The Duke's Masked Wife

"Alessandra!" Sally yelled as she realized her grave mistake. She looked out the window hoping Alessandra had not hurt herself and luckily, Alessandra was still hanging onto the sheets. She had not fallen far enough to hit the ground. "Thank goodness. I-I'm sorry. I did not want to get into trouble."

"And you thought potentially letting me fall to my death would save you?" Alessandra glared at Sally. She could have fallen flat on the ground had she not been holding onto the sheets.

Alessandra took deep breaths to calm down her breathing. It was partially her fault for thinking Sally wouldn't get scared and try to open the door.

"Alessandra!" Desmond exclaimed, entering the room in search of his daughter. "Where is she?" He yelled at Sally as she was the only one in the room. His eyes followed her nervous gaze down to what looked to be a rope in her hands. "Alessandra!" He ran to the window realizing what his daughter had done.

Desmond shoved Sally to the side to get a good look out the window. This action caused Sally to release the sheets the moment she was pushed. "Alessandra! Do not run away from me! James," he turned to the butler who had been the one to open Alessandra's door with the keys he carried around. "Stop her from leaving."

"Yes Baron," James left the room in a hurry to search for Alessandra.

"You useless fool," Desmond raised his hand to slap Sally but held himself back since getting Alessandra was more important. Rowan was already here to collect Alessandra and if she were to escape, Rowan would kill him on sight. "I'll deal with you later," he gritted his teeth, leaving to find Alessandra.

Meanwhile, Alessandra sat up from the ground after she made the decision to slide down the sheets, not caring if she might fall. Inevitably, she ended up colliding into a branch from the tree right outside her window, injuring her arm as she crashed against it when the sheets began to swing her around as she slid down.

As fear took over her body, Alessandra was unaware of the pain in her arm or the pain coming from stepping on fallen twigs and rocks as she was barefoot. Her mask slipped off from her face but like everything else, Alessandra paid no attention to it.

Alessandra began to run towards the gates as it would be her way of escaping her father. Alessandra resembled a ghost running in the night as her dark hair and white dress blew around in the cold air. She never once looked back to see if there was anyone running after her. Alessandra only had her eyes set on the gate.

"My lady, please stop running!" James called out to her from the front door when he spotted her running from the right side of the home towards the gates

Alessandra began to slow down when she stumbled across an unfamiliar carriage blocking her path to go toward the gates. She ran to her right to avoid whoever was in the carriage since it might be the person her father wanted to marry her off to.

"Alessandra!" Her father's yelling could be heard not too far behind her.

Alessandra picked up her pace but the moment she passed by the other side of the carriage, she laid eyes on a man twirling a dagger around his fingers. He smiled when he looked up and saw her running pass him.

"Where are you going, little one? Master won't be happy if you get away," Rowan began chasing after Alessandra. He knew he should not have trusted the Baron to bring his daughter quietly.

Alessandra ran as fast as she could towards the gates. Unfortunately, Rowan was much faster and tackled her to the ground when he became in arm's reach of her. "Get off me," she kicked her legs to get away from him.

"You lucky master does not want a scratch on you but from the look of your face, he is already too late," Rowan grinned, pinning her down to the ground by holding down her hands. "Scream more. It entices me."

"Get off," Alessandra continued to kick at him and tried her best to wiggle her hands from out of his grasp.

"Good, you got her," Desmond hunched over panting. He was too old to be chasing after anyone. "Hurry up and take her. I will send her things to you in one of my carriages. Why did you have to make things difficult for yourself, Alessandra? James, find her mask."

"My mask," Alessandra stopped struggling when reality hit her, everyone could see her face. "Take me back inside now! I am going to marry the Duke!" She yelled, continuing to put up a fight against the man pinning her down.

"I told you there is another man for you. Do not make me have to hit you, Alessandra. I have refrained from being that kind of man for a long time-"

"When?" Alessandra interrupted her father. "I saw it with my own eyes when you hit a woman. You did it to my mother. Stop trying to act like a good man!"

"You little shit…" Desmond raised his hand.

"This is a nice family moment but my master is waiting for her," Roman said.

He roughly pushed Alessandra's hands together, creating bruises on her skin from moving her hands against the small stones on the ground. "If you kick me one more time I shall drive my dagger into your neck. My master doesn't care if you are alive or dead. You are only meant to be added to his collection."

Tears formed in Alessandra's eyes as the stranger's words didn't sound like she was being sent to wed someone. Being added to a collection sounded like something sinister.

Rowan smiled, seeing the tears start to fall from her eyes. He always enjoyed the moment his victims realized their fate. He wanted to taunt her some more to see her shed more tears but he needed to leave quickly to avoid being seen by anyone else. She had already made too much noise with her screaming.

"Baron, open the door right now," Rowan ordered Desmond. "You were supposed to have her well dressed and prepared to be taken. Is there nothing you can do right?"

Desmond clenched his fist, tempted to punch Rowan. It was not like he expected Alessandra to be so daring to jump out of her window. How did she even know what was going to happen? "I didn't expect her to…" his voice died down when the sound of another carriage entering his home was heard.

Desmond squinted his eyes trying to get a look at the flag at the front of the carriage to see who was visiting him so late without any notice. "Who the hell-oh no."

His eyes widened when the symbol of a falcon came into view when the carriage stopped. "I-It's Edgar. What am I supposed to do?" He looked to Rowan for help.

"Why are you looking at me for answers?" Rowan asked while releasing Alessandra. He was not here to create any problems with the Duke. "You are her father. You get the final say in who she marries. Do it quickly."

"That is easier said than done," Desmond was on the verge of shitting himself. Edgar was not meant to come for Alessandra until tomorrow morning so why was he here now? Had he been watching their house this entire time?

Desmond's gulped, watching the carriage door slowly open and Edgar step outside. Edgar's eyes were fixated on Alessandra. "D-Duke Edgar. What brings you here at this time?"

Edgar ignored Desmond, for now. He approached Alessandra, stooping down to check her condition. Her hands covered her face, probably to hide it from him. There were scratches along her arm, her dress was dirty, and she was not even wearing shoes.

"Come with me, Alessandra," he gently placed his hands under her thighs and back to lift her up.

Desmond took a step back, pointing at Edgar to stop him. "W-Where do you think you are taking her? She is to marry someone else!"

Edgar took Alessandra back to his carriage, carefully placing her in the seat in case she had injuries he could not see.

"How are you here?" Alessandra questioned. She found his timing to be weird. How did she know she was desperately wishing for him to arrive?

"You rejected the first ring I brought to you. There is a skilled man in your neighborhood I had making the new one. I was on my way back from collecting it when I saw the commotion in front of your home. Good girl," Edgar ran his hand through a strand of her hair to remove pieces of grass.

It seemed like she was running towards the gates to escape. Had she not done this, when he was passing by, Edgar would not have seen anything odd and kept going home.

Edgar took off his coat and placed it over Alessandra's head to help hide her face. Once he did this, she pulled the sides of the coat to hide her face and looked away from him.

Edgar reached for his sword sitting on the other side of the carriage while she was not looking at him. "Do you care for your father, Alessandra?" He asked, unsheathing his sword as he awaited her answer.

It sounded like an innocent question but Alessandra knew what he was implying. If she said no then her father would not live another day.

"If you harm my father, the town guards will question you-"

"You are to be my wife, Alessandra. No one, not even the king himself, could disrespect you and get away with it while I am still alive. Tell me your answer. Do you care for him?" Edgar gripped his sword tighter, ready to kill both men for what they had done to her.

"I do not," Alessandra replied.