#robespierre tw | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lanterne · 2 years

Text

So um... themidorian propaganda 🤡

it must be very odd to run into people on tumblr defending Robespierre saying that calling him a mass murderer is "thermidorian propaganda". So let's unpack that.

Thermidorian propaganda is, long story short, a series of made up or distorted facts about the politics of year II (1793/94, like, the terror) and specially about Robespierre. We all know propaganda is supposed to push an agenda, it's usually financed by an entity. With thermidorian propaganda is hard to tell because the people who had anything to gain from painting Robespierre as a monster are long dead, but somehow it still gets parroted to this day by non-specialists and reproduced in fiction and pop culture.

In this post I'm going to focus on the original thermidorian propaganda that came out immediately after Robespierre’s death. I hope, if real life allows me, this to be the first post of a series. I must clarify I’m not a historian so there will be inacuracies, this is just a casual, funny and quick intro to the subject, so if I succeed in picking your interest, I strongly encourage you to do your own research with real academic sources and draw your own conclusions. Also I’d like to thank @frevandrest and @tierseta for their corrections and suggestions! Also I relied a lot on @rbzpr, specially this post that compiles a lot of primary sources about the propaganda.

Year II (1793-1794) speedrun

Robespierre's real role during the terror

To understand what even was the terror about, you need to know that there was an external war against all the monarchies of Europe and simultaneously, an internal war against counterrevolutionary forces like vendean revels and federalists. To even have a chance for the republic to survive, the national convention declared that the government would be “revolutionary until peace” which means that there would be a state of emergency, which suspended certain freedoms until peacetime. Some of the emergency measures were the suspension of the constitution of 1793, the infamous law of suspects and general maximum, the limitation of freedom of press and the institution of representatives on mission, deputies of the convention that were sent to the provinces to watch over military operations and had the authority to do whatever they wanted.

Robespierre in 1793 was elected to the Committee of Public Safety. The CPS was the convention’s executive branch and pretty much a war cabinet with dictatorial powers (in theory, but in practice everything they did had to be approved by the convention). Its purpose was to take measures to win the war against all of Europe, keep everyone fed and crush counterrevolution. They didn’t have a “director” or anything like that, the twelve had equal authority. Besides, the CPS was full of deeply confrontational, clashing personalities that weren’t exactly fond of Robespierre, so it’s not like he could dominate over them. (Twelve who Ruled by R.R. Palmer gives you a good idea of their dynamic and boy did they hate each other)

Despite this, Robespierre was the most famous member; so he became the de facto face of the CPS and it was assumed outside of France that he had control over the republic, which was portrayed by the monarchies as a barbaric mess, and that impression lives on.

I hope to make this very clear: Robespierre wasn’t as powerful and didn’t have as much control of the situation as bad school texts will make us believe. Nobody did, the situation during the terror really was that chaotic. By the summer of 1794, known today as the Great Terror, Robespierre’s popularity and influence on the goverment was weakened compared to that it was before (I’ll elaborate why soon).

The excesses of year II and who made them

The deputies that became the future thermidorians, for the most part, were ultra radicals from the mountain (the far left party that was most influential in the convention and Robespierre himself was a part of) who had been sent to the provinces as representatives in mission to crush counterrevolution or supervise the army. Some of them committed some atrocious war crimes, brutally executing thousands of people. Robespierre was appalled, had them recalled and spent the rest of his life antagonizing them because he didn’t have the authority to bring them to justice.

For example, Collot d’Herbois, fellow CPS member, who shot people with cannons full of shrapnel as a representative on mission in Lyons alongside Joseph Fouché, used his authority to counteract Robespierre’s attempts to hold him or the other representatives on mission accountable. Still Robespierre had them on his radar to punish them as soon as he had the opportunity and they had him on their radar fearing that he would use his popularity against them at any moment. Some of them tried to bootlick him and get on his good side, but their actions were so repulsive to him he refused any kind of compromise.

