Word Count: 48,059
Summary of Events:
Following the third skirmish in a week with the Mardeaux — who were sending steadily more numbers each time, but still coming out the losers — Étienne was summoned to Commandant Bouchard, who informed him that he would only be allowed to see his wife once every six weeks, starting that night. Aline worked in the kitchen, watching smoke billow from a fire that had been burning since before dawn; Adrien stopped by, curious about it, and when Aline had no information for him he went to investigate, and revealed to her that the arsenal — which held weapons and armour for the men of Trempré to use if the town came under attack — was what was on fire, which left Trempré effectively defenceless. As soon as the sun set Étienne set out for Beaudroit, where he found his wife very anxious, and to whom he gave a summary of the developments, including revealing the suspicion he and Commandant Bouchard had that the Mardeaux were after Beaudroit . . .
Excerpt of the Day:
“They are after Beaudroit?” Gisèle asked.
“Of course,” Étienne replied. “Why wouldn’t they be?”
Gisèle clutched Étienne, pressing her head into his shoulder. He could feel her anxiety. He leaned his head onto hers.
“The extra strength has been here one week, though,” Gisèle whispered. “Why did you not come? I feared you lost.”
“I am under punishment,” Étienne replied.
Gisèle released him and stared at him with extreme distress. “What have you done?”
“My absence while my unit was destroyed did not reflect well on my character to Comte Everard,” Étienne replied. “He accused us of Luxure.”
“But we are man and wife!” Gisèle protested.
“I told him that,” Étienne replied. “In fact, I lost my temper at him.”
“And that is why you are punished,” Gisèle said.
“In part,” Étienne replied, keeping his gaze down at his knees, where he’d dropped it when he’d confessed his loss of temper.
“In part?” Gisèle asked, soft fingers coaxing him to raise his head and turn it toward her. “What do you mean?”
“Commandant Bouchard is more devout than Commandant LeBlanc,” Étienne replied. “Although he agrees that love between a man and wife is not Luxure, he believes that I have faltered in my piety, and my commitment to the oath I swore to Duc Louis, he believes that my desire to love you is a master over me, that I lack total self control.”
“And so he is punishing you?” Gisèle asked.
“I see it that way,” Étienne replied. “Comte Everard had ordered me banned from seeing you for six months, and Commandant Bouchard has elected to amend that order in an effort to build up my self control so that I am master over my desire to love you.”
“How is he doing it?” Gisèle asked.
“After tonight I will not see you for six weeks, and again, for seven months,” Étienne replied. “Dependent upon my conduct, I may be allowed to see you every three weeks thereafter, but he refuses to let me see you more often than every fortnight, and if he finds my conduct to be poor he will increase the amount of time between our visits in an effort to force self control onto me.”
Gisèle looked somewhat saddened. She looked up at him. “You gave an oath to fight.”
“I know,” Étienne replied. “It is not easy, though, to think of being apart from you for so long.”
Nodding, Gisèle moved in close and kissed his lips softly. “Let us not waste what we are given then.”
Étienne rose to his feet, snatched his wife into his arms, and kissed her passionately, he had no intentions of wasting a second of this night, he wanted as many seconds to treasure over the next six weeks as possible.
Pronunciations:
Gisèle: zhihzehl'
Luxure: luhkzyuhr
LeBlanc: lehblahnk
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