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

Chapter 1: Of Secrecy and Vengeance

The year is 1630, and Cosette d'Artagnan was disguised as a boy.

Her father felt it was safer that she dressed as one so that way no men would dare harm her. She saw her father tired out. They had been traveling for days, and Cosette could tell he was going to fall over. She was upset the day she had to cut all her hair and kept the corset that was made by her father to make it look like she had a man's chest. However, you could tell she was a little bit younger than a man. She was just disguised as a boy. Since Cosette herself was only fifteen years old, she could pass as an eighteen-year-old boy. Instead of Cosette d'Artagnan, it was Charles d'Artagnan.

She, too, was tired herself, so Cosette knew what to do. Ever since her mother died a few years ago and Cosette's older sisters, Amelia and Isabelle, married, it had just been Cosette and her father.

"Come on, you're tired, Papa," Cosette said. "We should stop here."

"Paris is only a few hours away."

"Paris will still be there in the morning."

"Look, I could ride all night. But if you're saying you need to rest..."

"Papa!" Cosette protested.

"'Sette, darling, I am jesting with you," Alexandre said to his daughter. Cosette smiled as they made their way to the closer inn. He told her to put the horses in the stable, and Cosette did as her father told her. Cosette eased both Alexandre's horse and her horse, Sapphire. She was a gift from her mother, so she cherished the horse more than anything. As she laid the saddles onto a stand nearby, she heard a gun cocked and they told her, "Boy, don't think of moving..."

Cosette took her pistol she kept hidden in her boot and shot one man and chased after another. However, the bandits got away. She cried in agony that she couldn't get the men who were responsible with it.

" ....'Sette..." she heard.

"Papa?" Cosette asked. "I'm sorry, I couldn't stop them."

He collapsed onto the ground, Cosette quickly ran towards her father , helped him on the ground, and held him close.

"Papa..."

Alexandre placed a hand on his daughter's cheek and muttered, "Athos...Please...Athos...."

When he died, Cosette cried and held onto her father. They buried him at a nearby graveyard. Cosette got back up on Sapphire, leaving Papa's horse for the inn-keeper, and headed to Paris to learn if this Athos man really did kill her father.

Athos was recovering from yet another hangover. He usually drank whenever he found the time for it. Even before he left his room at the Garrison, Athos dunked his head in water before he left. He walked down the dirt road to join Porthos at the Wren, which was their favorite pub to go to for the past several years. And there, he saw Porthos playing cards with one of the Red Guards.Porthos, meanwhile, won the card game again. Athos wanted to desperately tell him to knock it off, but then again, maybe he'd learn a lesson through this all.

"That's... That's impossible," said the Red Guard. "You cheated."

"What's going on?" Athos asked, drinking a cup of ale.

"Dujon and I were having a discussion about personal integrity," said Porthos.

"Your friend had the King up his sleeve."

"Oh, that's slander. Tell him, Athos."

Athos rolled his eyes.

"Don't involve me in this," Athos said. "Shoot him, and it's murder."

"One less Musketeer," said Dujon. "Who cares?"

"Fine words from a Red Guard."

"There's only one way to resolve this. A duel between gentlemen, supervised according to the strict code of honor."

And that strict code of honor was to never attack an unarmed person, which was against chivalry. However, Athos wanted to avoid a whole fight. They already had enough trouble with the Red Guards, so instead, he took a nearby item and hit Dujon in the right place as he fell to the ground.

"What happened to the code?" Porthos asked.

"Oh... Who has time?" Athos said, annoyed. He went on to business. "Treville wants to see us." Athos looked at Porthos' sleeve as he saw him grab the money and caught the King's card and smiled slightly at his friend. "Porthos."

"Yeah, I need to work on that." Porthos admitted. Athos looked around for the third of their trio.

"Where's Aramis?" Porthos sent him a knowing look. They both knew that he was having sex with the woman of the most powerful man in Paris. Athos shook his head.

