Before I had even finished helping Anne to dress, a maid came bursting into her chambers to inform us that the dauphin was missing. For a moment, we both stood frozen, her hair falling through my fingers as I lost my grip upon where I had intended to pin it into place. We stared at the maid who looked fit to burst into tears. Then, Anne released a harrowing wail. I caught her as she fell from her seat, lifting her up so that she did not strike the floor and deftly lowered her down. "Fetch the salts! The smelling salts!" Shouting to the maid, she rushed to bring them and I had Anne inhale them to calm herself.
She struggled and shivered, barely able to draw breath as I rubbed her back and loosened the ties of her corset so that she could draw deeper breaths. "I must go…I must go and see…"
"I am with you, Anne, remain strong." Helping her to rise, I swiftly finished dressing her before we rushed to the nursery whereupon we found the cradle empty with no prince in sight. The women of the nursery were all cowering, their heads bowed as Rochefort paced before them, looking as deeply incensed as if it were his own child who was missing. He rounded upon Marguerite, who had once again failed in her duty.
"You are the dauphin's governess. How could you let this happen?!" She stuttered weakly, terrified beyond words.
"I was so tired…" as I held up Anne to keep her from swooning into a faint, I glowered to where I could see a little of Marguerite's form through the archway of the nursery. "I must…must have fallen asleep." In disbelief, Anne gripped at the prince's blanket, which had been left behind in his cradle.
"Who would steal an innocent child?" Watching as he turned his head, Rochefort suddenly asked after Constance, inquiring as to where she was. "Constance?" Raising her head in disbelief, I was grateful for Anne's faith in my friend, however I had a instinctive feeling that this was no coincidence that both she and the dauphin were gone. "She wouldn't do this." Unfortunately, Marguerite spoke with the intent to help, but only made a blunder for herself and Constance with her tactless words.
"Well, she was concerned with the doctor's treatments, perhaps she was just trying to help." Rochefort rounded upon her.
"She might be a madwoman, for all we know," he declared which I protested with a huff, squeezing Anne's hands before releasing them to step closer to the man who scowled most impressively upon Marguerite. "You're as much to blame as she is. Arrest her!"
"What?" Shocked, Margeurite was immediately seized by two guards who began to drag her away. "No! Please! Your majesty!"
"You may take her to her chambers and secure her within," I announced, raising my hand as the guards looked towards me at my command, and the light gesture signalled for them to be gentle. They relaxed their grip upon Marguerite. "Go quietly, Marguerite. This shall all be thoroughly investigated, you have my word."
"I hardly think it your place to impose orders…"
"Considering it is because of your inadequate supply of guards and their clear lack of proper training the dauphin was so effortlessly taken, I hardly think you are the one who should be allowed to deliver orders to anyone." Refusing to bow before Rochefort, I turned upon him with a whirl of skirts which flared with my temper. "I would not entrust you with the protection of a spoon."
"Enough!" Ordering all arguments to cease, Anne looked to us with pure, chaotic desperation. "Find my child. For pity's sake, find him!" At once the ladies and maids all fled the nursery, taking this order as a reason to escape before someone's anger might be placed upon them. Anne sobbed quietly, clutching a hand over her mouth. "Dear God. Someone must inform the king." I glanced to Rochefort, scowling as I then lifted my chin.
"Perhaps that should be your duty, sir. It would provide an excellent opportunity to apologise for your blunder."
"Considering it is your friend who has taken the dauphin, I would not take such a tone with me, mademoiselle." Stepping closer, Rochefort towered over me. However, I had spent more than five years in the company of burly soldiers, men of whom all were taller than me and at least three times as broad. Rochefort did not intimidate me in the slightest.
"I know Constance. If she has done something, then it would only have been with the best of intentions." Slowly, Rochefort's lips curled into a sinister sneer.
"Then you had best hope to find her before I do." Knowing that this was nothing less than a threat, I clicked my tongue disapprovingly before turning aside. Rochefort was right, I had to reach Constance before he did. Whatever she had done, it was reckless and foolish. I only hoped that her intention proved fruitful and saved the dauphin. I went directly to her home, finding it empty but her husband was easily found, one of the neighbours indicating he had only just stepped out to take care of his business affairs.
I found him swiftly, and the moment he was within reach I grasped hold of him by the sleeve and dragged him about to face me. He started in surprised outrage. "How dare you! Unhand me at once you…you." Immediate displeasure hardened his features. "What do you want?"
"Have you seen Constance at all? Either last night or this morning?"
"And what if I had?" Losing patience, I pulled him to the side of the street and stepped around him, trapping him against the wall as I withdrew my stiletto knife from where it was concealed and pressed the tip against his groin. Paling, the man clenched fearfully.
