What are the chances an orphan goes from scrubbing floors to becoming a Duchess in forty-eight hours?

100%— I would know because it happened to me.

Only I wish I had a choice.
Because the man I'm supposed to call "father," Baron Tobias Fletcher, sold me off like livestock the moment he found me. Nineteen years of wondering where I came from, and this is how it ends? 

Not with a family. 
Not with answers.
With a wedding contract and a husband who never removes his mask.

The Duke of Wellspring. Nevan Wilder.
Every fiancée before me? Dead. Mad. Or gone — vanished like they never existed. 
They say he kills his brides the night they see what's underneath.

So shame on me for thinking meeting my father would finally end my misery. 
And shame on me twice because when the Duke took my hand in that ballroom, his touch ice-cold and impossibly gentle, I didn't feel fear.

I felt something worse.
I felt safe.

Now I'm trapped in his estate, married to a man the whole kingdom fears, and the more I uncover, the less anything makes sense. 

Because if Nevan truly kills his brides, why is he trying so desperately to keep me alive?

And whatever he's hiding beneath that mask? It's not the thing I should be afraid of.

Jennifer arrived at Wellspring three days into my last week.


I heard the carriage from my study. The crunch of wheels on gravel, the whinny of horses, the sharp click of her heels on the front steps. I set my pen down, closed the ledger I'd been writing in, the one that detailed everything I wanted Rosamund to know after I was gone, and stood.


I already had my solicitors working on important documents of the estate, which I would hand over to Rosamund to be managed by Clyde until she understood how everything worked. Aside from Morwen, no one else knew I'd die soon.


Clyde appeared at the door, knocking slightly to get my attention. "She's here."


"I know." I buttoned my coat and adjusted the mask. "Bring her to the parlour and clear the servants on the floor. I don't want any interruptions, and tell Rosamund to stay upstairs."


Chapter 127 - The reckoning.