"Tell me he's not that stupid!" Athos cried. However, both men knew that he was that stupid. When they got to Adele's house, they saw Aramis climbing out the window. Athos couldn't believe that he had done this again with Miss Bessette. The trio, known as the Inseparables, made their way back to the Garrison. Aramis had heard this conversation a thousand times, so it wasn't anything known when Athos and Porthos scolded him for going near that woman.

"Why not Adele?" Aramis asked.

"Oh, I don't know, let's think. Because she's the mistress of the most powerful man in France?" Porthos said sarcastically.

"Gentlemen, I love her," said Aramis.

"You love her?" Athos asked. "Or you love stealing what belongs to the Cardinal?"

Treville, standing on the balcony, beaconed the three men to come up to his office for their next mission.

(A/N: I am NOT making Cosette and Milady de Winter lovers because of the age difference)

Meanwhile, Cosette felt that someone was watching her when she got to Paris. Entering the inn, she met a strange woman, a woman who was both mysterious and beautiful. That woman stroked up a conversation with Cosette, ignoring her husband. After revealing her secret, as Cosette could trust another woman, she saw the scars on her neck.

"What happened, Anne?" Cosette asked.

"The man I loved tried to murder me," Anne said.

"Say the word, and I'll kill him for you," Cosette said. Anne laughed.

"You've spirit child," Anne said. "I might hold you up on that one day.

"Yes, as long as you tell no one that I'm a girl," Cosette said.

"Of course, we women need to stick together, don't we, Cosette?" Anne said with a smile.

Cosette and Anne never saw each other again after that night, for when Cosette woke up, she found a bloody knife, Anne gone when she helped her into bed and walked out to a murdered man The teenager panicked when they thought she did it. That woman, Anne, framed her for murder. Cosette ran, and she ran really fast so no one would catch her. However, Cosette ran so fast that she accidentally collided with a young woman, probably a few years older than her.

"I'm sorry," Cosette said. "I didn't look where I was going."

She offered a hand to the young woman, who glared at Cosette.

"Well, you should watch next time," the young woman said.

"Apologies, Madamouiselle," Cosette apologized again.

"It's Madame," the woman corrected her. Cosette felt whoozy after her whole ordeal that she suddenly collapsed on the ground. Meanwhile, the young woman stood there shocked at the boy. However, Constance looked closely and noticed that the boy was ...wearing a corset? Then it came to Constance, this wasn't no boy, it was a girl. Constance was not a cruel woman, for she would willingly help an injured teenager. She took the young girl back to her husband's house and began tending to her. The girl woke up an hour later and slightly calmed down when Constance assured her that she was safe at her house. She was very much alarmed when the young woman exclaimed she knew that Cosette was not a boy but a girl.

"Why are you, a girl of fourteen, doing at Paris disguised as a boy?" Constance asked. Cosette looked up as Constance helped fasten her corset.

"Actually, I'm fifteen," Cosette said. She turned fifteen a couple of months ago. "My papa thought it was safer for me to travel under the name 'Charles d'Artagnan' and the age of eighteen, which is who I am pretending to be. Now, I must avenge his death. The Musketeer, Athos, murdered my father. Now, which way to the musketeers' garrison. When I challenge him, he won't laugh and take me seriously better as a man than a woman."

After the corset was put back on, Cosette took her other clothing, sword, and strapped its belt to her waist.

"You're in no shape to fight if that's what you're thinking of," Constance said. "I have three older brothers. Even though you're not a man, I see you have the same exact look in your eyes."

"Well, I'll tell you one thing, my two older sisters have the exact same look in their eyes," Cosette fired back. "And frankly, that's not your business."

"You made it my business when you fell at my feet."

"My apologies. I'm not always so ill-mannered. Might I enquire the name of my savior?"

"Bonacieux. Constance Bonacieux," Constance revealed.

"Pleasure. I trust you'll tell no one who I am," Cosette said. "I am not Cosette d'Artagnan. "

She took Constance's head shake of a yes as a promise not to reveal Cosette's identity.