The Unwanted Duchess Claims Her Throne

his one?" a gruff voice asked. "Nah, look at it. It's been ab

inst her ribs. She didn't ha

t sensation-and had to clamp her jaw shut to keep from screaming. Her vision swam, but she didn't stop. Couldn't stop. She hauled him into the deepest shadows, behind a large, wing-backed chair covered in a dusty sheet. Working quic

It held fast. After a moment of muttered curses,

ing against the wall. The exertion had worsened the drug's effects. A

ded basic toxicology and field medicine. She recognized the silvery leaves of feverfew and the dark, bitter root of dandelion-both known for their purifying properties. She crushed them with the b

eaming, mottled with deep purple bruising. She found a strip of torn linen from an old curtain and bound the joint tightly, immobilizing it as best she

complication, a massive risk. But a dead body in her hideout was also a risk.

. It was a deep sword thrust, clean but severe. He was burning with fever. As she worked, her fingers brushed against a small, hard

dy a symphony of pain. Her ankle throbbed with every heartbeat, a constant, gnawing

insistent rapping echoed from the front door. Not the guar

a mask of pinched disapproval. Behind him stood two burly footmen. Sterling couldn't find her, so he'd sicced her family on her.

s as best she could, and forced herself to stand straight, ignoring the fire in her ankle. She would not limp. She would not show weak

lady," he said, the title an insult, "you have caused the Duke and your lady stepmother a great deal of distress." He didn't wait for a reply. "To abando

oat, puffing out his chest. "Your mother, the Duchess, has commanded me to escort you back to the manor. Immediatel

's hand reached for h

ac

he face with all her strength, leaving a bright red handprint blooming on his pale

awthorne?" She deliberately used her new title, letting it hang in the air. "You will return to Cordelia. You will tell her that if she wishe

r in his stunned face, the bolt slidi