Bride Behind the Mask

Chapter 19: Happy Family

Dedicated to a random commenter ilnyckyj - Thank you for reading and commenting. Hope there's no flipping tables this time!

Chapter 19: Happy Family

Amelia had left Dane's study on the basis that she would retreat to her little chamber, and he would seek her out again—when the time was right.

On the second day of her arrival at the palace, new guards were posted right outside her door, and each meal was served by a different maid. She suspected that Dane was behind these new measures to ensure that she stayed holed up where she belonged. No more Tanya. No more wondering around.

The third day, she paced her room from dawn to dusk in mind-wrecking solitude. Her eyes flicked to the door several times an hour in anticipation. Each time she received nothing but disappointment. It was the last day that Warren had given. Did Dane change his mind? As night fell, she curled up in the hard, narrow bed, thinking of the other heartless soul who once made her heart race and lit her skin on fire. At times, she slipped into memories of smiles and laughter in his company. But every time she did, she reminded herself that just as she had begun to warm to the idea of staying married to Drake, he showed her that he had no care in the world for her.

The next morning, and true to his word, Warren sent his men to fetch her. This time at least, they allowed her a little more dignity, with only her arms held behind her back as they escorted her back to the chamber where they kept the Duke the Marlborough.

When she saw her father again, he looked even more frail and distressed than mere days ago.

"So what shall it be, Weston?" Warren demanded as he held a sharp blade to Amelia's left ear.

The duke looked on in fear. "Please, I... I—"

Amelia could tell that her father was about to relent, and she blinked and glared in warning for him to hold his tongue. What she'd told Dane was untrue. Her father would never see her hurt in the ways that Warren threatened. Even though she did not wish to experience any of the torture that Warren described, she wanted even less to see the kingdom and its people sacrificed for her life alone. It was why she made a deal with a devil in the name of Dane; she could only hope that he would hold true to his word.

"I can... not." Having received her warning, the duke uttered the words of rejection hesitantly, still afraid he'd just condemned his beloved daughter to pain and torture.

"What!" Warren exploded in anger and pressed the blade into Amelia's skin, drawing a narrow stream of blood.

She tried to pull away from the sharp jab, but the men's grip on her was firm. "Please, Your Highness, please," she begged. "You've had me separated from my father. But I can talk sense into him, please. If you harm me he'll only be even less willing to give in. Allow me to speak with him, please." Throughout the act, Amelia continued to give her father discrete jerks of her head and small winks.

Even with all the doubt that weighed upon him, the duke trusted his own daughter. "Amelia is right, Your Highness," he spoke firmly and evenly, eliminating any hopes Warren might have had for a different outcome. "I will not sign the declaration. If you hurt my daughter, you might as well kill me and be done with it. You will never have the legitimacy you seek."

Warren's eyes bulged in outrage, as if he debated snapping the duke's neck then and there. "You—"

"Please," Amelia pleaded again, this time with tears of desperation in her eyes. "Please don't hurt me or my father. Let me talk to him. I promise to change his mind. Please."

Warren turned his furious glare on her. Assessing. Calculating. Weighing the loss in time against the risks of revolt at the inception of his reign. "You have one day."