Bargained to the Winter Duke
Lady Imogen Ashgrove was the villainess of Verelle: jilted at the Midwinter Ball, blamed for the Saint's poisoning and hanged by spring. Now she is back at that same ball, in crimson, with the Crown Prince tearing up their betrothal ribbon, and this time she thanks him, crosses the room and proposes a one-year contract marriage to Alaric Voss, the Winter Duke, who never smiles and was the only man to vote against her hanging. He needs a duchess by Twelfth Night or the Crown takes his Treasury seat; she needs a husband the Crown cannot touch. He pulls a contract from his coat, already drafted in his own hand. It is dated the day she died. Clause Thirteen says the Duke shall keep the Duchess alive. The Chancellor is coming to inspect whether the marriage is real. Someone in the palace is lying about the ending, and so, perhaps, is the Duke.
- Episodes
- 3
- Free
- 3
