d'Artagnan And Her Musketeers (The Cosette D'Artagnan Romances, book 1)

Chapter 22: Knight Takes Queen

"Caroline," said the Queen. Cosette and her friends looked up in relief to see the Queen was unharmed. "She borrowed my robes."

There was someone trying to kill the Queen. Cosette and Porthos got the Queen Anne to safety, son joined by Athos and Aramis. The Queen's party quickly disbursed in different directions. The other guards made sure that Queen Anne's handmaidens were put to safety. Athos looked at Cosette and Porthos.

"Stay down! Stay with the Queen. Get to the horses," he instructed them. Athos looked at Aramis. "You and I have an assassin to catch."

Cosette kept a look out.

" D'Artagnan, how are we doing?" Porthos asked. Cosette wasted for the assassin to move

"Go! Right." She shouted. Cosette took the Queen's hand and helped her up the hill as Athos and Aramis soon joined them. Cosette mounted Sapphire while her friends mounted on their other horses while Queen Anne rode in front of Aramis. The five traveling companions stopped for a while. Athos ordered Cosette to take a spyglass and see how far they were. She really wished Aramis didn't complain about having quiet days. They were the best days when nothing was life-threatening going on. Now, back to the assassins, they were a few leagues away, but they were determined to kill their innocent Queen.

"They're still following us?" Athos called out.

"Yes, and they're not tiring," Cosette answered.

"Determined. "

"What if we can't lose them?" asked Queen Anne, the fear was clear in her voice.

"We will," Aramis assured her.

"What if we don't?"

"We've been in much worse situations than this and always prevailed. You've nothing to fear. This is a relatively quiet day for us!"

"Which could have stayed that way if you did not jinx us," Cosette muttered as she returned. Aramis looked over at her as she raised her eyebrow.

The companions ride off.

"There's been no sign of them for an hour now." Cosette reported.

"We're safe for a while." Athos answered. "The Queen needs to rest."

Cosette nodded. She stopped for a second. She hadn't adjusted her corset in a long time as it made her breathing shallow. She looked to Athos.

"Athos, is it alright if I have some privacy," Cosette asked. "From everyone. Just for a quick minute."

"D'Artagnan, I don't think ..." Athos began.

*please, just a quick five minutes." She looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Just be careful," said Athos.

"I always am," said Cosette. She turned away as Athos shook his head in amusement.

Cosette made herself comfortable by taking off everything. Quickly, she took off her pauldron, doublet and then her corset. She adjusted it three times and made sure it was covering all the right places. And when Cosette turned, she saw Queen Anne had been watching her the whole time. And Cosette's mouth dropped.