CHAPTER THREE

Like a good wine, people change

Selene

I saw his shoulders sag as he realized who I was, no longer feeling the rush of adrenaline that came with having an enemy at his unprotected back, ready to strike at any moment.

As I stepped around to be in his line of sight I suddenly realised that I was nervous about his reaction to me. It had been two years since we had seen each other, what if he was a changed man? What if I don't recognize the face that I could once read so well?

Coward, step around and face him, you are a musketeer!

I held my breath and put on my most confident smile and stepped in front of Athos.

He looked different, yet exactly the same in so many ways. He had aged slightly, his beard was far more pronounced now, a new scar adorned his face….but his eyes, those green eyes that seemed to pierce your very soul had not changed a day.

And, as usual, they currently screamed irritation and annoyance in my direction. He was looking at me with that exasperated look, his mouth in a thin line, arms crossed and leaning back. Well, at least some things would never change.

"Come now Athos, no welcome back Selene, Paris hasn't been the same without you, I've missed you so much?" I teased, placing his weapons in the middle of the table, leaning back with my most innocent face on.

His eyes narrowed in my direction. "Welcome back Selene, Paris vastly improved after you left and no, I have not missed you at all."

Now I was beaming! I had missed banter, missed being treated as an equal, had missed being treated like a man.

"Oh please Athos, I simply can't believe that, we have always been such close friends!"

"You threatened me," he growled.

"I surprised you."

"With my own weapons."

"Hardly my fault that you can't keep track of them," I announced.

"To my back."

"Well I can't very well surprise you from the front, you would have recognised me, hence I would have ruined your surprise, so really if you think about it, it was for your benefit."

Selene crossed her legs while putting her arms behind her head, sharing a sly grin that spells trouble. Yes, this was the Selene that Athos remembered, quick witted with a sharp tongue, she did so enjoy teasing him. He wanted her gone.

"Kindly leave so I can continue my drinking."

She threw her head back and laughed. Athos was surprised to hear such a gentle, feminine laugh, the girl he remembered wasn't quite so subtle or polished in her presentation.

"Oh come come Athos I was only teasing, it's been such a long time that I simply couldn't help myself," she apologised…slightly.

"Well now that you are done, I ask you again to kindly leave."

"But I have a present for you!" I pouted.

Athos was immediately suspicious and I could hardly blame him, we didn't have the greatest track record when it came to 'presents'.

"Really? Like the time you unhooked my saddle? Or when you hid my clothing on the roof? Or when you organized my engagement to a 60 year old woman?"

I leant forward and smiled. "Even you have to admit the last one was pretty good."

I could tell that Athos' patience was wearing thin as he stood up to leave…or attack, either way I placed my gift quickly on the table. Something I knew would tickle his fancy. There, placed in the middle of us were two bottles of some of the best Spanish wine I could smuggle into Paris.

Intrigued, Athos lifted the bottle into the light to read the label, then looked at me with an inquisitive brow raised waiting for an explanation.

"I know it sounds insane given our history, but tonight when I took my first step back home, I started walking and my feet took me here. I've been pretending to be someone different for so long, I just wanted to spend the evening in the company of someone who knows me, really knows me. And I immediately thought of you," Selene finished her speech, looking across to Athos while he processed what she had just confessed.

I waited for his response, a strange nervousness filling my stomach as the silence continued. The buzz of the tavern seemed to disappear while I waited. Why isn't he saying anything? Perhaps this was a mistake….

"Well…it would be a shame if such great wine were to go to waste," he drawled out.

I couldn't stop smiling, "I'll get some glasses then."

Athos

Athos watched Selene walk through the tavern and noticed something different in the room, a strange reaction that he hadn't noticed before. All the men were turning as she walked past, watching her.

Perhaps they weren't used to seeing a woman in mans clothing and armed. It was quite a rare sight.

The object of everyone's eye hadn't seemed to notice any of this, picking up the mugs and walking back towards me without a glance or care to the looks she was receiving.

"I can't tell you how long it's been since I've had such a qualified drinking partner, no one else could ever keep up the pace," Selene announced.

"One of my many talents it would seem," I mumbled.

She filled our glasses up and passed one to me, raising it to for a toast. "Well what shall we toast? The King and Queen? France? Honor? The Cardinal?"

I couldn't contain my snort.

"No, not the Cardinal, god knows that man is doing enough of his own toasts," she said.

With a big sigh I raised my cup to hers and said, "To you Selene, welcome back to Paris."

I clinked my cup to hers and threw back my wine, Selene mimicking me. I had a feeling this would be an interesting night as she delved into the story of her homecoming.