"If you value your pride, you will tell me. When did you see her and where did she go?"
"She…she was here last night, carrying an infant." I blinked at him expectantly, waiting for more. "I asked her if it was hers, she denied it, but I am not certain I believe her." Inching the blade a little closer, I allowed the tip to prick at his breeches. He gulped audibly. "She went to the washhouse, I…might have followed her there."
"As despicable as you are, at least this one time you have proved useful. Do not speak of this to anyone else." If Rochefort came, I did not doubt that Bonacieux would readily give up Constance to save himself, but I allowed the threat to linger in the air regardless, if only to cause him discomfort. Sheathing the dagger, I went directly to the washhouse where immediately I walked into a hot, humid air where steam clung to me however it could. "Constance?" I called to her, searching as I craned my neck to see, swatting away the steam until I saw the dark auburn curls of her hair. "Constance!" She started awake.
Rushing to her side I gripped at her shoulder, beginning to ask where the dauphin was before I saw him nestled upon a bed of linens. Thank the Lord. Releasing Constance, I hurriedly went to him and touched at his neck and face, feeling his skin. He was warm, but I did not think him feverish. I stooped down over him, turning my head and pulling aside my hair to listen to him breathe and discovered that his breaths were light and loose, no longer congested and laborious. "I thought the steam would help him. I've heard all the women say how steam works for their little ones when they're sick." Constance explained. "I thought it was worth a try."
"Yes, but Constance you took the dauphin without permission! Do you have any idea what state the palace is in? Rochefort and his guards are searching for you even as we speak!" Turning to her in concern, it was then we heard his voice calling from the front of the washhouse. Rochefort. Invoke the devil's name and he shall thus appear. I cursed under my breath. Lifting little Louis, I beamed at him, coddling him so that he would not become distressed as I then passed him over to Constance to hold just as Rochefort appeared.
"Ah ha," he looked at us both with a victorious smirk I wanted nothing more than to stride from his face. "Have you hurt him?" Insulted that he would even suggest such a thing, Constance glowered at him.
"I'm trying to save his life." Sensing her unease, little Louis began to fuss, so I placed my finger against his hand whereby he curled his tiny fist around it, quieting again. Unconvinced, Rochefort reached for the child. Immediately I stepped in his way, turning so that the prince was out of his reach.
"I think not. The hands of men are clumsy in comparison to the tender arms of a woman. This is the dauphin, not just anyone can touch him so readily." Carefully retrieving my finger from the prince's grasp, I stood stoically in front of Constance to shield her as Rochefort squared himself against me for the second time that day.
"The penalty for kidnapping the dauphin is execution. Nothing can save your friend, and since I discovered you here together, I can only presume that this was a conspiracy concocted between you both. Take them." Two guards stepped forwards, but my knife quickly found its way to my hand whereby I held it threateningly at my side. Their hands immediately jumped to their swords, but I remained calm.
"You would enforce violence in the presence of the future king? You would so thoughtlessly endanger his life? Shame on you! You are as thick headed as you are dim witted. I only did as you suggested, which was to find Constance before you could. Any conspiracy you imagine is entirely of your own making. Now, I believe her majesty would like nothing more than to see her son safely returned, so unless you seek to prolong our absence, I suggest you move." This final word was spoken so forcibly, so adamantly, that even Rochefort drew himself back.
Taking Constance carefully by the arm whilst still holding my dagger, I escorted her out of the washhouse. What I wouldn't have given for Athos and the men at that moment, more for Constance's sake than my own, but when the red guards closed in around us and we were seized into their powerful grips, I began to long for their presence for my sake also. We were marched back to the palace, however each time Rochefort made to take the dauphin I waylaid him.
There was something about him I instinctively did not trust. His eyes were too cunning, his intentions too clouded. I disliked how he lingered near the queen and how his gaze followed her, how he swanned before the court as the upstanding advisor to the king, but most of all, I disliked how he was a threat to the peace I had found in my life. There was a storm within him waiting to be unleashed, and I knew that it would only rain destruction upon us all if it were allowed to run rampant. I did not trust him. It was plain in simple.
When we returned to the palace, Constance passed little Louis into my care as we were pulled up the wide stairs. It was good I had taken the prince, for when we passed Milady de Winter of all people, I might have struck her were my arms not otherwise occupied. Every opportunity presented to strike her or deal with her once and for all was in one way or another thwarted, and as we stared at one another, she walking free whilst I forcibly marched under armed guard, I could not help but scoff at the irony.