Other important details

The idea that Robespierre was aspiring for a dictatorship comes from way earlier. In November 1792, a girodin named Louvet accused him of such and wanting to form a triumvirate with Danton and Marat. Robespierre defended himself well and the idea was discredited, only to be recycled during thermidor when the surviving girondins came back to the convention (the girondins another long story lmao)

The idea that Robespierre was some kind of blood drinking monster also started even before the man even did anything wrong. His radical ideals about giving voting rights to minorities like jews and protestants, to men that didn't own property, to free black people, him speaking out against slavery, against the inviolability of the king, the royal veto, etc… it genuinely pissed off a lot of people

This is a huge tangent but it’s relevant because it’s the origin of Robespierre’s supposed God-complex. So, if you have heard about the decristianization hysteria that was going on during the terror, Robespierre was hostile to it actually, and thought the state needed some kind of religion to hold it together, which is funny since a lot of people nowadays believe he was an atheist. To put a stop to it and reinforce the freedom of cults, he proposed that the French Republic must recognize the cult of “Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul” as a compromise between religion and secular patriotic worship. To clarify, this isn’t some religion Robespierre made up out of nowhere, it was influenced by Rousseau’s deist ideas and civic festivals (More on that in Mathiez essay about The Supreme Being in The Fall of Robespierre). The project was a success at the time, but his militant atheist coworkers couldn't forgive him for it and went out of their way to use it against him later. Thus the Committee of General Security put together a report (with fabricated evidence and all!) in which they tried to link him to a wacky but harmless and obscure cult that prophesied the coming of a messiah, implying that it was Robespierre, with the purpose to ridicule him.

The infamous Prairial law (here's a post explaining it better than I ever could). This law, which streamlined processes and executions and centralized them in Paris, removed the deputies immunity which would enable Robespierre to go after the aforementioned war criminals' heads. However, Robespierre cut ties with the CPS after a fight with the other members and disappeared from the government, leaving the law in the hands of people who abused it, like the Committee of General Security and public prosecutor Fouquier-Tinville (who also had beef with Robespierre). In fact you don't see many arrests signed by Robespierre during this time, that later became considered to be the Great Terror, while his coworkers, like Carnot or Barère, were very trigger happy using this law to say the least.

Robespierre's fall

So, Robespierre goes rogue against the CPS and disappears from the government for more than a month. There was an attempt at reconciliation that Robespierre completely rejected when the 8th thermidor he returns and causes a commotion with an emotional and disjointed speech in which he expresses his despair about the gory state of the revolution and vagues the violent deputies, but refuses to give their names. The speech is definitely not his best and you can tell he’s not ok, but it has some raw, revealing lines like:

“Anyway, voilà within less than six weeks that my dictatorship is expired, and that I didn’t have any kind of influence on the government. Has patriotism been more protected? the factions more timid, the patrie happier? I would wish so”

Or my personal favorite:

"They call me tyrant… If I would be one, they would crawl at my feet, I would stuff them with gold, I would ensure them the right to commit all the crimes, and they would be grateful.”

Fouché and others took advantage of his vagueness to convince half of the convention that he was targeting them and aspiring for a power grab.

Jean Lambert Tallien, a young deputy who had participated in bloody repressions in Bordeaux, conspired with his then girlfriend Thérese Cabarrus who was in prison, starts the reaction the next day by interrupting SJ's speech trying to mitigate the mess Robespierre caused the previous day. Later Tallien becomes instrumental in building the narrative to justify Robespierre’s murder and create the concept of the Reign of Terror.

The first batch of Thermidorian propaganda

The accusations against Robespierre were vague and contradictory… and calling them accusations is kind of generous because they were mostly people yelling vague grievances against him, nothing official or legal. The ultra radicals accused Robespierre of not being enough of a terrorist. The moderates of being too much of a terrorist. The funniest example of this dichotomy was when Billaud-Varenne (CPS member) accused him of, I shit you not, protesting against arresting Danton and another guy shouting "the blood of Danton chokes you" during the session. Anyway, Robespierre was declared an outlaw and executed with no trial and at least a hundred of his followers were dragged with him to the scaffold. Ironically, the day after Robespierre’s death saw the highest number of people guillotined in a single day in all of the terror. I need to empathize that he was guillotined without a trial, because while the revolutionary tribunal could be a kangaroo court sometimes, at least they kept registries of what someone was being accused of, Robespierre didn’t even go through it so his imputed crimes remained very vague and open to add shit later. So the next day Barére showed up with a report and fabricated evidence about how Robespierre was conspiring with his close supporters to crown himself king.