She was an animated storyteller, moving her arms widely; having every expression cross her face as she regaled me with some person at some event that at that present time I couldn't quite focus on.

There was something very different about the girl in front of me and while she talked on, I took the opportunity to just really look at her. She was still Selene, still trouble but there was a change.

She had blonde hair, currently tied up in a low bun with small pieces escaping and framing her face, which was more defined as she had finally lost her baby fat that we all teased her about. A dainty nose, flushed cheeks and full lips, she looked…like a lady. She was sitting up straight without realizing, legs tucked daintily below her seat, her voice was softer than I remembered.

While she was wearing pants, boots and a shirt, she had a leather bodice over her shirt covered with a fitted leather jacket. She had a woman's figure, small at the waist where she carried her pistols and knives. A stark reminder to that she was still a danger.

When she had left she was rough, loud and feisty. She hated to be thought of as a girl so she determinedly made herself look and act like a young man but here in front of me was a polished young woman.

The one thing that hadn't changed was her eyes. The deepest blue I had ever seen on anyone, they were the windows to her soul, and she could never hide her feelings from anyone. And right now they were annoyed.

"Where you listening to anything I just said?" she asked.

"I'm sure at some stage I was, just don't ask me to recall any facts or places and we'll be fine," I answered.

She gave me a cold look and poured more wine into our cups.

"There's something very different about you," I queried.

This peaked her interest. She looked over at me and scrunched her eyebrows together. "Different how?"

"You look different," quiet an intelligible answer. This wine must be affecting me more than I realise.

Selene snorted into her cup then looked to me. "Well it has been two years Athos, people change."

I suppose she was right, sometimes I forget how much a person can change but then again, we never really do know anyone as my history will prove. Not even my brothers, my closest allies now who I truly am.

"You must tell me all that has been happening in Paris, how are Aramis and Porthos? Are you three still inseparable?" Selene asked.

"We do still seem to spend quite some time in each others company."

She gave me her most unimpressed face while filling up our cups, one bottle done another still to go.

"Really Athos could you be any duller," she queried.

"Although we have had a new addition."

I knew this would get her attention, as her wide eyes darted to mine.

"Now this is news! Who is he? How did he join?" Always so curious, she never could contain this and hated not knowing every detail.

"A young Gascon named D'Artagnan. His entrance into our lives was quite dramatic really but since then he's shown his determination to be a musketeer and has proved his worth many times, he still has much to learn but he shows true promise…..He will make a great musketeer," I finished, draining the last of the wine in my cup.

I looked over to Selene but she was looking at me with a strange expression.

"Wow, he really must be something special to have you speak so highly of him," she finished.

I coughed, this was getting too personal, I had a soft spot for the boy but didn't want it to get around. It certainly wouldn't fit into my reputation. Time to turn the tables.

"And what of you then? Two years away, you must have some stories," I inquired, thinking that the question would invoke her to another story but the reaction was quite the opposite. Her face seemed to drop and was suddenly void of any emotion.

"There really isn't much to tell. I was sent away to be invisible and that's what I did," she grabbed the cork out the next bottle and went to pour more wine but I grabbed the bottle out of her hand.

"There must be more to it than that surely," I pushed.

"No not really," she sighed and reached for the bottle.

I held the wine back and just looked at her, she was never one to shy away from a question and if I'm being honest, the lack of emotion was alarming and so against her character.

She couldn't reach the wine sitting down and I was at least a head taller than her so she wasn't getting anymore till she answered my question. She sat back and huffed.

We glared at each other over the table for a few minutes before she cracked, throwing her arms up in the air.

"FINE! ..stupid bastard…" she mumbled to herself.

"It was a look into a world that I've been avoiding for years. I was reminded of the life that could have been, a life spent in the shadows to be looked at but never heard. I thought I would have to lie more or be careful what I said but then I realized that no one was listening to me and were more than happy to brush me aside," she shared a dark laugh. "I could have screamed and no one would have even spared a backward glance. It was like being in a cage."

She had experienced a glimpse of the life that was destined to be hers. It's hard to imagine someone like Selene, so full of life and passion, as a woman forced to live under someone's rule. For her, such a life truly was a prison. Such as mine had been.

It seemed we were both trying to escape a life that had been laid out before us.

I knew the antidote to this. "Well then, we are lucky to have such an amazing wine to celebrate your freedom," I announced.

She looked up at me with a small knowing smiling, "Yes, thank god for wine, or we would all have to face our nightmares."

Next chapter – the morning after and Selene meets D'Artagnan for the first time.

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