A/N:Thank you so much for your comments! You are the best))

I love how my Guest jumped to the conclusion that Milady had that ambush planned - the again she gets that a lot. Meanwhile if we look at the facts she had no chance of planning it from the moment the King surprised her by the trip until the actual ambush. Her idea was a legend, and then it was an unlucky (for her, but most for the coachman) coincidence. But the whole point is that people do tend to blame her and think the worst of her, and Athos does too. And if you do too then I must be doing a good job as I am telling the story from Athos's standpoint. Hehe.

On to the next chapter - I hope you enjoy this one! (let me know if u do please ;)

x

A.

Chapter 6

"I'll take over, thank you, Clarisse." Athos pushed himself of the wall, walking towards Clarisse and the Stable Boy dragging behind her..

"Is he for you then?" It took Athos a few seconds to guess a meaning behind her words and knowing smile and in those few seconds he saw the boy stumble and turn pale. It was obvious even under all the dirt that covered his face and Athos felt rage rising up in his chest,

"How dare you." He took a step towards Clarisse, who wasn't smiling anymore. "Suggest." Another step. "Such a disgrace." He was towering over her now and deep inside he enjoyed how petrified she looked. Silly vile girl she was and she deserved it. "Leave." He growled and she fled immediately, leaving him alone with the boy. Athos had to take a deep breath before he could address the lad - this day had already proved to be too much and now he had to deal with Milady and her scheming.

"Come with me." He said, but the boy just stood there, unmoving, his eyes huge. It looked like he was ready to run for his life, so Athos tried to calm him down: "Milady called for you - she is expecting you now."

Surprisingly his words didn't help much. The boy still looked like he was about to be sentenced to death, but at least he moved to follow him.

Athos knocked on her door loudly, waited for her "Come in" and pushed the door open.

"The stable boy, Milady." He announced, pleased the angry expression her face twisted into at the sight of him.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed, motioning for the boy to come in. "You stay. And you," she looked Athos in the eye, "leave now. I will see you tomorrow."

"My apologies, Milady, but the King was very clear in his instructions - I am to protect you at all times. And I am not sure it is safe for you to be left alone with... this character."

"You believe him a threat?" Milady's crooked eyebrow was clearly laughing at him, as they both eyed the boy who looked like a scared chicken. It was quite obvious this lad couldn't harm anyone if his life depended on it.

"I do Milady." Athos confirmed mercilessly, closing the door behind him. Whatever she was planning she wasn't going to get away with it.

"If I knew anything about danger and threats," Milady circled the boy whose eyes were glued to the floor, "I would surely question your judgment." She hooked a finger up under the boy's chin and lifted his face to the light. "But I don't know anything about those things, do I?" She was all but clinging to the dirty boy, shooting a dark glance over to the door by which Athos was standing. He felt his own eyes darken as he held her gaze.

"Of course not, Milady."

"On to you now." She lost interest in Athos immediately, turning all her attention to the boy. "Luke, is it?"

The boy nodded and Athos saw how stubborn his chin was. The lad was clearly terrified, but he was standing his ground and Athos felt something like pride light this situation up.

"So Luke, have you always been mute?"

Luke nodded once again and Milady smiled at him like he was a precious gem in her collection.

"You know it's nice to have someone quiet by one's side. People talk too much." She let his chin go and the boy hung his head immediately, not reacting to her diminishing humour. Athos could kill her on the spot - he never expected her to stoop so low as to mock the unfortunate like Luke.

"I shall like you to stay and help me with my bath." Milady purred and the boy shuddered visibly. "Don't be afraid, it's just a bath." She flashed him her best smile, as charming as a vulture like her could be. "Unless you have something to hide. Do you?"

What could the poor boy have to hide, Athos wondered as Luke shook his head violently. This was truly becoming hideous.

"The only thing he has to hide is the fact that his clothes are two sizes big for him, that he hasn't eaten properly in a while and that he is positively terrified right now." Athos's voice was lined with metal. "Why don't we let the boy go and I arrange for a maid?"

"Why don't we let me decide what I want to do on my holiday?" Milady's tone was a match for his, a boy caught in between them like a sacrificial lamb and looking the part.

"Of course, Milady." Athos bowed to her in the most mocking fashion he could master with Luke in the room. "Forgive me my suggestion, I was only looking out for you."

"No, Athos, you were looking out for the poor mute boy Luke here." The poor mute boy seemed to shrink with her every word and it was getting hard to watch. "Just like so many people in this palace, right Luke? Found you a job at the stables, didn't they?"

