Francoise

**Francoise**: (Françoise), sometimes refered to as **Franchise** — First seen in Touch the Dark.

## Introduction

**Francoise** is the Witch that Cassie encountered and freed back in the 1700s.

## Introduction

**Francoise** is a character from the Cassandra Palmer series of novels. She doesn't have a last name because she was born a poor village girl in seventeenth century France. She doesn't have much of anything else, either, after being transported to the twenty-first century through a series of alarming events.

Well, that's not entirely true. She still has her magic—and while it's seriously outdated, at least the Inquisition isn't after her anymore. And she has a new boyfriend who would be perfect if he wasn't possessed by an ancient demon. But Francoise has learned the hard way—you have to take what you can get out of life. And she's busy taking everything she can. ~ Take A Chance: Gallery

## About

### Book Appearances

* Touch the Dark
* Claimed by Shadow
* Embrace the Night
* Curse the Dawn
* Hunt the Moon
* Tempt the Stars
* Reap the Wind
* Ride the Storm

### Species

* Human Witch
* Gypsy

### Physical Description

* light brown eyes

### Family

* Father: prison guard at Carcassonne
* Grandmother: powerful witch who cursed Louis-Cesare with vampirism
### Enemies

* Dark mages
* Fey

### Other Details

* She has Agnes's spirit co-habiting her body when Cassie meets her in Faerie.

## Biography

"She'd started life in seventeenth-century France, where she'd run into the Inquisition, which hadn't approved of witches so much. She'd eluded them, only to get dragged into Faerie against her will, by slavers trying to make a fast franc selling young witches to the Fey. The scars had occurred right before the kidnapping, and her purchaser, a Fey nobleman with a jealous wife, had not dared to heal them. She'd eventually escaped to the Dark Fey, who decided that she would be more useful as a slave than as a meal. They, of course, hadn't even noticed the scars. The whole adventure lasted only a few years from Françoise's perspective, but the Fey timeline isn't in sync with ours. By the time she managed to escape, the world she knew was long gone.
## Related Characters, Groups, Places, etc

* Louis-Cesare
* Cassandra Palmer
* Carcassonne
* Radella
* Agnes
* Tomas
* John Pritkin
* Randy
* Augustine
* Carcassonne
* Runes of Langgarn
* Portals
* Faerie

## Events Throughout the Series

This section may have spoilers. If you want to avoid spoilers, please don't read the summary for a book that you have not read yet. Think of the book title as a "Spoiler Warning".

### 1. Touch the Dark

✥ Cassie has a vision from inside Louis-Cesare's body. He wears a black velvet mask, is having sex with a young woman named Marie. A middle-aged woman with four guards enters, they drag him to the dungeon torture room where a young woman—**Francoise**—who has been tortured on a rack with too much blood having flowed from her body. The torturer set her in fire—Cassie witnesses it inside Louis-Cesare—inside his memory. When she returns from her vision, she tells Louis-Cesare what she saw—he's shocked, saying he would not have wished her to witness that.

✥ Françoise is discovered by Cassie locked in the power of a Magic Circle in Dante's basement, with some other witches—Tony is slaving witches to the Fey.

✥ Cassie has a second "vision" that returns her to Carcassonne, this time in spirit form with Tomas. Together the get Francoise out of the castle directed by the ghosts Etienne and Pierre. they end up taking her inadvertently to a cabin in which Louis-Cesare is being held.

✥ Françoise is among the three witches to stop and kill the Dark Mage that was about to kill Cassie. One of them went to the Silver Circle to testify about her captivity. She told them that one of the others recognized Cassie and insisted that they help her against the Dark Mage. John Pritkin, thinks those witches must be dark and under interdict by the Circle for their crimes or they would not have run off—and that they're in Cassie's service. Cassie denies knowing the witches or the Pixie and he doesn't believe her.

✥ After the second vision in which Cassie rescued Francoise, Louis-Cesare doesn't remember Francoise or her burning. He vaguely recalls a young gypsy, the daughter of one of the guards at the castle. She worked as a servant in order to save for her wedding to some young man.

"I never knew. I assumed her father thought we were becoming… too close, and had her sent away. I had something of a reputation in those days, and Françoise was one of the servants who regularly attended me. But I never touched her. I do not want a woman in my bed who is not there willingly. And a servant would have had little choice if I had… made advances. I would not have put her in such a position." — Louis-Cesare
✥ Billy Joe tells Cassie that the witch she saved at Carcassonne was abducted by a group of Dark Mages that same night. Cassie has Mircea tell Radu about her to save her from abduction by the mages.

### 2. Claimed by Shadow

Françoise had an Ogre carry Tomas into Cassie's cell to be healed. He main purpose it to have them together near the Portal. She tells her that Pritkin made a deal with Radella to cast Jera of the Runes of Langgarn (fertility rune) in exchange for helping them leave. Françoise makes Cassie promise to take her with her. She retuns to the cell without he raccent and acting completely unlike her. Cassie figures out it's not her. She is possessed by Agnes and has been since 1661 Carcassonne. Agnes was inside her when a group of Dark Mages kidnapped her and sold her to the Fey. Cassie is confused because Françoise saved her from a Dark Mage a week ago at Dante's. Agnes stopped her from saying anything, Fran can still hear her and didn't need to know her future. She darts through the portal—the Dark Fey King tells Radella to get her. During the height of the battle with the War Mages, Cassie thought she saw her bright green dress across the room while fireballs flew everywhere.

## Quotes

"Mon Dieu, you saw Françoise? ... My sincere apologies, mademoiselle. I would not have wished you to witness that, not for any cause." — Louis-Cesare
"You and le monsieur 'elped me once," she answered quickly. "I 'ave come, 'ow do you say? To return the favor.” — **Francoise**

## Notes

* Source for Images and Into: Author's site. The Artist is not credited I would name the artist.

## See Also

* Witches
* Slaving
* Faerie
* Fey
* Silver Circle

## Book References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Touch the Dark*, ch. 4
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Claimed by Shadow*, ch. 12
3. ↑ *Embrace the Night*, ch.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Touch the Dark*, ch. 7
5. ↑ *Touch the Dark*, ch. 8
6. ↑ *Touch the Dark*, ch. 9
7. ↑ *Touch the Dark*, ch. 10
8. ↑ *Touch the Dark*, ch. 11
9. ↑ *Touch the Dark*, ch. 14
10. ↑ *Claimed by Shadow*, ch. 11
11. ↑ *Claimed by Shadow*, ch. 13
12. ↑ *Claimed by Shadow*, ch. 12

## External Links

**Specific Links**

**General Links**:

* Take A Chance: Gallery
* Cassandra Palmer series - Urban Fantasy Wiki
* Cassandra Palmer Series ~ Shelfari
* The Cassandra Palmer series - Wikipedia