Revenge of the Duchess

Chapter 1

A/N: I own nothing but the plot. Enjoy!

Annabeth Castellan felt like her insides were being constricted with every contraction that came. Fire, flames, burning sensations lit her senses into excruciating pain. None of her menstrual cramps had ever felt like this.

A cool hand wiped the sweat off of her forehead, but Annabeth could hardly see through the fogginess in her mind.

But none of the physical pain measured to the raw, emotional pain she had felt when she discovered her husband Luke passionately making love to her cousin in her office. In shock, Annabeth had stumbled against the door frame. Luke had not heard the noise and continued to thrust in his illicit lover's body. But her cousin, Lady Kelli with her rich chestnut hair, had. And what had her cousin done? Kelli had smiled as if she knew Annabeth was there and  had squeezed herself tighter until Luke groaned his lover's name out loud.

He had never moaned Annabeth's name the nights they spent in bed together. She should have known even then.

Annabeth had fled out of her own office in half rage, half despair, but in hindsight, she should have thrown all the furniture in the mansion at them. But she had been afraid of what her anger and stress would do to the baby growing in her stomach. In her haste to get away from the scene, she had stumbled on the stairs, falling down to the bottom where her water broke.

"How long will she last?" A male voice asked.

"Too early to say." The midwife answered back.

At first, Annabeth's marriage had been sweet, with Luke smothering her with attention. Though he disapproved, Annabeth continued her architectural business. Since she was Countess Castellan, and Luke was the head of the White Knight Order, her business had quickly grown. 

Perhaps that was her first mistake.

Annabeth had become so engrossed in running her business, she had neglected to see what her husband had been doing behind the scenes. Then, her second mistake was hiring her cousin as an assistant in her company. Her aunt and uncle had passed away in a carriage accident, leaving Kelli with only a meager inheritance. Annabeth had thought she was helping her cousin by offering her a lucrative position. Turns out, Annabeth had invited a parasite into her mansion.

In a few more moments, the pain receded slightly as the midwife received a small messy bundle in her arms, born eight weeks early.

"A daughter," the male voice said, disgusted. "Useless thing."

Annabeth snapped through her haze of fury. She wanted to sit up and throw herself against Luke, to scream and hit him. Why? Why was she never good enough?

She had given Luke everything, her heart, her body, the control over her own personal investments and business. Yet Luke had never thrown more than a glance at her. First love, first kiss, first night. None of that mattered to the handsome Luke who played around to his heart's content. Annabeth must have been nothing else but a flower or jewel Luke had coveted and then thrown away in a mansion to display and rot while he collected other fair treasures.

What was it about Kelli that Luke favored? To her knowledge, Annabeth was quite pretty with her curly golden hair and tanned skin. Lady Kelli had straight chestnut hair, fair skin, innocent doe-like eyes that didn't match her curves most men would lust after and other women be envious of. Her husband had been one of those men, obviously.

Annabeth had thought the baby would change things. Both she and Luke had been overjoyed to learn of her pregnancy after three years of marriage. She, because she had yearned for someone else to love, and he for a legitimate heir. If she gave birth to an heir, then perhaps he would turn his beautifully cold blue eyes to her once more like they did before their marriage.