Sorry for the lateness, sweeties. We were incredibly busy. However, many thanks to all our favs and followers and our reviewer. Here's a new chapter for y'all! Enjoy! And please, fav/follow and review


Two guards had been hiding themselves around the corner. They forced her on her knees and tied her hands on her back.

The assassin blinked a few times and shook her head to clear it.

'Let me go!' she snarled. 'Let me go!'

'Shut up,' one of them growled and they dragged her into the Cardinal's study.

Emmanuelle uttered some terrible curses and struggled to get free.

The guards dropped her on the floor in Cardinal Richelieu's study.

The latter looked up, surprised.

'Let me go, you unsophisticated swine!' she snapped.

The other guard struck her hard in the face.

'That is not how you speak in the presence of a man of God, you atrocity,' he said angrily.

'Go to hell, pig,' Emmanuelle replied furiously.

The man hit her again, now on her other cheek. 'Shut your mouth, you murderer,' he hissed.

The Cardinal looked at them for a moment, frowned and stood up from his desk.

'Untie him immediately,' he said.

The two guards looked confused at each other.

'But he's a wanted criminal,' one of them protested.

'Untie him,' Cardinal Richelieu repeated sternly. 'Now.'

'No need for that, Your Eminence,' Emmanuelle said calmly and slipped a small knife out of her glove with which she cut herself free. 'You should know better than to think me helpless.'

She stood up and brushed off her clothes. She looked around.

'I seem to have dropped my hat…. Mind picking it up for me?' she calmly asked the guards.

The guards looked at each other and coughed confoundedly. One of them bent over, picked the black hat up and handed it to the assassin.

'Thank you,' she said and cleaned it up.

'Leave us,' Cardinal Richelieu said calmly.

The guards nodded and immediately left the room. The assassin watched them leave and then turned back to the Cardinal.

'Cardinal Armand Jean de Richelieu…' she said slowly. 'How nice to finally meet you….'

'And you are Emmanuelle Sannomme, Countess du Marchy-sur-Seine,' Cardinal Richelieu said calmly. 'Better known as the Nameless Assassin.'

'Where did you learn that name?' Emmanuelle exclaimed.

'I told him,' an all too familiar female voice said.

Emmanuelle looked back. 'You…' she gasped.

Milady de Winter smiled coldly.

Faster than anyone expected, the assassin dropped her hat, grabbed a dagger and floored the woman. She pinned Milady down and held the dagger at her throat.

'Give me one very good reason not to slaughter you on the spot,' she growled.

'She works for me,' Cardinal Richelieu said slightly shaken. 'Release her. Now.'

Emmanuelle growled angrily, but released her. She put her dagger back and stood up.

'Did you order her to murder my lover?' she furiously asked the Cardinal.

'No, she wasn't working for me at the time,' Cardinal Richelieu said. 'What she did were her own actions.'

'Why?' Emmanuelle angrily asked Milady. 'Why did you kill him?'

'Because I wanted to,' Milady said calmly. 'I wanted leverage over you, my one rival.'

'You pathetic bitch…' the assassin hissed and then turned to the Cardinal. 'The moment she doesn't work for you anymore, I will slaughter her.'

'I will let you,' the Cardinal said calmly. 'Now leave us, Milady.'

Milady looked offended, but left the room.

'I am sorry about that, mademoiselle Sannomme,' Cardinal Richelieu said. 'I had no idea she had killed your lover.'

'His name was Misha…' Emmanuelle said, a lone tear slipping down her cheek. 'And she slaughtered him like a pig….'

'I see…. But, I promise, the moment she falls out of my grace, I will ask upon you to assassinate her. She knows far too much to walk around freely,' Cardinal Richelieu said.

'That is much appreciated, Your Eminence,' the assassin said.

They both kept quiet for a moment.

'Now then, why have you called me here?' Emmanuelle asked.

'I have a job offer for you,' Cardinal Richelieu said. 'A fairly interesting one, I'd say.'

'Tell me.'

'I want you to become the Queen's personal bodyguard.'

'The Queen's personal bodyguard?' Emmanuelle asked surprised. 'I do hope I don't need to remind you that the King wants my head as well. Though not on a plate, he is far too sensitive for that….'

'I am aware of that,' Cardinal Richelieu said. 'But as I wrote, if you accept the offer, all charges against you will be dropped immediately.'

'Right….'

'All you have to do is protect Her Majesty with your life. In return, you will receive payment, a roof above your head, food and clothing,' the Cardinal said. 'I would consider that a fairly interesting proposal.'

'It indeed is…' the assassin said slowly.

'The Queen has requested me to find her a good bodyguard, in face of recent events regarding her own safety,' Cardinal Richelieu said. 'She prefers a woman to guard her, for trust reasons, of course.'

'And Milady de Winter is out of the question….'

'Of course, the Queen would never trust her.'

'No doubt. I have one tiny request though….'

'Which is?'

'Don't ever call me by my name again,' Emmanuelle said. 'At least not in the company of others. There is already one person too many who knows it.'

'You don't like your name?'

'No, I don't like being called by it. It is one of my closest guarded secrets. I do hope you understand.'

'I do.'

'Very well then. What are my wages?'

'Two hundred livres,' Cardinal Richelieu said.

'Two hundred? You must be joking, Your Eminence,' Emmanuelle said. 'If you are as well-informed as you claim to be, then you should know better. Two hundred livres is what I ask for murder. Though I do go lower for men of right intend.'

'You're right…. Five hundred livres, was it not? I was hoping we could strike a deal.'

'I could lower my price over the years. I do assume this will be a more permanent job.'

'It is. If the Queen likes you and wants your services, you will do this job until the Queen decides otherwise or dies,' Cardinal Richelieu said.

'Fair enough. I do have a few simple rules you ought to know and follow.'

'You have some rules? Indulge me, please.'

'One: don't ever call me by my name. As I said, it is one of my most precious secrets. Two: do not piss me off or treat me like shit. I will sell you out without a second thought. And three, do not stab me in the back, literally or figuratively. I will do worse to you,' Emmanuelle said calmly.

'I suppose these rules are fair enough,' the Cardinal said. 'I shall have the Queen summoned, then.'

A knock on the door interrupted them.

'Come in,' Cardinal Richelieu said.

Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan entered.

'We wanted to report that the Nameless Assassin was on her way,' Athos said. 'But I see the lady already beat us here.'

'Hello again, gentlemen,' Emmanuelle said and smiled briefly. 'I trust those drunks didn't cause you too much trouble?'

'Not at all, mademoiselle,' Aramis smiled. 'It did buy you enough time to elude us again, though.'

'Yes, that was the third time today, was it not?'

'Yes…' the Musketeer said in a huff.

The assassin chuckled. 'Do not be upset, monsieur. It took me more effort than usual to get away.'

'Ahem,' the Cardinal said. 'Gentlemen, now that you're here, would you be so kind to fetch the King and Queen and Captain Treville for me?'

'Of course, Your Eminence,' Athos said and bowed slightly.

The four Musketeers turned around and left again, to fetch the King and Queen and the Captain.

'What's the catch?' Emmanuelle asked suddenly.

'What catch?' the Cardinal asked.

'I don't believe you would go to great lengths just to find the Queen a good bodyguard,' the assassin said calmly. 'So what's the hidden agenda here?'

'You will tell me every single secret she shares with you, of course,' Cardinal Richelieu said. 'If your conscience can bear it.'

'That won't be any problem. I have found myself lacking a conscience long ago….'