Playing for Love

Chapter 1: A Good Girl

"I would imagine so." Her father replied. He reached out to give Madeleine's arm a calming squeeze. She released the knife and placed her cold hands in her lap.

"A picnic?" Adele laughed and kissed him as he smiled at her.

Did she think that would protect her? Did she think that it meant something?

Unbidden, the face of Madeleine's mother and the man she'd loved popped into Madeleine's mind. She'd almost forgotten about him. That damn sailor who'd promised to be her father and never returned. But Mama wouldn't want her to swear, even in her mind. Madeleine shivered and turned to see the carriage door swing open.

They'd stopped.

Two of her father's guards, the Red Guard, were waiting there and one reached out a hand to let Adele step out. Madeleine looked to her father for direction and saw that he was blocking the door. She leaned back and made herself comfortable.

Beyond Adele was only the snow-covered woods, the wilderness they'd been traveling into for a good while. Madeleine watched the woman's posture shift as she realized this, watched the woman spin around and look between father and daughter in fear.

"What's this?"

"Your surprise, my love."

There was the sound of a pistol cocking. Another thing Madeleine had been trained to be familiar with.

"My God. You're going to kill me."

Madeleine was a grown woman. She was not a little girl. She'd known this was what was happening. She was not a little girl.

"An ugly necessity. You're a traitor and a spy and I can't trust you. You give me no option."

This was how the world worked. It was childish to wish it wasn't. It was childish to understand and wish to calm the terror in this woman's voice.

There was the sound of a scuffle and Madeleine leaned forward to see: the guards were pulling Adele away. The Cardinal looked back and then stepped out to allow Madeleine a view of what was happening.

Adele's scream was at both of them. "Have you no mercy?"

"Mercy belongs to God, not man." The Cardinal glanced back at his daughter and nodded in approval when he found her eyes sharp and intense and unsympathetic.

"You pious hypocrite! You'll burn in hell."

The Cardinal motioned for Madeleine to sit back, stepping into the carriage to retake his own seat. He wasn't watching anymore but Madeleine leaned forward, not taking any note of whatever it was he quietly spoke to himself.

Adele suddenly changed tact, giving up on any denial.

"I love Aramis!"

The Cardinal looked up at this, expression unreadable at the edge of Madeleine's vision. "I'll love him with my last breath!" She screamed as the guard forced her to kneel.

Madeleine turned away, raising a hand to her mouth as though she was deep in thought. The name gave her an excuse-it would be better for her if she pretended to be unfamiliar... not that she'd met the man, but the Cardinal wouldn't like any familiarity with the musketeers.

"I love Aramis." The woman was sobbing now. "I love Aramis."

It was so sad, so wrong... Would this Aramis ever know her last words were of him? Would he care? Would Adele be here if he did? Madeleine turned back, thinking of her mother, wondering what her last words might have been. Who was going to care that Adele was gone?

Madeleine turned and forced herself to watch, something iron inside her forcing its way out in a moment of... was it pity? Compassion? The knowledge she might someday die in this same spot, calling out to the same man that she would never betray him?

The shot startled Madeleine.

Her body jerked back as Adele fell to the ground, her mouth letting out a nervous laugh as she remembered her father's presence. "I will remember to watch the gunman as well, next time." She chided herself, deflecting from the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears.

The Cardinal nodded, reaching out to close the door.

The carriage didn't move. The Red Guard would need to hide the body first.

Madeleine waited until her father's eyes focused again and then leaned forward, eager to please.

"So she betrayed you to this Aramis? Is he one of that Treville's men?" Was it too obvious? That she was trying to speak of them like concepts instead of men?

The Cardinal nodded in approval. "Of all the men she might betray me for, she picked a musketeer." He spat the word like a curse.

Madeleine nodded, raising the hand to her mouth again. Her father was waiting. The test wasn't over yet.

"Aramis..." She said again. "Shall I find a way to meet him?"

"I would greatly appreciate knowing what it is he knows and what he plans to do." The carriage door opened and the pistol was offered and taken. The door shut again without a word. "Tell Helene what you need. Meet him by the end of the week. The sooner he cares for you, the safer we can feel."

"Yes, Father."

Madeleine had no other questions.

After all, this was what she'd been raised for.