Chapter 2
I returned to my suite with the twins nestled in my arms. The physician I summoned examined them both and assured me they were unharmed. Only then did I allow myself to breathe.
Still, I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
In my past life, no matter how I screamed or begged, Ronan had thrown them to the beasts.
Tiny little bodies–barely two bites for the tigers in the pits.
Their cries… that fragile, terrified wailing… had haunted me every night since the moment I woke in this life.
But it’s different now.
The heir’s title had already been claimed by Annabelle’s child. She wouldn’t break again. She wouldn’t hang herself this time. And my children wouldn’t die in a cage.
Beatrice, gathered up my bloodstained gown, her face flushed with rage.
sh off and petition the royal council for a
“The Lord is beyond cruel,” she fumed. “No time to summon a proper physician for you, but plenty of time to rush naming decree for that mistress’s brar?
I cut her off gently. “She’s a Royal Favorite now, Beatrice. Watch your tongue.”
My wounds hadn’t even been fully dressed when a messenger arrived at the door. The Queen Dowager was summoning me to Crownspire
Queen Margaret, sharp and resolute as she always was, looked shaken when she saw me.
Her eyes softened as she took in my battered face, my torn skin and bruised limbs.
“My child,” she said quietly, “what you’ve suffered… I never intended this. But are you truly certain? Would you forsake the ancient honor of your house, the fealty sworn by your forebears, for the freedom to depart?”
I bowed deeply, my head lowered in respect
“Please, Your Majesty. I beg you grant me this freedom.
Queen Margaret sighed and dipped her quill into ink. With a heavy hand, she began to write the royal edict
“Larranged your marriage to him to keep the Whitmore line in check,” she said. “But I had thought foolishly–that Ronan’s honor would keep him from mistreating you. I see now I was wrong. So be it. If you walk away, you’ll leave with a new identity, as a form of restitution.”
When a duchess withdraws from her marriage, the law derhands she be sent to an abbey for the rest of her life.
But this… this edict would allow me to disappear completely. To die in name and be reborn in freedom.
A mercy I never thought I’d be granted.
1 took the scroll from her hand, bowed one last time, and turned to leave the palace
Only to find Roman and Ancipbelle waiting for me at the gates.
Annabelle’s eyes dropped to the parchment in my hand. She blanched.
Then, with a cry, she sank to her knees, her face pale, and bowed her head in despair.
“Lady Eleanor, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have taken your son’s birthright! Punish me if you must, but please, spare my child!” Her voice cracked with fear
Queen Margaret had once ordered the death of a royal mistress‘ legitimate child son to secure her daughter’s place in the line of succession. Everyone at
count remembered it
Ronan certainly did.
His eyes went lee cold. With no warning, he kicked me hard in the thorax, sending me sprawling.
“You vile traitor,” he snarled. “Swearing fealty one moment, only to betray Annabelle’s heir the next?”
The bandages over my wounds tore open. Blood soaked through my bodice. I couldn’t even cry
He didn’t care.
t–just gasped as pain overtook me
He grabbed a fistful of my hair and dragged me across stone path, straight toward the palace steps
Chapter 2
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“Come with me. You’re going to beg the Queen Dowager to take this edict back. If you do, I might just let you stay.”
A trail of blood streaked behind me.
e as 1 staggered forward.
My vision dimmed, words barely forming
“Roman… please… I meant no…”
But Annabelle cut in, her voice trembling with
fear.
“Please, spare her further harm! Or Queen Dowager will turn to me again. She once accused my kin of treason, stripped their titles, all to place Eleanor in your favor!!!
che banished them, Ronan,” Annabelle continued, her eyes glistening. “All to secure your duchess. If this persists, they’ll cast me aside–Dr Worse,
mark me for rule.”
Ronan’s gaze softened as he beheld her tear–streaked face.
Then he turned to me, his expression hardening. With a swift motion, he seized my arm and pressed me against the palace wall.
“Vile you,” he spat. “And I actually gave a blast about you once.”
1 coughed, blood staining my lips. “No.. I didn’t…”
But he paid no heed.
He drew Annabelle into his embrace, murmuring softly, “Why did you keep this from me?
She trembled in his arms. “I dared not burden you Eleanor is the sole heir of General Viremont and holds the Queen Dowager’s favor. I knew I could
Bonan sneered. *Favor? She’s unworthy of the ground she treads.”
He bent down, snatching the royal edict from the earth, and thrust it before my face.
“If you fall to persuade the Queen Dowager to revoke this decree, I’ll see your family’s hame struck from the rolls of nobility, their legacy cast into disgrace!”
“You dare defy a royal decree-
The parchment unfurled in his hand.
is eyes scanned the text… and stilled.
“Voluntary withdrawal…?” he muttered. “You sought this from the Queen?”
With trembling, bloodied hands, I pushed the parchment toward him
“Eleanor Viremont is unworthy of the title of Duchess. I only pray Your Grace finds joy with Lady Annabelle…may you both prosper in peace.”
His face twisted–not with triumph, but with something unreadable, almost pained
I had no strength to ponder it.
Darkness closed over me, and I sank into its embrace.
Chapter 2
