A Powerful Little Love

Chapter 26

the assembled audience jeered loudly towards the defendant as the guilty verdict was called out. The young lawyer who had presided over the prosecution gave a mocking bow to the crowd, grinning as he did so.

"Your friend is rather good!" Amorette whispered to Fabien Desrosiers who sat next to her. Amorette did not hear his reply though because at that moment a bought of muttering about the rightful placement of women broke out behind her. She glanced about her and received some furtive looks in return. "Fabien should I be here? I'm getting a lot of funny looks!"

Fabien turned to look at her incredulously. "Why on earth shouldn't you be here? It's an open gallery for goodness sake!"

"But I'm a woman," she muttered as she glanced about her again. "I don't think we are permitted to attend courts like this unless specifically called as a witness. Perhaps I should leave; I don't want to get you into trouble."

Fabien threw Amorette another incredulous look. "Good God what men have you courted in the past? You're not going anywhere unless there's a brawl of some sort and even then I will escort you out and home myself!"

Was that what they were doing; Courting? Then the thought struck her; how could they be anything else but courting? Sat on a bench in the crowded gallery, to ensure that they could hear one another they were sitting so closely that their knees touched and Fabien's hand rested on the small of her back. He'd been surprised when Amorette had told him that she had never attended a court session and had brought her along to witness the process for herself. Fabien had been to many as he sought out inspiration for his plays that although not yet widely known were increasing in popularity by the day in Paris. It was not the only side of the man that Amorette had admired though. They had spent quite a lot of time together since their first meeting and it had now become a regular occurrence after four months to dine alone together at least once a week.

During one of those private dinners Amorette had confessed her feelings for Athos. She had not known how Fabien would have reacted, but as he was starting to make his romantic intentions clear she felt it only right to divulge her secret. Surprisingly Fabien shared her feelings of unrequited love. He had fallen in love in Italy on his travels with a beautiful young woman that even he had described as horrid and self-centred and thus understood Amorette's situation completely. That alone brought them much closer together as they discussed the difficulties of their romantic misadventures.

Amorette had deliberately not given much thought to the labelling of their new friendship as she liked the man and wanted to enjoy his company without complicating things. She had expected him to move on to someone else by now considering all of the female attention that he was receiving. Claude may not have thought him marriage material for a wealthy young woman but it hadn't stopped the younger women admiring him from afar and it wasn't just the beautiful and sometimes rather scandalous poetry that enthralled them all though. In spending so much time with him Amorette had come to find him very pleasing to be around. He was humble and modest with a good heart and bucket-loads of ambition. There was also that dazzling smile that charmed her completely. It was the deep conversations that they had shared that were really having an effect on her though. Fabien's depth of feeling and ability to express his emotions so eloquently left Amorette feeling a little inadequate at first because talking about her own issues in life wasn't something that she felt comfortable with at all, but at length she began to open up to the poet who had an intrinsic way of making her feel like she could finally begin to be at peace with everything from her past. Amorette didn't know why, but all that she had been through with her father and sister seemed to matter so much less when she had the company of Fabien.

The young lawyer made his way over to them during a break in proceedings. "Monsieur Rouzet," announced Fabien as he stood up to greet his friend. "Allow me to introduce you to the Cometess de la Feuillette; Amorette du Gilliory. Madam; my old friend Sacha Rouzet."