The cardinal's musketeer

In a narrow, centuries‑old lane of Paris, the clockmaker’s shop of Jacques des Horloges stands as a miniature museum of ticking marvels. The cramped rooms are filled with brass gears, jeweled watches and a whimsical clock that releases twelve miniature horsemen on the hour, captivating the adopted boy Péron who lives above the workshop. Jacques, a respected craftsman who once supplied the Louvre’s timepieces, shares his world of precision and wonder with his wife, their cat M. de Turenne, and the curious youth who roams the shop’s hidden corners.

Beneath the shop’s modest façade lies a secret garret, accessible only through a concealed trap‑door and a stone staircase that climbs to the roof. When a mysterious commission from the powerful Cardinal arrives, Péron is drawn into a web of intrigue that links the delicate mechanisms of the clocks to a larger, shadowy plot. The first act sets the stage for a tale where loyalty, invention, and danger intertwine on the cobbled streets of old Paris.