Everything seemed to return to normalcy after the events of the murder and attempt to destroy the Court of Miracles. It was good that Porthos was officially pardoned due to the full confession and exoneration of his involvement by the true culprit, one Émile de Mauvoisin. Murdering his own son…I still could not believe it. I was glad to put it behind me knowing that Porthos would no longer be threatened with a hangman's noose, and we could all settle once more into our duties.
The cut upon my lip did indeed leave a scar, a thin white line at the top corner of my lip which curled towards my nose. It healed well enough and I knew it would leave a mark so I often forgot about it entirely, as I had done away with all reflective surfaces in my home and no longer looked upon my own reflection. It helped to not think about my appearance for as long as I could not see it. I would dress, make myself presentable, cover my brushed hair with a linen cloth and proceed to work. I knew it did nothing to flatter me, but I had finally reached the epiphany of contentment, and so I did not care for how I looked.
At first my brother and the men fussed over my injuries, offering me balms and oils to help soothe the bruising until it healed by itself. Their kindness warmed my heart and it reminded me that I had a place amongst them. Also, the rift between myself and Porthos had healed somewhat, though I could not abide the idea that he had led a woman to be unfaithful to her partner. All the same, I could understand that the heart was a foolish vessel, and we humans were not perfect beings.
The same could not be said for Aramis, with whom I was cordial and steadily grew warmer, but gone was my avid fascination and adoration of him, and I think he sensed it. He would shower me with compliments and almost every day he would bring me a flower of some sort as a gift. I would thank him and add the latest bloom to the collection steadily growing in the captain's office, which always earned a raised eyebrow whenever another flower appeared in the vase. "Another flower from Aramis?" He guessed as I added a daisy to the eclectic bouquet which sat near the window to receive the best sunlight.
"Indeed. One would think he were trying to court me," I mused blithely, ensuring that there was enough water in the vase to sustain the flowers. Treville chuckled.
"And why would he not? Any man would be fortunate to win your affections."
"Fear not, I know full well that Aramis holds no romantic inclination towards me, this is not an act of wooing." Pausing from his paperwork, Treville looked in surprise at my comment as I abandoned the flowers and began to help clear the desk and arrange the documents appropriately.
"In my experience, a man only gifts flowers to a woman when he is either desiring her attention, or apologising for a wrongdoing," the captain wisely noted to which I beamed in amusement. "If it is not the former as you say, then I can only assume it is the latter. What has that fool done now?"
"Nothing that requires action, captain. He will stop eventually once he realises I am not angry with him for any reason," but the captain was too wise to be so easily mollified, setting down his quill to lean back in his chair and study me curiously.
"Does he think there is a reason you should be angry?"
"I could not say," any further questions were answered with the same vague evasiveness until finally the captain admitted defeat. He asked nothing further, but I suspected that he was not satisfied and I noticed that he kept a closer eye upon Aramis for some time thereafter. As I anticipated, once Aramis grew accustomed to my lack of interest or reaction to him, his flattery and gifts dwindled until finally we could be friendly with one another, but that was all. Him I kept at arm's length, because upon occasion when I was unguarded or unprepared, my heart would flutter at the sight of him and my insides would clench painfully until I could not breathe.
Thankfully our paths did not cross one another often without the company of someone else, so these events happened less and less as time wore on. The bruises and swelling had finally settled and vanished on my face, meaning it was no longer tender to the touch, which I was entirely grateful for. Sometimes at night I would roll over in my sleep and awaken from pain from pressing against the wrong side of my face. I was glad for restful nights once more, though these did not last long.
It seemed only just as I had fallen back into the peaceful routine of my life, something else arrived to unsettle it. To me, it was just another ordinary day. The barracks were fairly empty that day as the king had ridden out to hunt with required his men as escorts, so I took the opportunity to thoroughly clean through the rooms whilst they were unoccupied. I battled dust and dirty linens, made war upon mud-trodden floors and claimed victory against the abomination which were…the lavatories.
For such heroic deeds, I felt I deserved to enjoy the rest of my afternoon with a glass of wine and good conversation. Knowing that both could be found with Constance, I went to her house thinking I would drink, embroider and laugh with her until dusk. This was not the case. After knocking upon the door, I was surprised when Aramis opened it. I stared at him. "Why are you here?" Suddenly he hushed me with a hand to his mouth, looking warily behind me in search of something before pulling me inside. "Aramis!"