Some time later Tallien came up to the convention with a speech about how what had happened the past year had been a Reign Of Terror, that Robespierre bullied a congress of 700 something men into doing whatever he wanted, that every single bad thing that happened, all the unnecessary bloodshed was exclusively Robespierre’s fault. Boohoo, Robespierre poisoned our water supply, burned our crops and delivered a plague upon the republic and he did all himself.

The thermidorian convention, with the press of the time, made sure to run the robespierrists' names through the mud and scapegoat them of their own excesses. A massive amount of libelous pamphlets against Robespierre were circulating circa 1795-1799, portraying him as some kind of gangster-sultan-pimp tyrant monster with a secret castle and lots of money and chicks, which is hilarious in hindsight since all his stuff sold for like… 300 francs, but at the time people ate it up.

Here's some of my personal favorites because original thermidorian propaganda was seriously wacky (and let’s make it fun by rating it)

✨highlights✨

Apparently, Robespierre wished to marry Louis' eldest child to crown himself king. I’d rate it higher for the creativity but she was a literal teenager ewww. 3/10

Courtois report: Courtois was in charge of going through the robespierrists papers and of course he suppressed and twisted a lot of evidence. He collected his "findings" in a report for the convention. Thanks to this guy most of Robespierre’s correspondence is lost. 🤡 -4563456435/10

La vie de Robespierre: I haven’t read this one so what I know comes from secondary sources, but it’s worth mentioning because it’s one of the first biographies of Robespierre ever written, by his own school teacher, the abbot Proyart, who became a royalist émigré during the revolution. It’s such a mess, he makes normal things children do sound malignant when little Maximilien did them. He’s also the source of the legend that Robespierre read a poem for Louis XVI as a kid, which Hervé Leuwers debunked in his Robespierre bio. 5/10 because apparently his beef with Robespierre (besides the whole revolution thing) was that he wouldn't say hi to him during vacations. Petty as hell.

Le chat-tigre: the description that Robespierre resembled a cat comes from a pamphlet published by Merlin de Thionville. This one is key because it deviates from the common view of the time of Robespierre as a morally corrupt orgy-frequenter, and portrays him as a dull, emotionless incel, which is closer to the way thermidorian propaganda reads like today. It also has this hysterical line: “History will say little about this monster”. Anyway Merlin called Robespierre a catboy unironically so I rate it meow/10

La queue de Robespierre (Robespierre's tail). This pamphlet by Méhée de la Touché is interesting because it goes after certain thermidorians like Barère, Collot and Billaud, foreshadowing how the whole thing would soon backfire on them. Also the title is a dick joke, so, 10/10.

These two engravings. 760936/10

This whole-ass painting of Robespierre straight up ruling over hell

My absolute favorite: this one is from later when the whole mountain was purged from the convention (so there's lots of thermidorians here too). There’s so much happening here. The snakes, the bats, the be gay do crimes skeletons, and the whole gang is there, looking like smurfs. It’s beautiful. 1793/10

But why spread so many lies about a dead man? They had to do it, you see, they had to gaslight the entire nation as much as possible, the ultras to avoid accountability and the moderates to discredit the democratic ideals that he represented so they could pass shit like the constitution of year III. This has effects on historiography to this day (but let's not get ahead of ourselves).

Thermidor backfires

With some exceptions, who ended up becoming Napoleon’s ministers, they did not avoid accountability...

Some of the original thermidorians were radicals who believed in the jacobin ideals of year II and just thought, sincerely or not, that Robespierre was aspiring for dictatorship, and the ones who had done war crimes as representatives on mission seemed to genuinely believe they were justified to do so and had to defend themselves when they were used against them.