Athos positively lost track of whatever her game was.

"Still silence?" Milady made Luke look her in the eye and continued: "This is your last chance to come clean."

Luke didn't make a move, his jaw even tighter then before.

"Fine. As you wish." Milady shrugged and headed for the cabinet in the corner of the room. "So stubborn, those young ones… Where is it… let me see…" She opened a couple of drawers and procured a bottle of wine. "Oh, Dear Louis, so predictable. Open." She stuffed the wine bottle into Athos's hands, passing him by and heading for the boy who seemed frozen in place once again.

"You won't tell anyone I said that, will you? Oh, silly me, I forget, you can't!" She giggled and Athos couldn't take it anymore,

"Enough!" he put the bottle on the nearest table with a thud. He didn't care how this looked or what the consequences would be. This was too much and the boy looked like he was near tears. "Let him go. It's not about him, is it?" Of course it wasn't about the poor boy, caught in the crossfire between him and the woman he used to love more then life itself. The underbelly of love was quite ugly it turned out. Milady's face lit up with ire immediately: if looks could kill he would already be dead from the intensity of her stare.

At that very moment the double doors on the left side of the room opened and a young maid entered with a bow:

"You bath is ready, Milady."

"Thank you…"

"Ninon, Milady"

"Ninon." Athos wished she didn't pronounce the too-familiar name with such innuendo, but his wishes had a tendency to not come true lately. "Now I would like to be left alone."

Ninon eyed the two men in the room as Milady frowned.

"Now."

"Yes, Milady." Ninon disappeared, moving past Athos swiftly and closing the door behind her.

"In spite of what you might think, Musketeer," Milady spat as soon as Ninon was gone, "This is exactly about him. And this would be between me and him had you not assessed him as a threat. Falsely."

"Forgive me, Milady, I failed to notice the real threat in the room." Athos spat right back at her, throwing all care to the wind. The boy was mute after all. Athos kicked himself mentally for following her line of thought, but it was too late.

"You failed to notice many things." She sat on the bed tiredly.

"Undress." To his horror Athos realised the word was undressed to the boy. Luke took a moment, before shaking his head decisively. "I said take of your clothes." Milady repeated impatiently and when the boy refused once again she turned to Athos for help.

"Athos, come over here and undress him for me."

"I will do no such thing." Athos had to stop himself from crossing the room and strangling her right on the luxury bed with azure covers. She looked so innocent, sitting there, ordering him to molest a boy, like it was a normal thing to do. Athos felt horrible for Luke, God knows how much more humiliation the boy could take before losing it in front of both of them.

"He is biased against me, you see," Milady said to the boy, "But the others won't be. You don't want me to call the guards and have you undressed in front of all of them, do you?"

Luke shook his head "no" once again. And then something unexpected happened:

The boy raised his head willingly for the first time since he entered the room and looked Milady in the eye.

"How did you know?" A very feminine voice asked and Milady's victorious smile could light the dreariest of days.

"I'm the one asking questions here, not you. Now question one," Athos, still recovering from shock, watched the girl take off her huge hat, revealing a short blond curly mop of duty hair over a smudged, but cute, lively face. "Can you lace a dress?"

"Yes, Milady."

"Good. I'll take a bath and then you can have it for as long as it takes to wash all that dirt off you."

"Do I have a say in the matter, Milady?"

"Does it look like it?"

"Not particularly." He had to give it to the girl - he had quite a sass, given her situation. Sneaking into the palace under false pretence, masquerading as a boy, pretending to be mute... Milady could have her hung over in in no time.

"Then i guess you have your answer. Athos." Athos snapped out of his thoughts raised his eyes at her. "I think we have established that she is not a threat, have we not?"

"I… Yes."

"Then, as I said before, I will see you tomorrow."

"Yes, Milady." He turned around on his heel and left the room, wondering how he could have been so blind. The truth was that the girl did pull it off quite well, there was;t a single give-away in her looks or behaviour, but apparently Milady had an eye for that sort of thing. Pretence was her forte after all. At least she wasn't mocking someone who was actually mute, he thought, before retreating into his own rooms, too luxurious for a guard, but given who he was dealing with he felt like he deserved some comfort at least at night.

Or a semblance of a comfort, because being woken up by a woman screaming wasn't too comforting. Pulling on his leather pants on the, still in his undershirt, Athos rushed out of the room.