When we left our heroes, Katerina was hot on the trail of the mysterious hooded lady. She stayed close behind her, staying out of sight, until the lady lead her to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. There Katerina saw her meeting with Cardinal Richlieu, and handing over the bundle of letters. This was more than Katerina could stand, and she burst into the room, telling the lady that they had to discuss a bar bill. Her animal passions awakened, she hurled herself at the Cardinal, snatching the letters from him and standing there laughing in victory.
It took her a moment to realise the Cardinal's guards were closing in on her. Ahh well. Time for a dramatic chase through the streets.
Meanwhile, Renée was following Guiton the Huguenot back to her lodgings. Noticing that there were a number of toughs hanging around in the streets outside, and having been working on her dramatic entrances recently, she decided to quickly scale the outside of the building. Guiton looked away from the window for a few moments, and when she looked back, the window was open, framing the crouched form of Renée.
Guiton scrambled for a knife, but Renée was unfazed. Mentioning her protection didn't help much either, as Renée dismissed the group of toughs outside. Except...Guiton didn't know anything about them.
Arsene had extracted himself from the bear fighting ring at the first possible opportunity and followed Renée. He also spotted the toughs in the alleyway, but unlike Renée, he recognised them. His old friend Adrian and his gang. Adrian was pleased to see Arsene, and keen for him to join in their plan. They had been hired to make sure that Guiton didn't talk. They were pretty sure they could extract quite a lot of money from her for not killing her after beating her to a pulp.
A tough call for Arsene, who didn't want to be on the wrong side of Adrian, but couldn't betray his new friends. The people who accepted him for who he was, and believed he could be more than his past. Could he really let Adrian drag him back into old habits? In a moment he was joining Adrian as they headed up the stairs.
Renée heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs. There was no point arguing with Guiton about Huguenot rights any further just now. They had to get out. "Come with me if you want to live," she told Guiton, and took a running leap from the window that landed her on a nearby rooftop. She looked back, expecting Guiton to follow. But Guiton was standing in the window, looking down at the stones of the street below her, and looking terrified.
Did she have to convince Guiton that it was more dangerous to stay behind? Or make it more appealing to jump? Both. Both was good. After both the threat of encountering the thugs alone, and the promise of a kiss, Guiton jumped. Renée caught her in her arms, and the two of them kissed, silhouetted against the rising full moon behind them.
Arsene kept pace with Adrian up the stairs, and hearing Renée's voice, he knew what he had to do. He drew his cane and turned on Adrian, holding him back for long enough for Guiton to make her escape. With Adrian defeated, Arsene made his own exit, leaping with catlike grace and landing on the rooftop with his cape billowing in the wind.
The three of them met up with Katerina again at Renée's lodgings. Monique wasn't there, but Renée soon found the note she had left saying she had returned to the palace. Katerina was still angry about the Cardinal and the letters, which she had read on the way, and found herself snatching up Renée's Bible and tearing it in half, to the absolute horror of Renée.
Arsene, experienced in dealing with these two idiots, quietly removed Guiton from the room and left them to sort things out. Which they did, over a glass of Cognac and Renée's insistence that Katerina could buy her a new Bible. And a new bottle of Cognac.
There was still the matter of the letters to deal with. Should they be destroyed, or returned to the Queen Consort? Things had been complicated somewhat by Katerina having blurted out their contents in front of Guiton, who as a Huguenot probably wasn't a good person to be aware of such things. But they decided on a trip to the palace.
How were they going to get in unhindered? None of them really wanted to explain what was going on, and having lost Guiton somewhere along the way wasn't particularly reassuring. Katerina had an idea though. Jussac was there, and she was quite keen to continue their aquaintance. An excellent distraction while the other two made their way inside.
Unfortunately it wasn't quite that simple. While Katerina's distraction went off as planned, Renée soon encountered a distraction of her own. A terrified looking Monique was being bundled into a carriage. Renée gave chase at once, but couldn't stop the driver, and the carriage began to move with Monique inside.
What is happening to Monique? What is the Cardinal planning? What will Guiton do with the new information she's learned? Only time will tell.
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