The Unwanted Duchess Claims Her Throne

g. Muscle memory took over, distributing the force of the fall. Even so, a blinding, white-hot pain shot up from her left ankle-a sprain, at least. Maybe a fract

furious silhouette appeared, his roar echoing: "Find her! Seal the grounds! She can't have gotten far!" Isabelle's shril

was no

ny lanced up her leg. Her vision went white at the edges. She staggered, catching herself against the rough bark of a large oa

hanging branch. With a snarl of frustration, she gathered the voluminous skirt and, with a vicious tug, ripped the lower half

, but the feverish heat and disorienting dizziness persisted. Her vi

to her in a will the Wells family had conveniently "forgotten." It had been abandoned for over a decad

with the right, drag the left, brace against the nearest surface. The journey that should have taken twenty minutes stretched into an hour. More than once, she had to duck into doorways, pressing herself into the shadows as the rumble of

ing squeezed between two larger ones, windows boarded up, pa

en, beneath a loose flagstone by the old well, was a spare key. Her fingers, numb with cold, fumbled with the rusted iron. The

ale, thick with dust and

n at her left ankle. It had swollen to nearly twice its normal size, the flesh straining against the delicate fabric of

nd pump. She worked the handle until a trickle of icy, metallic-tasting water emerged, th

eded an antidote, or at least something to counteract its effects. Her mother had b

s in the gloom. Each step sent a spike of agony through her leg, but she forced herself forw

shed the door open, the smell hit her. It wasn't dust o

stion, pain, the drug-all vanished, replaced by t

ed to the near-total darkness, picking out shapes: a desk, a bookshelf, a

every inch of movement. She ignored it. Moonlight, thin and pale, filtered through a grimy window pane, illuminating the scene. It was a man, dressed in tight-fitting

ready. The movement sent a fresh wave of agony through her ankle, but she bit down hard and forced herself to focus.

hatever violence had left him here into her sanctuary,

ave that made the room spin. Her own situation was

side. Voices, calling out to each other. The search pa