"I have never valued hatred," says Aramis when her tale is done. "The God I believe in stands for love, not cruelty, and I seek to honor Him above all. I cannot imagine a life spent chasing power, treading so many beneath me in the name of vengeance." And, privately, he knows it is possible it was not he who warped this code into something so hateful, but it would be hubris to assume he could not fall.

"Any man may fall," he says aloud. "And every man stands on the precipice. I have felt grief, Allison, and keenly." After Isabel, after their child, after Marsac and so many of his poor brothers in Savoy, and each time it nearly claimed him, but Aramis has not fallen yet. With Porthos by his side, perhaps he never will, and he will not fall for the jagged scar on his throat, either. "And I believe in honor, but honor is not the same as pride. The honor to which I swore fealty honors good acts, by any hand, be they Musketeer or criminal or wolf."