"It is good you are here, there are strange things happening and I am in need of your assistance," closing the door firmly behind me, Aramis maintained a firm grip upon my hand as I blinked in a daze, flustered at the gravity of his tone and behaviour.
"Aramis what are you…?" Possibly because she had heard my voice, Constance quickly appeared with the same look of quiet unease. "Constance, you look pale, are you alright?" Shaking off Aramis's grip I then tenderly touched at Constance's face to feel if she had a fever, but detected no signs of illness. A natural smile arose and her shoulders lowered a little as she relaxed.
"I am well, come. Let me introduce you to someone," now utterly perplexed, I was led into the pantry where a woman with beautiful long auburn hair was sat staring absently into nothingness. "This is Agnès, she will be staying here for a while." The woman did not look up at the sound of her name, only when Constance tentatively touched her shoulder and spoke to her directly. "My friend is here, Madeleine. I'm sure she'll help us if we ask," blinking, Agnès clapped her gaze upon me.
"Can you help me find my son?"
"Your son?" Amazed at the intrigue, I snatched Aramis by the arm and squeezed firmly until he winced, shuddering under my heavy glare. "You had better start explaining this, Aramis. What is going on here?" And so they told me everything they knew. Under orders from Treville by request of the Cardinal, Aramis and d'Artagnan had left Paris to retrieve a single mother and her son from a quiet little hamlet in the countryside where they took refuge in a church.
However, upon their arrival they interrupted a group of men stealing the little boy from his mother, a holy man murdered in the house of God, and a great many questions left unanswered. At the very least d'Artagnan had followed the thieves to where they had taken the boy, however they could not yet claim him back because of the danger of the situation. When the tale was finished, I pressed a hand to my forehead. "Why is it that you men always find yourselves in the thick of distressing and disturbing altercations?"
"Simple luck?" I did not care for Aramis's playful quip.
"If your son has been taken then it could not have been a simple misfortune," ignoring Aramis, I attempted to understand the ploy of this strange occurrence. "In such an obscure place, whoever took him must have known your location, and for some reason your child is worth the trouble of hiring men to take him away from you." I focused on Agnès who began to whimper, a painful sorrow shattering in her eyes like panes of glass. I hastened to reassure her. "But this also means we can safely assume that your son, Henry, is important to whomever wants him. Therefore, he shall not be harmed."
"She's right, why waste time and money to steal him only to hurt him?" Constance swiftly added and thankfully, this seemed to reassure the grieving mother somewhat. The perplexing puzzle had fully taken my attention, but before I could attempt to analyse each piece of the riddle I currently possessed, another knock came at the door. Aramis saw to it, then returned after a few moments to inform me that a messenger had come. Treville wanted me at the barracks for an important task.
"Task? What task? I have already finished all my work for today,"
"The boy did not say, only that you were to go at once." I loathed to leave this situation unsolved, but a summons from the captain happened rarely and always for good reason. Finally, I nodded acceptingly.
"If there is anything I can do, do not hesitate to ask,"
"Will you please not speak of this to anyone?" Stepping in front of me with a lift of his hand, Aramis stayed me for a moment. "We do not yet know all the facts, and the less others know of Agnès and Henry…"
"You need not ask," giving my word that I would not speak a word of this to a soul, only then did Aramis settle. A dazzling smile was my reward, which alighted and shattered my heart simultaneously. I hastened my retreat in order to conceal the fact that I was struggling not to blush. Although Aramis had started to speak further, I did not hear it. With the excuse that the captain was asking for me, I all but sprinted back to the barracks and directly to Treville's office, where I found not only the captain, but Athos and Porthos there also. I took in their expressions. "Oh please, do not tell me someone else has been framed for murder." Porthos burst with a booming laugh. Even Athos smirked a little at my dry witticism.
