The villagers are surrounding me, ready to beat me to death.

I step back towards the forest, but then I remember the bandits.

Ah, dying from a sword is unquestionably better than a lynch.

Before I can turn and run away, though, Alexander’s voice reaches me like from the heavens.

«What is happening here?» he asks.

He’s riding a black horse, and he looks at me almost uninterested. Then, he recognises me.

His face turns dark, and his eyes glare first at me and then at the rest of the crowd. I brace myself, trying to look as pitiful as I can.

He jumps off the horse and approaches me. He moves a lock of hair and observes my wound.

«Who did this?» he asks, rather calmly.

The boy from before takes a step forward with pride. He missed me, by the way. What is he bragging about?

Before the children get in trouble, I pull my husband’s sleeve and ask him, with my eyes, to comfort me.

He’s just standing next to me, right now, so the villagers can’t understand the link between us. They’ll probably say something wrong, and I’ll have to witness a massacre.

«Alexander,» I call him.

He turns to me and coldly grabs my forearm, to make sure I don’t fall down.

Why is he so cold, all of a sudden?

A few tears leave my eyes and melt with the rain. I sob a couple of times, and my husband’s stone heart finally reacts.

He drags me in his embrace, and he sighs in my hair.

I surround his neck with my arms and hug him tightly. His clothes are as wet as mines, so it’s rather cold. Yet, I feel safe.

«The knight was with me,» I inform Alexander. I turn towards the forest, trying to remember which direction I came from. «Bandits attacked, he stood back to protect me…»

«There aren’t bandits in this area,» Alexander exclaims. «Also, I passed there, as well. They were waiting for you, Theodora. You put yourself in danger without my permission.»

«I’m sorry,» I cry, but he doesn’t comfort me as he did before. «I didn’t know it was so dangerous… I thought the rain was the worst threat to a carriage.»

I glance at the villagers, and I can see they’re panicking. They just realised that they tried to kill someone dear to their Lord.

I have to solve this thing that a random woman running out of the forest is considered a witch, but I can’t let a whole village pay the price for their ill beliefs. I’ll have to send someone to teach them some manners, but I have to make sure they survive Alexander’s wrath first.

«Who did this?» he repeats while cleaning the blood on my temple with a handkerchief.

«I fell,» I say out loud.

The boy that started it all was already dragged away by his parents, so he won’t make trouble for me right now.

«In the forest,» I add.

«Have you seen the attackers?»

«No,» I shake my head. «I was too scared to look back… The knight protected me for most of the time, but I stopped hearing the sounds of a battle a little before reaching here.»

«We can just wait for him,» Alexander says.

The knight was alone against several hidden enemies. How can my Duke be so sure he will show up?

He orders some of his men to go look for the knight in the forest, and he turns back to me with a stern expression.

«You’re in trouble, my dear,» he adds. «And we’ll talk about this tonight.»

I shiver, this time not for the cold water running on my back.

A woman runs out from a hut and offers me a blanket.

«No, thanks,» I shake my head, and I walk towards the centre of the village with a frown.

The rest of the day passes in a hurry and in chaos. The knight arrives at the village almost without scratches. There are stains of blood on his armour, but I bet it’s not his.

«Spies,» he says simply, and he delivers some letters to my Duke.

«As expected,» Alexander mutters. «I hoped they wouldn’t come so soon, though.»

«Spies from where?» I ask.

«There are many possibilities, my Duchess.»

«But why were they targeting me? Are they perhaps doing Elisabeth Grahm’s bidding?»

«It’s more likely they were sent by her father or grandfather,» Alexander corrects me.

Oh, right. Young noblewomen don’t know how to organise assassinations. They weren’t taught about discretion and strategy.

«This is rather unexpected, though…» he continues while calling the head of the guards. «Assign permanent bodyguards for the Lady’s protection. They must be within reach every time I’m more than a few steps from her. Also, send a message to his majesty, the Emperor, about what happened. Do not reveal too much, his majesty will understand.»

Once taken care of the situation, my Duke walks to me and helps me sit on the saddle. Then, he gets on right behind me, and he circles my waist not to let me fall.

I hug him tightly and peek at his expression to see if he’ll complain. However, it doesn’t look like I’m bothering his movements.

I lean my head on his chest and listen to his heart, while my Duke wraps me in his cloak to protect me from the wind.

«I told the guards to distribute the food and blankets you brought for the workers. They’ll bring the carriage back after finishing the investigations,» he informs me.

He’s less stern than before, but I can tell he’s still angry.

He doesn’t say anything anymore while the horse trots towards Stoneyard. My Duke is in a hurry to arrive, but he doesn’t dare to gallop not to endanger our safety.

I bet that his endless patience and calm is what made him win the war. And my quick actions were what made me lose.

When we arrive at the castle, he sends me to take a hot bath while he walks away to finish his work.

I’m so shocked that I don’t even notice the maids that help me undress. One of them checks my wound and then applies an ointment.

«With this, there won’t be any scar on the Lady’s face,» she whispers reassuringly. Wait that Alexander comes back. He was very furious at me.

After soaking for a while next to the fire, I get out and sit on the bed.

«I’ll do alone,» I say, ready to hear the maids reject my order in the name of the Duke.

Yet, they curtsey and quickly leave the room. Oh, how refreshing!

I wear a nightgown and ponder whether to lie down and pretend to be sleeping. The Duke won’t wake me up just to scold me, will he?

I rub my hair with a towel and sit near the chimney.

I have to make sure my hair is dried, or the Duke will have a reason more to get angry. I doubt I’ll make it in time before he arrives, but it’s worth a try. The heat from the fire will help me, as well!

When Alexander comes in, I’m still rubbing the towel on my head like a fool. He observes my weird behaviour and sits in front of me after dragging a chair here.

I stop drying my hair since there’s no need to anymore. My plan failed, so I won’t be able to sleep soon. The water will evaporate on its own in all this time.

«What have you promised to me a few hours ago?» he starts. His voice is calm, and he’s talking as if he was scolding a spoiled child.

«That I would come to you,» I try. «To help.»

He scoffs but, before he has time to continue, I speak.

«I’m sorry for being a bother to you, once again,» I add. Fake tears are filling my eyes, and a sorrowful expression has been designed to melt the stonecold heart of my Duke.

«It was raining, Theodora. You disobeyed.»

«It wasn’t raining when I parted,» I lie.

His lips form a thin line, while he considers how much to show his real thoughts to me.

«I really, really wanted to see Kyre. And also, I kept envisioning my Duke doing some hard work…» I whisper. A small, minuscule part of me is suggesting these naughty words, but I don’t see any other alternative than soothing. «And I wanted to check whether reality was as entertaining as my fantasies.»

«And?»

«And I took the carriage, the knight and went to you. I couldn’t imagine there were spies ready to kill me. You said I was safe in Kyre.»

With those words, I’ve reversed the situation. It won’t take long for my Duke to regain the upper hand, but at least he realised that it was not my fault if I trampled on ill-intending bandits along the way.

«You were lying,» I add with tears of worry.