Some of them weren’t expecting that after purging and persecuting Robespierre’s supporters, the mountain would be weakened and that the national convention would take a turn to the right when they brought back a bunch of girondins. What was left of the mountain wanted to keep the progress towards a more egalitarian society made in year II. Some of the right wingers like Boissy d’Anglas took credit for Robespierre’s fall and influenced the convention to become more reactionary. Some of the montagnards got guillotined for their crimes against humanity, like Carrier (the infamous dude who drowned thousands of people in the Loire - also a massive thermidorian, because of course he was), while most were exiled to Guyana.

Decades later during the Bourbon restoration, former Montagnards and members of the CPS like Billaud and Barère, came to regret bitterly what they did to Robespierre, his memory and the Republic, and admitted to having lied about him.

Conclusion

It’s not a secret to anyone that the French Revolution was extremely brutal and nobody is denying it (and that’s without counting what happened after Robespierre’s death). Donald Greer in The incidence of the terror during the french revolution estimates a death toll of 35.000-40.000, which includes not just people sentenced to death (which he estimates between 16.000-17.000), but people massacred without a trial by these representatives on mission I spoke about, people who died of disease in prisons, etc.

The executions by guillotine, that Robespierre came to represent, were just one aspect of it, an aspect that has become iconic in pop culture and exaggerated to death. The Jacobins weren’t executing people just for being nobles, in fact, there were some former nobles in the government and more commoners were executed than nobles. All those 17k death sentences weren’t signed or approved by Robespierre personally, and while Robespierre was powerful in theory as a member of the committee of public safety, he had very little control of the situation. And it's not like he was an innocent little angel, he had blood on his hands but so did everyone back then, and his reputation is very disproportionate to what he actually did.

And yet, we’re taught in schools and in media that he was single-handely the supreme authority who did whatever he wanted and we never hear about the people that got him killed, what they were up to during the terror and how they straight up scapegoated this man to escape accountability for their crimes against humanity. But why though? Shouldn’t that be common knowledge by now, more than two centuries later?

Next part, if I can do it, I hope I can cover how thermidorian propaganda evolved to what it is today. Still this is a subject I only have general notions about and haven’t read about extensively so I’ll take a while to write the post, but it should be fun to research as it was fun (and infuriating) to research this.

Salut & fraternité and... happy birthday Robespierre!!! :-) My present is posting about how you got murdered and slandered I guess lmao.

#frev #Robespierre #Gore imagery #Tw violence #Reign of terror

886 notes · View notes

edupunkn00b · 1 year

Text

French Kiss: Tale of the Revolution, Ch. 14: The Road Back

Colorized version of Fighting at the Hotel de Ville, 28th July 1830 by Jean Victor Schnetz. (embedded image description)

Prev - The Road Back - Next - Masterpost - [ AO3 ]

Logan leaned heavily against the side of the carriage, arms crossed over his chest. He’d angled the horses so they could wait in the shade until Janus to finally emerged. He kept one eye on the path from the palace entrance, the other on the steady march of the sun up to its late-June zenith. Janus, or rather, Patton, had gotten word to him that Janus had news to share and would finally be returning to him Paris. The message had said Janus would depart in the morning, so Logan had risen before the sun and made the journey out to Versailles, ensuring time for the horses to rest before the trip back in the hottest part of the day.

Patton had met him at the stables when he’d gone to water and rub down the horses. At first sight, the sweet little server had run up and flung his arms around him. “Oh, Logan, here, sit down.” He’d ushered Logan down onto a bench and pressed a cup of water into his hands.

“Really, Patton, I am quite alright,” Logan began, rising from his seat.

Patton stopped him with a gentle but firm hand on his shoulder. “Sit, if you please,” he murmured. “I'll care for the horses.” Logan’s resolve melted and he sat back, leaning heavily against the stable wall. He sipped at his water and covered Patton’s hand with his own.

