A Powerful Little Love

Chapter 50

Oddly it was easier to hide in a larger crowd as she meandered her way back towards the Palace.  It didn't stop her heart from beating erratically though.  She could still feel lips flush against the skin of her neck; feel large hands getting lost in her mass of long brown hair.  No doubt she looked a bedraggled mess under the hat and cloak, but Athos hadn't cared had he?  It was only as Amorette reached the ladies corridor and the door to her own rooms came into sight that she faltered.  She had happily pushed the events of the evening before out of her mind but now they were sneaking back in.  She had killed a boy in her own rooms, shot him straight in the chest with Athos' pistol.  Was his blood still staining the carpet where he had lain?  Was the corpse still there now?

Amorette tore Athos' hat from her head and held it in both hands, observing how her hands shook even as she tried for calmness.  She stared at the door as her breath became erratic and wanted nothing more than to run back the way she had come; right across the river to the Rue du Bac and into his arms.  That was not who she wanted to be though.  Yes, she wanted comfort and security, which he had given her the evening before and no doubt would again, but Amorette was not a mute little wife.  She wanted action and here was her opportunity to prove to herself and everyone else that she was ready for it.  They would not always be together; with Athos leaving Paris every so often to fulfil his duties Amorette was going to have to learn to comfort and secure herself.  She had done it before in essence, and that couldn't change just because she and Athos were now more intimate with one another.

It was still reasonable though to feel trepidation about staying in her rooms after what had happened.  Perhaps she could request to be moved elsewhere, but to do that she would have to step inside and observe the scene.   Slowly her hand reached out to grasp the door handle, and Amorette sucked in a quick breath before she pushed down on the handle and the door swung open.

Bright sunlight assaulted her eyes.  The drapes had all been dragged back and the windows thrown open to air the room.  The parlour furniture had all been cleared to the side of the room and the blood-stained rug was nowhere in sight.  Amorette stepped into the chilly room and glanced towards her bed chamber hesitantly.  The bed had been entirely stripped and the windows had been thrown open there too. 

Ushered towards another set of rooms within the Palace, Amorette came to realise that Tilda had been hard at work for a fair few hours arranging new rooms.  Now she was only a corridor's length from Claude's rooms.  Tilda had scurried into action when she had heard what had happened, drafting Léo and two stewards in to help her clean everything up and move all of Amorette's belongings.  There was a part of Amorette that was sorry to leave the rooms that she had quite quickly come to think of as home, and she did spare the hidden passageway a worry.  It would no longer be guarded by herself from one side, but Amorette mentally scolded herself.  The Queen's welfare and business were her own now and surely, she could arrange to have that passageway blocked up entirely.  Her new rooms were a floor above where her old ones had been, and much larger.  There was also a lighter feel to them, perhaps because a set of double doors led out onto a small balcony.  All her trunks had been brought up and Tilda had already organised her belongings.

"I thought you'd be worried about staying in your old rooms again after what happened Madame, so I arranged for everything to be moved as soon as it was light."

Amorette turned towards her maid and offered her a warm smile.  "I don't think I deserve you Tilda.  I really appreciate all of this!  I hadn't given much thought to my rooms until I arrived back just now."

"Don't deserve me?" Tilda chuckled.  "Madame I think it's rather the other way around!  You've taught me so much since I started helping you out and I am payed far more than any other ladies maid in this Palace.  On another note though, where on earth did you sleep last night?  I know you didn't spend the night in your own rooms!"