A Powerful Little Love

Chapter 4

Amorette led a comfortable life, and did not see the need to throw money at opportunities and material objects because there was no one in her life to admire them.  She had enough love to put the money she did have to good use and had funded the opening of the school house in a nearby town and continued to support them.  She hoped to engage in more projects like it in future but would always remain an anonymous benefactor.  Amorette was sure of her judgment and knew that if her generosity were widely known it would be misused so she made her own decisions about just who her money helped. 
Everyone had wicked thoughts from time to time.  Everyone had things they wanted to buy, alliances that they thought valuable or people who they wished to share their life with, but Amorette didn't act on them.  In her eyes it made her a better person.

It was still early when she emerged from her one-night lodgings and made her way towards the presence chamber to meet with the King and Queen.  Their meeting was to be a private one and Amorette would waste no time in divulging all of her sister's secrets.  If for nothing else than the assurance that her sister could not entangle herself in anyone else's affairs Amorette thought it was something she had to do.  Part of her thought that she did it to help Athos be rid of his wife who he loved and hated so much in equal measure.  She also thought that she did it for the king, because Amorette was sure that Milady De Winter was more than capable of bringing the house of Bourbon to its knees.  She also did it for herself.  She did not wish to have her name and good intentions sullied by her sister.

For her own reasons Amorette knew she could strike up a rapport with the queen very well, it was the king's opinion she really needed to sway to diminish the favour that her sister so craved.  Their meeting was a long one.  The king was immature, almost childlike.  In effect he was still very young, but the Louvre Palace and Paris were his home and the people that surrounded him were trusted advisors.  He showed every confidence that was to be expected in a king.  He believed of course, that his birth right was to rule by divine right.  Such was the catholic way.  It was a far cry from English monarchies of recent times.  Their protestant monarchs seemed to have more of an understanding of just how unstable a reign was.  The favour of the people was just as fickle as the favour of a king.  Amorette liked Anne of Austria immediately though.  Despite being the anointed queen of France there was a fragility in the way she held herself and spoke.  This was not her home, and she had come to a palace full of strangers when she first arrived in Paris.  She was strong though, as Amorette was fully aware that the king had grown to value her opinion highly and held his wife in great esteem despite his knowledge of her affair.  Amorette had a feeling she would warm to her Queen when Athos had told her of the apparent affair with the Duke of Buckingham.  Here was a woman married to a man she did not love, in a country that she did not know or trust and she had taken her own happiness into her hands.  As Queen she had that right and could get away with it as long as no substantial evidence was found.  But in front of Amorette sat a demure, pleasant young woman who listened to her claims with interest and respect and once the matter of Milady De Winter was concluded; continued conversation as if they were firm friends.  She seemed to seek Amorette's approval, strangely.  Anne of Austria knew about favour.  She may be queen but she too was just another subject to an anointed king.  Everyone knew the story of Henry VIII of England and his six wives, and it seemed this queen knew the fear of divorce or beheading.

The King and Queen expressed their regrets that Amorette would not attend court, and though Amorette promised the Queen that she would visit she knew it very unlikely that she ever would.  Leaving Paris would be the biggest relief she had ever experienced, and it would be made even better if Claire Du Leroux was no longer under suspicion and allowed to leave with her.

It was a little before midday when Amorette arrived at the musketeer garrison.  She had not wanted to arrive early but had not wished to remain in the palace any longer.  The evening beforehand when she had walked through the same archway Amorette had been greeted by the site of a bustling hive of activity with what she suspected was the musketeers handing the day duties over to the night watch.  Today though it was deserted save six souls.  Atop a flight of stairs there stood a rather stoic faced man looking out from a balcony.  At the foot of the stairs five others sat around a long table.  Athos, Porthos, D'artagnan and Aramis stood up to greet her, whilst Claire Du Leroux remained seated.  Her friend looked lost and bewildered amongst all these men and Amorette grew worried that perhaps Claire would not be allowed to leave with her after all.  Before she could ask after her though, Athos nodded his head in the direction of a small alcove below the flight of steps.  As Amorette followed him towards it she noted that the other three musketeers fanned out a little towards where they stood, leaving Claire unmoving at the table.  Amorette knew that they intended to listen to their conversation but she had expected as much.  The four men seemed to move and talk with such synchronicity that someone might have guessed them to be brothers.