Time Jumps. The Paradigm of Immortality. Vladimir Baranchikov
related to their future fate. Peter was not so optimistic and believed that although Louis XIV was not distinguished by vindictiveness, he would hardly put up with a rival in his person. The king’s attention to his wife was fraught with imminent danger for him.
However, unfortunately, events developed so rapidly that the de Burlemont couple was not ready for this. Confirmation of this was the night arrest of Peter on false evidence of high treason. Formally, these slanders had to be considered by the court, but there was no doubt that his fate was predetermined… You can get rid of the Comte de Burlemont by bricking him up in prison.
Two days later Daria was standing in front of the king, confident that His Majesty would listen to her words:
– Sire, let my husband stand trial, and then he will easily prove that he was the victim of erroneous accusations. The Count has never conspired against Your Majesty. He just couldn’t do it…
– I don’t understand you. Kindly express yourself more clearly, – Ludovic’s face assumed an interested expression.
– Sire, I will tell you a secret… a secret that any sane person can hardly believe. Nevertheless, without fear of being accused of mental illness or witchcraft, I beg you to listen to my words and not rush to reject them without due attention.
The contemptuous irony of the king did not bode well, but Daria continued.
– I am in despair, Sire. But the truth is that my husband and I are your guests from the future. We arrived in France from distant Russia during the reign of Your Majesty from the twenty-first century…
The King frowned and calmly said:
– I assumed that everything would come down to witchcraft and magic.
He headed for the exit, and then, stopping, addressed her:
– I can only promise to clarify some circumstances concerning your husband. I will ask you not to leave Paris for the next ten days.
Daria realized: apparently, the king had already decided for himself the fate of the count.
CHAPTER 9. PARTING
Thanks to the patronage of a nobleman from the royal entourage, who clearly sympathized with her, the Countess de Burlemont achieved the almost impossible: a meeting with Count Petronel in the Bastille prison, from which only a few came out alive, and dozens and hundreds of people disappeared without a trace, who got there only at the behest of the king, without any investigation or trial. In the very place that was terrifying only at the mention of him.
At noon on the twenty-third of July, the carriage with the Comtesse de Burlemont stopped not far from the prison gates. The fortress was a huge quadrangle with eight towers twenty meters high and a deep moat. A suspension bridge is thrown over a moat filled with water. After crossing the bridge to the gate, Daria handed the Duke’s letter to the commandant through the window. At least half an hour of agonizing waiting had passed when the bolts rattled and the heavy door, studded with metal strips, opened. Daria, dressed in a black robe and a black hat with a veil, followed two jailers through a narrow corridor with many bars with locks and went out into the courtyard of the building. Her escorts led her along a cobblestone path to one of the five-story towers, where another supervisor, a portly, gloomy-looking one, let her in. The two of them went down a narrow staircase to the underground chamber where Peter was imprisoned. Keys rattled, and the narrow door to the casemate opened.
– Fifteen minutes, – the fat man said triumphantly, reveling in his little power, and slammed the door from the outside, leaving the prisoner and the Countess alone.
When Daria crossed the threshold of this dungeon, she felt sick from the smells and darkness. Dampness permeated the walls and the floor, strewn here and there with straw on the cold sand. Peter was sitting on an iron bed attached to a long wall. Light penetrated into this room from the corridor through two narrow openings located at the very bottom of the door, and painted his prison uniform in gray tones.
– Petronel! Daria exclaimed and rushed to him in despair. The prisoner looked exhausted and depressed.
– Dorian! – Peter found the strength to hug her. Then he pulled away and stared in surprise at the beautiful face that reflected both the joy of meeting and the shock of what he saw. His voice, as before, remained as euphonious. – How did you get in here?
– My beloved, my heart breaks from what I see. My friends helped me arrange our meeting, I got an audience with the king and appealed to his Majesty for a sense of justice. You may be released soon, but it will be possible only by a court decision.
Peter listened attentively to Daria’s words, lowering his head. Then, looking at her as if he had seen her for the last time, and with a calmness that betrayed the full horror of his situation, he asked:
– Do you really believe I’m going to get out of here? The reason is not in me, but in your beauty and the brightness of the feelings that it causes. The king’s sympathy for a married woman is a death sentence not only for the Comte de Armand de Burlemont.
Peter looked at Daria and smiled. She was suddenly afraid.
– What should we do? – she exclaimed. There was no trace of her former determination. – Darling, I have revealed to the King the secret of our time travel, but it does not seem that such explanations could be taken seriously.
– If we don’t change the course of events, we won’t see each other again. – Peter spoke as if he had thought it over for a long time. – My fate is sealed, and no one can change it. Your fate as a favorite of Louis XIV is so unique and unpredictable that I have not the slightest right to ask you to give it up. Ahead of you is success in society, golden mountains, dangers and imminent oblivion. But there is another scenario…
– Which one? Daria exclaimed, experiencing conflicting feelings, but still sincerely wanting neither to leave nor to betray her beloved.
– We have the opportunity to return to the twenty-first century together. To return to where they came from, and, perhaps, by those who left that time. But – listen carefully – if only one person, you or I, decides to make a time jump, the car will move with him, and the second one will not be able to return. This is irreversible. I think you won’t judge me: I want to avoid death, so I’m flying. But you are free in your decision…
Daria sank down on the bed next to Peter without strength. After a short silence, she asked:
– I’m desperate to have to make such a cruel choice, because I only love you. But will you be able to understand and forgive me if I stay? It is unlikely that my words will soften the bitterness of separation, but I swear: the reason is not affection for someone, even if it can connect me with the king of France. I choose a Time and a way of life where, alas, there is no place for the person I adore, and no one can replace him for me. I may regret it later…
– I’ve already forgiven you, because I love you too. I will feel happy if your dream comes true, even when I leave you. Know, Dasha, that you are always with me: your eyes, your kindness, the feelings that you gave me…
– Petya, I will never forget you. And I’m sorry again…
She began to cry, clinging to his chest. The lock on the cell door grated, and the jailer, without wasting words, pointed to the countess with his hand to exit.
An hour later, when the Comtesse de Burlemont was safe in the Hotel du Beautrin, a prisoner disappeared from the Bastille fortress without a trace. When the loss was discovered, the commandant raised all the