"No, Charles. I will not help you feed into your delusions."

My brother dramatically gets onto his knees and clasps his hands together.

"Please Daria. I have to know if she likes me."

"Then talk to her yourself."

I pull him back up to stand.

"You live with her Father, you see her more often than I. Find out the things she likes."

"Then what?"

I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Then do them. What woman doesn't love a nice gift."

As if on cue, Pierre walks up to us in the Garrison yard.
He holds a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

"Charles, good to see you."

"And you." My brother nods absent minded, then excuses himself.

Pierre turns to me, a brilliant smile on his lips. He bows and holds out the bouquet.

"What are these for?" I take them from his hand.

He stands, but leans close to me.

"Does a man need a reason to gift flowers to a beautiful woman?" He kisses me. It's a comfortable one, sure. But the act seems more familiar than it felt.

Someone clears their throat.

"Athos. Always a pleasure." He sticks out his hand to shake it. He takes it, which suprised me greatly. Athos seemed to have a special sore spot for the upper class, but maybe it was due to Pierre's connection to the king.

"Viscount, I just need to steal Daria for moment. It's important." He looks to me when he says the last part. His face is a bit flushed, i assume from riding, he must be in a hurry.

"Actually, I think he should stay. We all have a lot to catch up on. Plans have changed."

Pierre doesn't seem to catch on but Athos nods his head.

"Either way, we need to go now." He insists.

"We could take my Carriage." Pierre suggests.

Athos shakes his head.

"No carriages, too much attention. I rode here quickly from the Palace. Aramis sent word, the meeting is happening within the hour in the downtown district. Grab a stallion and let's head out."

Pierre is noticeably confused, so as we hurried into the stalls, I did my best to summarize.

"So you told them everything?"

"Yes. I know I promised not to." I watched his face for any sign of anger.

But he just cooly says "If you trust them, I trust them."

He goes to mount the horse but I stop him.

"You can't wear that."

He looks down at his outfit, confused.

"What's wrong with it? This is all the rage in Paris."

"In the court. We can't have you sticking out." I grab a cloak someone left on a rack. "Put this on."

He pulls it over himself. We both get onto our horses and ride out, meeting Athos outside the gates. Athos leads us down various streets. The sky was dimming as we rode, it was a chilly blue by the time we stopped. We tied up our horses a few streets down and walked to an Alley. Out of the shadows comes Aramis.

"It's almost showtime. We intercepted a letter he sent out this morning, confirming their meeting spot and time."

Pierre looks around "We?"

Aramis whistles and Porthos peeks his head from atop a building. He just waves before hiding away again.

"In case we loose the woman, he will have a better view."

"We should hide now. We don't wanna spook either of them."
We all find places out of sight. Pierre at my side as we crouch behind a garbage bin. He pulls the float over my aswell to further hide me from view.

For awhile things are silent. Until, we hear a set of footsteps in the area just outside the Alleyway. The sound of someone pacing back in forth.

A few moments later, the sound of heels clicking followed it.

We were closer to the voices, so I listened intently.

"Thank you for meeting me." Frederick's voice.

The other person doesn't respond.

"Right. So, Daria knows it was me who poisoned her cup. Well atleast she thinks she knows. She's making a lot of threats, saying I could be accused of treason."

Finally the Woman speaks.

"What is it you expect him to do?"

I hear someone tussling behind us. Luckily the two targets don't seem to notice.

"I'm not sure, but be rather frank. I thought she'd be taken care of by now. He was intent on wanting her dead."

"He changed his mind." More rustling behind us. I could see the outline of a man. Athos. I couldn't see his face but he was revealing himself partially from his hiding spot. I try to get his attention but they are laser focused on the two people even I couldn't see.

"W-Why?"

"It's none of your concern."

"I think it is! She's threatening me! You saw what she did to my nose."

"If you don't wanna see what I can do to you, you'll leave it alone. Go home, forget about all of this, and stop sending messages. You are no longer of use, so be a good little red guard and go do your job. This will be our last meeting."

"YOU!" I jerk back from the sound of Athos yelling. He's completely out in the open know. He looks dazed. He's pointing his finger in the direction of the figures.

"You're supposed to be dead! You are dead. You liar, you murderer!"

The women does not say anything but a rage overtakes Athos. An anger I have never seen in him. He unsheathed his sword. Before he can barrel at the Woman, Aramis steps out, holding him back.

"Oh no." I hear Frederick say before he flees.

Pierre and I stand up, but the woman is no where to be seen.

"Where did she go?" I ask Aramis.

"I didn't see her."

"Porthos?" I yell up to him. He looks around from his spot on top, before looking down and shaking his head.

Athos fights against Aramis grip. Athos could have easily escaped it, in any other circumstance. But he seemed like a host of his usual self. His face was a pale white, his eyes almost bulging from his head.

I helped Armais hold him back, taking the sword from his hand.

"Athos, what is wrong? Do you know that woman?"

He seems to regain some sense of self "She's a criminal. A thief. A killer."

"How do you know?"

He hesitates "I just do." He pulls himself from our grip, jerking back. Then he just walks away.

"What the hell was all of that about?" I look to Armais for an answer.

He looks equally bewildered. Porthos joins our group once he's gotten down from the roof.

"So no one saw her?" I ask the three men.

They each shake their heads.

"Our cover is blown. We just loss any element of surprise." Pierre says annoyed.

"Athos was distressed, we'll find another way." Porthos defends him.

"Relax. This wasn't the original idea, but this could work. We spooked the woman, maybe this will make the Cardinal nervous." I try to lighten the mood.

The three men share a look.

Aramis scratches his head "That's what we should be afraid of. I have a feeling we just but a target on each of our backs."

He was right. The woman had probably seen each of us. The Cardinal wouldn't like the idea of witnesses. But a small part of me wanted her to come. Of course I didn't want anyone to get hurt, but perhaps this way, she'd reveal herself to one of us. Who? That was the hard question. But Athos seemed to know her quite well, more than he'd ever care to tell. So I switched my sights from the woman to the Man himself.