Duchess Difficult Novels & Stories

My best friend and I. A witch and a Fae from Whisperwood. I have the blood of a Seer. My three rune bones can see a kingdom's rise and fall. She's a gold-touched Fae. Born to attract wealth. One roll of the dice in a goblin casino, and she'd empty their vault. When we were eighteen, we found a disgraced Grand Duke in the capital's slums. His stepmother had thrown him out. We saved him. She amassed his gold. I spun his fate. We helped him claw his way back to the capital. He took back his land. His scepter. The first thing he did? He asked my best friend to marry him. They had a son. A gifted heir. I grew tired of the noble squabbles. I went back to my hidden cottage in the woods. Ten years l

Soon I'll know. I pressed the number pad for the password. Frustration rose in my blood when I hit the password wrong. Who changed the password? I have a hard time maintaining my stand, placing my hand on the side of the door to prevent me from falling. I wanted to sleep, my body was too tired, and my surroundings started to spin. How good I acted like I can't quickly get drunk. Next time, I will refuse to drink, but the duchess does not object to that. The part that was hard to act.

Cassian cut down an assassin who lunged too close, his blade flashing like silver fire. Another serpent charged at me, dagger raised. I twisted aside, seizing his wrist and driving his own blade into his chest with cold precision. He crumpled at my feet, his blood soaking into the dust. Gasps rippled through the crowd. The duchess is fighting once again not cowering, not fleeing, but standing. The serpents hissed curses, their leader snarling from atop a stall. “You will not wear the crown, Valcrest! Your blood will drown it!”

Breakfast was no better than dinner. The breakfast table was just as long, the silverware just as polished, and the air just as awkward. The duchess sat perfectly composed across from me, hands folded, eyes bright with interest that felt a little too prepared for my liking. "So when you saved Levi and Remus from the assassin, did you receive any injury?" the duchess asked. I nearly inhaled my tea. "What suddenly brought that up?" I asked, coughing into my napkin.

She could sense the frustration in David, and even as she wanted to spring it loose, she wasn’t sure the entertainment wasn’t more satisfying. “Go away, bird,” David growled. “Kiss, kiss, kiss.” Duchess flapped into the cabin, her talons clicking on the table as she perched and twisted her head one way and then the other. “Berries for pretty girl.” She clicked her beak. Bonnie swore she saw the bird grin. —------------------- “Squawk. land ho. Reach for the sky!” A flap of feathers and the now-familiar sound of sharp talons clacking onto the rail-ing beside him announced Duchess’s arrival in the wheelhouse. They’d spent most of the day on the water, making steady progress to-ward home.

Something strange happened. The duchess who’d been quite calm before began to roar something, moving those swollen sausages that were her lips. She was looking straight at me. It seemed like she even wanted to point at me. She couldn’t move her hands. I instinctively took a step back, feeling overcome with fear. Livia was bellowing, intermixing croaks, squeaks and howls. But not a single word. A moment later, she was shouting. Reive passed his hand over her forehead and froze, saying something loudly in Ashgenrian.

Darius thought that he had a pretty good guess of what Isabella wanted to talk to him about. “What is it that you wanted to talk about?” Darius asked directly. “What is it that you think that you’re doing?” the duchess asked as she narrowed her eyes at him. “I am not certain what you are referring to…” Darius replied calmly. The duchess took in a deep breath before letting out a loud and long sigh. She made her way to one of the chairs and slumped down onto it. Darius was surprised that her perfect posture was all but gone. What was left was the sight of a tired-looking lady that was trying to look younger than her actual years.

Cassy said with remarkable calm, "you don't truly understand. He violated me." Aghast, the duchess fumbled for her quizzing glass and lifted it to stare sharply at Caddy. "He violated you? By God, I'll have his head!" "No, no," Cassy hastened to explain, "I don't mean he violated me like that!" "Well, what in God's name do you mean then? That's the only kind of violation I can think of!" The duchess glared at her, thoroughly put out. "You shouldn't startle a person like that, Cassandra!"

Nathan murmured into his glass. "The point is," Dante continued, glaring at Nathan, "this is your chance, gentlemen. The Duchess will be here, in my home, surrounded by all the wealth and power she is used to. One of you might get lucky." He paused, his gaze settling on Rick. "Even you, Cameron. Though you might want to scrub the motor oil from under your fingernails first." Rick's jaw tightened, but he said nothing, just raised his glass in mock salute. "I still can't believe you've never even met her," Gabriel said to Rick. "You lived in New York your whole life right before joining the Army."

“I happen to have just had two new ones made and I thought this blue would compliment her eyes. I loved the colour, but it does not suit me well. We will just have some maids fit it to her before her ride. It won’t take long.” “What is a devantiere?” “Well,” the Duchess said, blushing slightly, “it is a French invention. A most useful but slightly scandalous dress. I’m sure if the Duke knew what they were about I would not be permitted to own one, but they are most practical. You see?” She held the top of the dress to her chest and lifted one side of the skirt out showing a long slit right up the back of it. “Oh my!”