The Duke's Masked Wife

"I have my own hands, Edgar. Feed yourself. You are the one at risk of getting sick."

"So you should be feeding me. Go on," Edgar placed his fork down and waited for her to use her own to feed him.

Alessandra sighed. She was only doing the things he wanted to keep his mind off of Alfred. She poked her fork into the meat she cut and placed the fork by Edgar's mouth for him to eat.

"How is your head?" Edgar asked after taking a bite, referring to the wound she got from her time in the palace.

"It is fine. It has not hurt since it happened and I placed the cream from the palace on it along with my scars this morning," Alessandra answered.

"I am still going to punish that woman. After I deal with Alfred's attacker."

"You don't need to. Losing a hand or two is already enough and I don't want to revisit that after what we are going through with Alfred now. A woman like Sophia will dig her own grave without us getting involved. I only worry about her husband coming to you because he is in court," said Alessandra.

"And?" Edgar replied as he did not see how her husband being in the court was a concern.

"You do not even fear the court?" Alessandra asked, slightly surprised by this.

"I do not fear the king so why should I fear the court? They might make others tremble but I do not. Her husband is not that important in the court anyway. Don't be surprised if he comes begging me to forgive his wife's actions. Do not worry about him or anyone else," said Edgar.

Thanks to his father, his friendship with Tobias, and his title he knew the court well. He was good at going around anything the court would come at his door for. There were a few people there who hated his existence but they didn't have the position to come after him.

"If you say so. I must worry about the things you don't. Do not be like a stubborn child," Alessandra said after she held out the fork with vegetables on it but Edgar was not eating.

"Says the woman who pushes her vegetables to the side of the plate," Edgar replied, pushing the fork away from his mouth. "You eat it and then we shall go down to check on Alfred."

"I am already full so we can go down now," she placed her fork down. She was ready to hear about Alfred's state. The waiting period was unbearable but it was better having Edgar here than worrying alone.

Alessandra placed all the plates and cups together to make it easy for the maid who would have to clean up. She stood up and joined Edgar who held her hand and walked with her to the door.

"Wow," Alessandra said in shock when they exited their bedroom and found the hall that was once messed up now cleaned. The only evidence that something had happened was the walls now missing paintings. Luckily, before she was informed that Alfred was missing, she started to paint like she used to do to pass time and calm her mind. "They moved quickly."

"They have to be thanks to Alfred's stern rules. He is suited to start a school to train young butlers and maids even if it is coming out of my pockets. He's trained them well enough that they might be able to clean up evidence of murder quickly. Should we test it out?"

"No," Alessandra replied as she was afraid of who exactly he would pick out to be the person to get murdered. "I would like to keep this house murder free."

"Duke, Duchess. I was looking for a maid to bring you," Davis, the doctor's assistant, said. "The patient has woken up and is asking for the two of you."

Alessandra and Edgar picked up their pace down the stairs to get to Alfred. Alessandra was jumping on the inside, happy to hear that Alfred was awake while Edgar felt a sense of relief.

The guest room's door was wide open when they reached it and looking inside, they saw Alfred sitting up on the pillow being fed something by Sally.

"Who made this tea? It is a terrible blend," they heard Alfred's voice.

Alessandra bit her lip to refrain from laughing at him criticizing his tea. If you were going to make Alfred tea you had to do it right or hand the job off to someone else if you wanted to avoid a lengthy lecture about the right way to make tea.

"Alfred," Edgar said as he slowly walked into the room. He took note of the way Alfred smiled as he always did now that he was here. "Did you wish to kill me?"

"Not recently no," Alfred replied.

"I have been losing my mind for hours looking for you and here you are complaining about the taste of tea," said Edgar.

Alfred looked at the terrible mix in Sally's hands. "Well, it is awful. I was on the brink of death and that mixture might end me. I didn't mean to worry you, Edgar."

Sally picked up the tray she brought into the room and left to give the trio some privacy. In the corner, she saw the doctor trying to pack up his things quickly.

"Was Timothy found? I asked Sally about his whereabouts but she did not have the slightest clue. I remember where I left him," Alfred said, sitting up to leave the bed.

Edgar placed a hand on Alfred's shoulder to stop him. "You are not getting out of bed, Alfred. You need to rest. It appears that your arm will be of no use to you for a while," he said looking at Alfred's right arm which was completely bandaged up. "We found Timothy where you left him but it was too late."

"Oh," Alfred replied, leaning back into the bed. "I should not have left him. I hoped to take them off his trail and come back for him but after I ran into those men again, I could not turn around. I promised him he would live."

"You tried your best. I am sure he knows this," Alessandra said to comfort Alfred.

"He was so ready to give up his life. If everyone deserved to die it was me-"

"That is enough," Edgar said, cutting off Alfred before he could say something foolish. "Neither of you deserved to die. The same cannot be said for the person who attacked you."

Alfred shook his head. "We were only attacked because of me."

Edgar narrowed his eyes as it seemed Alfred was aware of who attacked him and asked, "Who is behind this, Alfred?"

Alfred looked away, not having the strength to tell Edgar that it was his own mother. He never wanted to be the thing to break the fragile relationship the two had, though it already happened. "I will tell you in the morning," he replied.

"Alfred," Edgar said through gritted teeth. He clenched his fist to hold back his anger. "The longer you wait to tell me the more chances you give for this person to hide."

"They cannot hide," Alfred said as a matter of fact. "And if they try, I shall know where they are going. Give me until morning when I am feeling better, Edgar. If I tell you now, you will leave my side. On the brink of death, I thought of having you closer. It is quite different from what I always imagined. I thought if I were to ever die-"

"Enough," Edgar softly spoke as he did not want to hear about Alfred dying. It was already hard enough to see him lying on the bed full of wounds. Had someone not found Alfred, he could be still out in the snow searching and inevitably come across his corpse. "Do not speak of dying, Alfred. We were close to losing you today. Hearing about death from your mouth isn't making it better."

"It is good to see how much the two of you worry about me and even the maids like Sally who cried when she saw me but then she brought that awful tea. I was determined not to die. I still have one last thing on my list which is to see your children. I am so close to raising them to leave this world now," said Alfred.

"You fool," Edgar muttered, covering his face with his hand. "Do not wait until morning, Alfred. Give me the name of this person."

"No."

"Alfred, why are you trying to protect them? Is it…" Edgar paused as there was only one person who came to mind that Alfred would be reluctant to expose. "Is it my mother?" The words slowly left his mouth.

'She wouldn't,' Alessandra thought. Priscilla couldn't possibly be so foolish as to try harming Alfred when she knew how much Edgar cared for him. 'For someone trying to get back into Edgar's good graces, Priscilla wouldn't be so foolish to harm Alfred, right?'

"I will speak about it in the-"

"Alfred!" Edgar yelled, frustrated and angered that it could be his own flesh and blood who tried to take Alfred from him. He was furious that even at this point, Alfred was trying not to expose her. "If you won't tell me, I shall get the answers from her myself."