"It is nothing of the sort, but still a grave situation. Come child, sit." Curious to know why I had been asked for in particular, I took the seat which was placed on the near side of his desk opposite him. My brother held it for me and dutifully pushed it beneath as I lowered myself upon it but he did not move from there. His hands remained anchored to the seat and I sensed the edge of tension in his stoic frame. "Madeleine, there is something I would ask of you, a task if you will."
"I will do it," before Treville could even delve into the particulars, I agreed to do whatever he required. My swiftness startled him, leaving his mouth agape as it was caught mid-word.
"Sister," Athos chided, "you do not know what he will ask." Tilting back my head so that I could look at my brother, I depended upon him to maintain his hold of the chair so that I did not fall over from the shift in my weight.
"If the captains requires my help, then I do not need to ask. I will do it." To this Porthos chuckled richly, thumbs hooked into his belt as he leaned against the wall.
"Told you she'd volunteer," the men each shared a look with one another, Athos looking particularly perturbed.
"I do not like it," he muttered before letting go of the chair so I hastily sat upright and grasped the desk to keep myself from flying skirts over head. "It is dangerous."
"Danger does not bother me," beginning to reassure Athos that I could handle any task set before me, I paused a moment. "But perhaps I should hear the details of this danger before I rush headfirst into it." Now Treville chuckled, smiling warmly to me.
"We received a visitor at the hunt today. The king's mother, Marie de Medici," nothing more needed to be said for me to understand the reason for the sharp tension in the air. Marie de Medici, the former Queen of France and Queen Mother, now exiled on account of her treason against her own son. After Louis had matured to adulthood, Marie had refused to return power to the rightful heir, thus the political intrigue of the time. If she had returned, then it could not be for good reasons. "She claims she seeks forgiveness from the king, that she is here to make amends and seek refuge as there is a plot to kill her."
"On our way back, we were attached on the road," Porthos supplied as I listened intently. Who knew that today would be filled with such fascinating stories? "But something felt off. There were no traces of the bullets which were shot, no one was hurt…just doesn't feel right."
"We suspect that there are ulterior motives as to why Marie de Medici has returned to Paris," my brother continued, beginning to pace slowly in his restlessness and unease. "Captain Treville wants us to watch her, but we can only get so close without arousing suspicion." Ah, now I think I was beginning to understand.
"You, however, could get far closer to that woman than any of us. If we were to place you as a chambermaid in her residence, then perhaps you might uncover something by simply being present." Treville suggested. "Of course, I do not mean that you should put yourself in any undue danger. There are several men Marie brought with her whom I do not like the look of. If they threaten you in any way…"
"Show them to me and I will cut off their hands," Athos grumbled so I sent him a look.
"Brother, I can protect myself."
"That does not comfort me." Knowing that Athos would rather I refuse this request, I shook my head at him.
"The captain is right, I can move easily through the palace as a chambermaid and go unseen. Servants are often overlooked, perhaps Marie de Medici might let something slip whilst I am changing her bedsheets." Still my brother was not convinced, but he deigned to allow me to make my own decision, trusting in my own mind to know my own limits. "I will do as you ask, captain. You may depend on me."
"That's our girl," Porthos praised, approaching to ruffle my hair as Treville looked as if he were caught somewhere between pride and apprehension. Perhaps he was as keen on this idea as Athos was, though his duty as a solider to the king prompted him to act in loyalty, not necessarily his heart. It was logical that I should infiltrate the former queen's chambers, it held the best chance of success, and should things grow dire, I would simply escape. I felt confident that I could do this, and I revelled in any opportunity to be of service to Treville, the Musketeers, even the king himself.
If his mother was a threat to him, then I would uncover the truth. Being honest, I was quite giddy at the notion of becoming a spy, able to put all of my knowledge in service as well as my own experience of nobility to good use. In the back of my mind I thought of Agnès and her son, Henry, wondering if Aramis and d'Artagnan had managed to find the boy and free him. There was no time for me to run back and inquire, as Treville wanted to install me in the palace immediately. It was all arranged, quick whispers preceding my arrival where I was unceremoniously ordered to dress in the palace uniform. Then I was put to work.
This part of the mission as not so glamorous, however I followed my orders without complaint, giving myself time to become acquainted with my surroundings, steadily making myself at ease with the rules and expectations of a servant until finally, I was called to serve the Queen Mother herself.