“Thank you, Patton,” he murmured. The little server’s hand was warm, but not uncomfortably so and, with a pang, Logan realized just how much he’d missed the young man's sunny optimism.

“Oh, look out,” a passing stable hand muttered. “Prince Roman wouldn’t like to see you holding hands with his latest favorite.” He snickered and made a lewd gesture behind Patton’s back. “They say he doesn’t like to share.”

Logan’s head jerked up, eyes wide as he stared at Patton in alarm, but the little server shook his head, cheeks pinker than usual. “Only gossip. Prince Roman has been kind to me, little gifts of cakes and fruit. But that’s all it is.” He smiled and patted Logan’s shoulder as he stood. “Finish your water and I’ll get you more. You can tell me all about what happened in Paris when the assembly was dismissed.”

“Yes," he signed heavily. "There was… talk of marching to the King and demanding an audience. With or without his head attached to his body,” Logan began, voice low. “I managed to convince the loudest of them, Colére, to back down and reconsider the ramifications, but…” He sighed again and slumped against the wall for a moment. “It’s not going to take much to boil over.”

“We’ll just need to get a win, then, won’t we?” Patton looked up and shook out the towel he’d used on the horses and drew them over to a trough filled with clean water. “Go ahead, you two, have a good drink there,” he cooed at the beasts that dwarfed him.

Sidling close to Logan’s bench, Patton sat next to him. He gave Logan a little shrug, even the dark discussion unable to dull his optimistic grin. “We might be getting somewhere with Prince Remus.”

“What have you heard?” Logan asked, letting the horses’ nickering and sloshing in the water cover his words.

Patton grinned up at Logan. “It’s not what I’ve been hearing, but what Janus has."

The dissolution of the Assembly had led to a flurry of meetings between the King, Prince Remus, and the various ministers and advisors. Twice Patton had been assigned to stock the former King’s listening room and dutifully avoided meeting Janus’ eyes when he’d found him there, quill flying across his parchment, covering page upon page with the details of their discussions, schemes and counterpoints.

“He’s bringing it all with him to Paris,” he nodded, bouncing curls backlit with the hot midday sun just outside.

"How did he manage that?" It was all too good to be true.

“I think…” Patton traced the footprints in the dirt with his heel. ”I think that’s the why he’s asked to return so early.”

“Early!?” Logan sputtered. “He’s been gone for a fortnight!”

Patton’s smile was gentle as he covered Logan’s hand with his own. “It feels early to him. And to the Prince, I would expect.”

~~~

Logan’s head jerked up, ripped from his reverie by the sound of footsteps on gravel. He peered down the path and smiled, the icy iron bands that had wrapped around his chest since Janus stepped into the castle two weeks ago finally loosening. Though the figure was still too far away to see clearly, Logan saw that delicate stride in his dreams.

As Janus drew nearer, sunlight played across his features, and Logan was amazed as he always was at the way Janus managed to bring life to the painted corpse look so popular among the aristocracy. Though his lips and cheeks were dyed a most unnatural red, the upturned corners, the little quirk in his eyebrow, the light in his eyes… No amount of artificial makeup could hide that.

Janus’ smile was softer, more… more genuine than Logan had seen in a long, long time. His footsteps skipped over the gravel as he turned to look over his shoulder, casting a brighter smile and a little finger-waggle wave at a lower window. Janus lingered for a long moment before finally turning back, his cheeks impossibly brighter. His smile stiffened, for a just moment, when he caught sight of Logan.

He seemed to recover quickly, though, and by the time he’d reached the carriage, he hummed a light tune and passed his bag to Logan. Playing his part, the former priest bowed his head and accepted the heavy satchel with one hand and opened the carriage door with the other. “It is so good to see you again, Janus.” He kept his voice low so it wouldn’t carry back to the palace as he helped Janus into the cab. Even so, his voice cracked and warbled, surely just a bit of fatigue from the long journey and another poor night’s sleep. Once Janus was settled, he leaned over the window sash and pointed at the travel case already inside. “I brought your own clothes and face tonic,” He smiled up at Janus, convincing himself it was his fatigue that saw hesitancy in his friend’s hands as he reached for the bag. “You can get back to yourself. Patton’s waiting for us just past the last gate,” he whispered just before snapping the brogue foot shut. “He’s gotten quite familiar with the surrounding woods during your visit.”

“That’s very fortunate,” Janus murmured from the darkened cab. “And… thank you,” he added, smoothing down his waistcoat. “It will be good to discuss everything that’s transpired.” Logan’s eyes caught on Janus’ new silk gloves and the glint of gold peeking out from beneath his sleeve. The rest of his clothing and the buttery soft leather satchel Logan now carried were also new.

As was the light red mark just under Janus’ jaw, ill-concealed by his face powder.

“Indeed,” Logan murmured before he climbed up to the driver’s perch and urged the horses back down the path and away from Versailles.

