The Unlikely Traitors

Chapter 1

November, 1792 Paris, France
Adalene walked down the long cobblestone road that was lined with merchants from every part of Europe. She held her head high, excited to see townspeople. Her mother rarely let her out of the house since she was, “royalty.” The truth was, Adalene was not royalty, no matter how many times her mother insisted upon it. She was merely the daughter of a noble, wealthy family. Most would say that is a very sophisticated title. But it wasn’t Adalene’s, at least she didn’t believe so. It was her mother’s title, her father’s title. They were the ones that worked hard to earn so much money.
    It seemed that lately everybody was arguing, or in a short-tempered manner. Since Adalene’s family was noble, they were in the second estate. This naturally drew glares from every person in the third estate. This hierarchy had caused much anger in the country. The first estate, by far the most powerful, was made of priests and religious leaders. The second, nobles and wealthy families, and the third, was the poorer commoners who paid most of the taxes. The second and third estates received quite a lot of luxuries and held the most power in the government. Adalene knew it wasn’t fair and honestly she strongly disliked the system her country has turned to. She tries to be kind to everyone on the streets, but her Mother typically steers her away from certain peasants. Today, things were different. It was La Fête Paysanne, a celebration for the people. Everyone came together to enjoy what little community they still had.
    “Bonjour Adalene!”
    “Bonjour Monsieur Laramie! The bread smells wonderful as always.” It felt wonderful to be speaking to everyone, walking around, forgetting every wrong deed previously focused upon. Adalene walked next to her younger brother, Eliot.
“Isn’t this exciting Adalene?” Eliot glanced up at her, his eyes dancing with wonder. Adalene laughed in agreement. She was very close to her younger brother. With her parents working so much Eliot and Adalene spent a lot of time together. They were best friends, regardless of the ten year age difference between them.
Adalene heard the singers on every corner with various instruments. At last, the big traditional dance began. The women gathered in a circle facing the men as the classic tune started to play. Everyone linked arms with another, switching partners as the beat sped up. For a brief moment, Adalene was dancing with a man that looked to be her age. He had light golden-brown hair and dark blue eyes. Just as he locked eyes with Adalene, he started to run along the street away from the festival. Adalene, confused and left without a partner, moved away from the dancing area and peered further down the road toward the direction the man had gone.
“That’s odd,” Adalene thought to herself, “Oh well.”  She decided not to waste time thinking about it and enjoy the rest of the celebration. Tomorrow would be a different day, but at least for today, she would feel peace.