One day. One day I would finish her, but for now, I must protect Constance. We were brought before the king and queen, Constance unkindly forced before them as Anne gasped in relief to see little Louis in my arms. She rushed to me and swiftly took her son to cradle him in her arms, holding him tenderly. For a while she gazed at him, smiling and almost crying, before she passed him to Marguerite who had been freed from her confinement already. Anne must have liberated her. "Take him to the physician, I want him to see to my son's health." Once the child was out of the room, Anne turned upon Constance. "What possessed you, Constance? Do you hate me so much?"
"I was trying to save his life!" I thought Anne's tone mightily unfair, but I held my tongue for the moment as a guard to continued to hold my arm as if I too were a criminal. I tugged at him, attempting to draw myself free but he ungallantly wrenched me back with a warning growl. I grimaced at him in reply.
"By taking him from his doctor's care to a common laundry?" The king demanded in righteous outrage. "Who knows what risks he was exposed to?"
"He was dying," Constance continued to explain, desperate to make them understand that she had intended no harm upon the prince. "I thought the steam might ease his lungs. It's a common remedy amongst the people." The king was not convinced. Not at all.
"Common people are full of disease!"
"Doctor Lemay's treatments weren't working." Growing cold, the king approached Constance to look upon her directly, his voice taking a callous and almost cruel tone.
"This woman is dangerous." He declared simply. Then, his sharp gaze fell upon me. "Both of them are. You are just as guilty for this." I gaped in disbelief. The king gave no reason for his judgement or accusation, no explanation as to how he perceived me to be as equally as guilty. A king need not explain to anyone, it seemed. It was true, and it was also my doom. "They must be hanged." For the first time, I had no words. Only a cold dread which seeped into my bones as the guards seized me up. So intense was my shock, I did not even resit, only stared blankly into nothing.
Constance cried, begging her majesty to speak and save us, imploring upon her mercy but Anne stayed silent, perhaps too enraptured in her thoughts and fears to realise what was happening. At least, that was what I hoped, for no salvation came from Queen Anne. Instead, it arrived in the form of the young Professor Lemay, who strode into the room to proclaim firmly that the prince's health had improved drastically. "The dauphin's lungs are clearing and his fever has broken. I believe he is recovering."
"Your leeches have done their work?" Forgetting about Constance and I, the king turned to the physician as the guards paused, waiting to listen to this change in events. Constance managed to pull free and return a few steps, whilst I remained rooted in place.
"As a man of science, I must conclude that it was the steam and not I, that saved his life." Quite unexpectedly, the physician looked upon Constance with an air of respect, even acknowledgement that she had been right all along. "Madame Bonacieux should receive the credit, and I believe were it not for the tireless efforts of Lady de la Fère tending to the young dauphin's symptoms, he would not be doing so well as he is now." His words roused me from my catatonic state, blinking at this unexpected endorsement.
"Ah. Well, then, I suppose we had better not hang them." The king did not so much as look at us. Instead he turned away, disregarding us like yesterday's linen, and not even Anne sought to console us. Only moments ago we had been sentenced to hang. One would think we deserved at least a slight apology. As it happened, only the physician approached us, inclining his head with a kindness I had not thought to find, or simply had been too prejudiced before now to notice.
"Perhaps you were right this time, madame," he conceded, sounding even a little jovial as he looked upon Constance. "But I assure you, leeches are generally an infallible cure." Tearfully, she laughed.
"Thank you," I finally managed to croak, lowering myself into a grateful curtsey. "Thank you, sir. You have saved us."
"No need for thanks. I think perhaps many of us were not in their most rational state. The illness of a child often creates such tension. The illness of a dauphin…well. You can imagine the severity of such an emergency." Further grateful for his graciousness, I nodded until he touched at my elbow to help me rise once more. He left us, and there I placed my arms around Constance to embrace her, where her tears seeped into the shoulder of my gown. I did not cry. I could not find the tears myself. I simply stood and stared, blank and emotionless as Constance recovered from the fear of death looming upon us. It had been so sudden, so decisive, that I was yet uncertain it had truly happened. My mind began to spiral into uncontrollable thoughts.
What if I had been taken to the gallows? Would Athos have come to save me? Would Treville have petitioned the king? I knew that they would, I knew that all of them would have rushed to my rescue, but even with the best of intentions…would they have succeeded? They were the king's men first and foremost, and when the king orders an execution, there is generally little anyone can do to stop it.
Gasping for air, I looked to see Anne still occupied with the prince. "Come," crooning softly, I began to draw Constance away. "We should give them their space until we are summoned again." As we walked away, I could not help but wonder something which weighed as heavily upon my heart as it did my head, burning its cold refrain into the dark fears which lay in wait in the untrodden crevasses of my being. Would Anne have saved us, if the musketeers had failed? Most frightening of all…I did not know the answer.