~~~

A hundred or so yards past the last gate, Logan spotted Patton’s signal, that slightly too-regular to be natural dotted line of white stones along the edge of the path. He stopped the carriage and Patton’s cheerful face emerged from the thicket. “Thought that was you, Petit,” he murmured to the taller horse, stretching to scratch around her harness. The other horse snuffled at the wrapped package slung across his body with twine. “That’s not for you, Naif,” he smiled and favored the other beast with a pet as well. “That’s for Logan,” he murmured, laughter in his voice.

“Hey there, Logan,” he cheered quietly once he’d clambered up onto the driver’s perch. “Thanks for the ride,” he chuckled at his repeated joke once he’d settled. “I brought you something.” He set the hefty package between them on the bench. “Some bread and cheese and that jambon sec you like. Oh! And fresh fruit.” He reached into the large pocket on the side of his trouser leg and retrieved a small bottle of wine. “And another of these to share,” he said with a sheepish smile. “Prince Roman was very generous when he heard I was heading out for errands,” Patton smiled, blushing.

“This appears to be more than generosity,” Logan began carefully, frowning at the bounty Patton carried, the stable hand's words about the prince's favorite echoing in his ears.

“He fancies me,” Patton said matter-of-factly as he took the reins from Logan’s hands. “But he’s been respectful and has emphasized he expects nothing in return but my consideration.” He grinned at Logan, nudging the packet of food closer to him. “No need to worry, Logan, you know where my heart lies.”

The grumble in Logan’s stomach was likely audible to Patton, but he said nothing of it, instead he only grinned happily when Logan opened the packet and tore off a bit of the crusty loaf. “It’s still warm,” he murmured around a bite. They fell into a companionable quiet as he ate.

