Violet_167

Isabella Beaumont figured she was making a smart, if desperate, trade: her freedom in exchange for marrying the dreaded Duke Alaric Thorne. 
Sure, the guy had a reputation darker than a moonless night, whispered about in every corner of the kingdom, but it was just a contract, right? A way to escape a brutal past that had literally left its mark on her face. 
She wasn’t expecting warmth, and definitely not passion. But then Alaric, this formidable, feared man, starts acting… protective. His unexpected kindness will make her want to throw away her protective mask and actually fall for the man who was supposed to be just her ticket to freedom. 
Just as Isabella starts believing she might actually deserve happiness, everything begins falling apart around them.
With the villains on the loose, old wounds being ripped open, and everyone’s true colors showing, is this sudden, fierce love strong enough to survive the storm? Or will the darkness from their pasts and the deadly games shatter everything they’re starting to build?

The Masked Duchess

Clara stared at Alaric, her face contorting with pain. The reality that I was truly Alaric's wife seemed to hit her like a physical blow.


"You can't be serious," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Isabella doesn't deserve to be a duchess."


"And yet, she is one," Alaric replied coolly. His tone remained even, but I could sense the underlying steel in his words. "You asked for Isabella to be kept away from her family. I'm simply informing you that will indeed be the case – as my wife, she'll reside with me at Thorne Manor."


Clara's face flushed dark red. "I meant for her to be sent away somewhere isolated! Not for her to live in luxury while being doted on by you!"


The raw hurt and jealousy in her voice might have moved me once, but after years of her cruelty, I felt nothing but a detached sort of pity.


"What did you expect, Clara?" I asked softly. "That he would lock me in an asylum to please you?"


Chapter 48 - The Unmasking of a Plot