estate and title. Thomas was the favourite, wasn't he? And it hurt you. There was no equality in how you were both treated, was there?"
"My father was a disciplinarian, yes. As a boy, I thought him hard, but he was preparing me for taking over his role when the time came. I always knew he loved me; I just had to accept that that was his way."
"Stop fooling yourself, Olivier!" L'Hernault screeched at him. "Why did he behave differently towards you? It's obvious! You were not his legitimate son and heir, but he had to recognise you as such, not to – as you so delicately put it – 'protect and preserve' the reputation of the woman he had married, but to save his own face. How would that look at Henri's court, eh? If word got out that the powerful Comte de la Fère was not only a cuckold but was raising the bastard son of someone else to be his successor?"
Tréville had remained standing, obviously not trusting either of them, and ready to involve himself again as the verbal battle unfolded.
Feelings were at their height and no-one present in the room could predict how any resolution might be reached between the two younger men, so entrenched were they in their side of the families' feud.
The Captain saw the little colour in Athos' face drain away; saw the green eyes turn cold, narrow and harden, and held his breath.
At this point, had he a sword in his hand, Athos would be at his deadliest. Instead, he elected to deliver his coup de grâce with words.
He lay his hands on the table and pushed himself to his feet, the movement slow and deliberate for he did not want his Captain to launch himself into another intervention, but he had to regain control of himself and the situation.
"Your father has filled your head with lies and filth, the product of his unfounded jealousy and bitterness. For a while, he would have his evil words besmirch the reputation of a good woman, my mother, and all because she spurned him for she loved another man. Your father and the feud he created was the thorn in my family's side, but the love my parents shared rose above it. Their devotion, trust and faith in each other meant that Guillaume L'Hernault could never win.
"And so he became irrational, delusional, displaying all the tendencies of insanity that has plagued your family through the generations."
At this, L'Hernault's eyes widened, he began to gently rock and emitted a low keening sound.
Athos ignored it, raised his voice and went in for his verbal 'kill'.
"You, Etienne, are now demonstrating those same traits. There is not a drop of blood in my veins that is shared with you. The only similarity about us is our height and there it ends. I have heard how closely you resemble your father; you have his swarthy complexion, his sandy-coloured hair and blue eyes. I am dark, like my mother and my father. My green eyes run in the de la Fère family. My lineage is in no doubt for many reasons, but I would not demean myself by explaining them chapter and verse."
The keening increased in volume, the rocking more frantic but Athos had not finished.
"You say you want me to call you brother and yet you would see me dead and have tried to kill me twice. Action and sentiment are at odds here. No, Etienne L'Hernault, we are not brothers, we never were, and we never could be. Do I hate you? I may have done, years ago when I was younger but not now. Now I pity you, for your desire to destroy me has led to your own downfall. You have killed an innocent man and must pay the price. I am Athos the Musketeer and I have sworn to uphold the law of this land and my King, so I will leave you to its justice. The feud is over. I am done."
He turned abruptly and strode from the room, throwing the door back on it hinges. As he continued past his startled colleague, who had been on duty in the corridor and heard the louder exchanges, L'Hernault's screams followed him.
"I will get you, Athos the Musketeer! I will not fail a third time. This is not over!"