After several minutes, Janus slid open the tiny window between the driver’s perch and the compartment. His face shone, bright and clean, with a natural pink tinge on his cheeks and a slight darkening of his scar. “May I join you two?” he asked.

~~~

Janus waited until the carriage had turned away from the palace before he slowly removed the change of clothes Logan had so thoughtfully packed for him. He picked up his once-familiar breeches and blouse, the plain linen waistcoat he’d once been so proud of. He traced the seams, counting the buttons, almost reminding himself of his ordinary clothes. His ordinary life.

After he carefully unbuttoned the finery Prince Remus had given him and slipped it off, he smoothed down the brocaded silk, then folded and tucked it into the case. He dressed slowly, waiting until he had removed the fine silks to take off his wig and make-up. By the time he was done, Logan had already stopped the carriage and picked up Patton and he’d half-listening to their conversation as he dressed.

He nodded to himself when Patton mentioned Roman. The younger prince's interest had been obvious, and, as much as Janus could without revealing who the little blond server really was, had asked Remus what he knew. Apparently Roman said in private to his brother everything he’d said to Patton. Janus had pledged to himself to keep an eye on the younger prince, but had neither seen nor heard anything untoward.

He slid open the little window and smiled out at them. Out of his court clothing and back in his softer, sturdier wear, Janus was slowly getting back to himself. But each squeaking turn of the carriage wheels seemed to announce the growing distance between him and Remus, and it had become strikingly lonely in the compartment.

“May I join you?”

Logan covered his mouth with a napkin, and nodded rapidly. Patton eased the horses to a stop and Logan leapt down to open the carriage. “There’s no need to serve me out here, Lo,” Janus murmured, accepting his outstretched hand with a small squeeze. “Though I do appreciate it,” he quickly added when Logan's grip loosened and he looked away. At his words, his friend’s face shone again, clouds clearing after a storm.

The three men made room for each other on driver’s perch, with Patton insisting he keep the reins for a while. Sandwiched between them, he nodded to Janus. “It looked like you were privy to some interesting information,” he prompted and turned to Logan. “I can't count the number of times I saw you in the old King's listening room." He grinned at Janus, seemingly guileless eyes dancing. “How did you manage that?”

“Is this… is this true? It's not an exaggeration?” Logan reached across Patton to touch his hand, pride and hope painting his face. “You truly have earned his trust.”

“Well, y—yes,” Janus began. This wasn’t how he’d meant to tell Logan everything that had happened. To be sure, he hadn’t been certain how he was going to explain, but Patton’s exuberance seemed to have made the decision for him. “I… I demonstrated how much I trusted him, I suppose,” he said vaguely.

Logan’s hand on his stiffened. “What does that mean, Janus?” he asked, his earlier optimism hardening.

“I… Well, he saw my face. My scar and…” Janus’ voice trailed off. This was even more difficult than he’d expected.

“You were intimate,” Logan said, eyes flicking away from the few marks Janus had attempted to keep covered.

“Yes,” Janus nodded. Patton was silent, hands tight on the reins, tight enough Janus heard the leather crack. “And…”

“And?” Logan’s voice shook. They had not discussed this, they had not planned this. The scowl behind his words evidence that when Logan had assured him he would not pressure him into violating his own comfort for the cause, he hadn’t actually expected him to sleep with the Prince.

“And I told him my name.”

“You what?” Logan’s shout startled a family of rabbits browsing in the grass and he stood, wobbling on the perch to peer down the road behind them. Patton shifted the reins to one hand and reached for Logan’s arm, steadying him. “Are you completely mad? Impersonating a nobleman is grounds for execution!”

“Remus would never—”

“Oh, Remus. So much for 'The Prince.'" Logan's mocking tone seared his ears. "I suppose once you share his bed you might as well use his first name like he was some harlot you’d wrestled between the sheets.”

“Logan,” Patton hissed, but he continued as though he hadn’t heard.

“I cannot believe you would jeopardize the movement, jeopardize the mission, jeopardize your own safety simply because a pretty face looked your way!” He sat back down and glared at Janus over Patton’s head. “All soft words and kisses until he’s sucking on your neck!”

“Now, Logan, let’s—” Patton tried again.

“Or perhaps the pleasures of the flesh matter more to you than—”

“Logan!” Patton shouted and everyone froze. Even the horses stopped short, stamping their feet and snorting nervously.

“Janus, I—” Logan’s mouth worked but made no sound. Janus stared back at him, his scar tight and hot. The fire, the outrage he knew simmered beneath his friend's reasoned demeanor burned as it splashed over him. Patton avoided both their eyes and made quiet clicking sounds at the horses, calming them. Logan hung his head for a long moment before finally meeting Janus’ gaze. His eyes were glassy with tears. Janus looked away. “I apologize, Janus, I—I—I… I have no excuse, that was—I was…”

“Perhaps it would be better for everyone if I rode in the carriage the rest of the way,” Janus finally said without looking at either of them. Without another word, he slipped down from the perch and let himself into the riding compartment, snapping the door and the window shut right before his own tears fell.

#French Kiss: Tale of the Revolution #ts logan #ts janus #ts patton #ts remus #ts roman #sanders sides #french revolution #french revolution au #Father Logan Gérault #Janus Robespierre #Patton Cœur #Crown Prince Remus Capetian #Prince Roman Capetian #tw arguing #tw sex reference #back from the dead #i swear this story will end soon

10 notes · View notes