It's the classic tale - but not exactly the way you remember it...Paris, France. 1625. A young woman named d'Artagnan bears the heart and the blade of a musketeer, but must prove herself before she can earn her rank and uniform.
The spy and assassin Milord de Winter advances an agenda of villainy and unbridled ambition, and will destroy anyone who gets in his way.
The so-called 'three inseparables' of the queens' musketeers - the noble Athos, the forthright Porthos, and the gentle Aramis - bond in friendship and love with d'Artagnan. But for all three, that love will be tested by fate and the unforgiving past.
The Queen Louise and the Queen Anne rule a France besieged by enemies - and threatened by Anne's affair of the heart with the Duke of Buckingham.
Monsieur de Treville, the captain of the musketeers, inspires the adulation of the soldiers who serve under him, and sees in the young d'Artagnan the potential for greatness.
The Count de Rochefort, killer and kidnapper, shows off his villainy with a cool demeanor and a well-shaped mustache.
Kitty, the young valet of Milord de Winter, quietly collects intelligence on the malign deeds of her employer but knows she dare not threaten his power - until meeting d'Artagnan gives her a cause worth fighting for.
The young tailor Constance, agent of the Queen Anne, must navigate the dangerous ground of the queen's forbidden romance - even as she navigates an unexpected romance of her own when d'Artagnan falls head over heels in love with her.
And in the shadows, the Cardinal de Richelieu pulls the strings that control the fates of royals and assassins, lovers and soldiers, as their eminence seeks to control the future of France at any cost...
The full William Robson translation of the classic novel of romance, intrigue, and adventure by Alexandre Dumas, pere, and Auguste Maquet.
Edited and updated by Scott Fitzgerald Gray. Illustrated by Aviv Or.
Scott Fitzgerald Gray (he/him; 9th-level layabout, vindictive good) is a writer of fantasy and speculative fiction, a fiction editor, a story editor, and an editor and designer of roleplaying games - all of which means he finally has the job he really wanted when he was sixteen. He shares his life in the Canadian hinterland with a schoolteacher, two itinerant daughters, and a number of animal companions. More info on him and his work (some of it occasionally truthful) can be found by reading between the lines at insaneangel.com.
Aviv Or (she/her) is a UK-based freelance illustrator with a passion for character art. Her work in the tabletop game industry includes titles like Thornwatch, Acquisitions Incorporated, and the Jane Austen roleplaying game Good Society, and she is the co-creator of the webcomic and RPG Crystal Heart. She doesn't know much about nineteenth-century literature, but enjoys a good swashing of buckles. You can see her work at www.avivor.com, and at the webcomic uptofourplayers.com.
