Debut

[somanyopinions]

To think, an entire life could be bent toward the goal of grace and poise, yet still a person's self-possession could be utterly ripped from them in the space of an instant.

Anne's emotions, typically so tightly controlled, had spiraled helplessly from her grip, unraveling with each neat click of Rochefort's departing footsteps. Clutching onto Constance, she sobbed, shaking like she hadn't since she was a child, her mind so muddled with shock and fear that she found herself unable to move from the floor despite knowing, distantly, that to linger was further madness.

How had she not known? How had she not seen? What a blind and reckless little fool she had been, putting them all at such risk, throwing the Dauphin's lineage into question—

The Dauphin.

All at once Anne scrambled to her feet, light-headed and unsteady, and hastily gathered up her skirts to run into the hall. Her mind was racing— Constance. She could give the baby to Constance. There was little hope for Anne herself, but there might yet be time for Constance to flee, and she had escaped unnoticed with the Dauphin once before.

Breathless, Anne sprinted toward the nursery, only—

Only the corridor had changed, unfamiliar in the blink of an eye, pale sunlight exchanged for a dark and richly paneled hall. Startling, she tripped against a carpet runner and fell hard against the wall, jarring her shoulder with a wince. The fabric of her skirt still gripped hard in her fingers, escaped hair wild, she leaned there, eyes wide and muscles stiff as her heart hammered in her chest.

Comments

[praiseandglory]

Porthos is in the best of moods, that day. He's finally reverted back to normal, and he's taken great pleasure in donning his regular clothes, not to mention clasping the pauldron back on his shoulder. It feels good to be back, and he's got every intention of walking through the first door he can find to some other place in the hope of finding some adventure to be had, and preferably one that involves some fighting.

It's with that in mind that he's looking for Aramis, and he grins when he finds him just around the corner. And with Athos, at that! "Aramis," he calls out, spreading his arms as if to say, look at me! He's about to call out Athos's name, too, when he notices him stepping away towards someone else, and his arms drop as a frown replaces his joyful expression.

[averygoodshot]

"Ah. Porthos." And Porthos as a man, yes, very good news. Forgive Aramis, Porthos for not being more cheerful, but, well. About that.

He takes his friend's arm and leads him away a good few paces. That's when he meets Porthos's eyes and Porthos should know that expression on Aramis's face. There is trouble and, yes, that trouble has something to do with Aramis and with the Queen. "Athos is going to show her Majesty and I the door he uses to get back to Paris."

[praiseandglory]

Porthos has barely had time to acknowledge that yes, it is the Queen (for some reason, the last people he expected to see here were his King and Queen, as if their royal status set them above the whims of this place), and he's about to go and bow to her when Aramis draws him aside. When he looks away from the Queen and at his friend's face, it's impossible not to recognise that look, and he instinctively tugs his gloves on a little tighter (odd how he still feels a little unused to things this way around, now). "What's going on?" he asks, since, clearly, something is.

[averygoodshot]

Is there enough time, even, to go into all the details? Does Aramis have the fortitude to face Porthos's reaction to said details?

He takes a deep breath. "The Queen," he starts. "And her son." His son. "Are in danger by the man who replaced the Cardinal in the King's court."

[praiseandglory]

"Rochefort," Porthos states, his gaze dark and his desire to hurt the man, preferably repeatedly, clearly etched on his face. "The Dauphin's still in Paris?" he assumes, or why would they be in a hurry to go back.

[averygoodshot]

"Yes. And under Rochefort's hand. The King is ... unable to see clearly. We must get the Dauphin before - "

Before something bad happens. Before Aramis has yet another reason to want to kill Rochefort.

[praiseandglory]

Sometimes - not that he'll ever say so out loud - Porthos thinks that their King was perhaps not made for the job. But it's not for him to judge, of course, even when he can picture that happening so clearly. Just as it had with the cardinal before.

"Well, come on, then," Porthos states. "What are we waiting for?" He will ask for details later, once the Queen and the Dauphin are both safe.

[averygoodshot]

There will be more talk later; Aramis vows to explain to Porthos all of it. But for now, he gives his friend a relieved and grateful squeeze of the shoulder and leads their way back to the Queen.