The Duke's Masked Wife

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Priscilla was glad to return home in the late hours of the night to avoid being seen by anyone. She sent the guards away before she exited the carriage so they could not see her filthy appearance and went up to the house. When she entered it was quiet as the servants had retired for the day by now.

Priscilla first went to get a bottle of wine Edmund had been saving for a special occasion. She wasn’t fond of such drinks but after how she spent the last couple of days it was needed. Priscilla opened the bottle and drank straight from it. Her face scrunched up from the strong taste but it helped to numb her.

She continued drinking it while she walked upstairs to her bedroom. She was in urgent need of a bath and for the dress she had been wearing to be burned right after.

“Priscilla?” She heard her name the moment she entered the bedroom.

Her eyes went to Edmund sitting on the bed with a book in his hands. She started to wonder why they had not continued to have separate bedrooms.

Priscilla ignored Edmund and placed the mouth of the bottle to her lips to have another mouth full. She walked to the bathroom and left the door open as Edmund would want to talk and likewise, she had a lot on her mind.

Edmund followed Priscilla into the bathroom and watched her strip out of a dirty dress with an awful smell. He wasn’t surprised she was ignoring him. “Are you hurt? Why are you drinking that bottle?” He asked, surprised that she suddenly took a liking to drinking. “What did Edgar do?”

Priscilla didn’t respond to Edmund as she continued to strip and pour the soap into the tub as it filled with water. Only when the tub was ready for her to get in did she answer, “I want a divorce, Edmund.”

Edmund was confused by the sudden request for their marriage to end. “For years you have been adamant that you do not want to get divorced because it would affect your image. Now you want to get divorced?”

.....

“That should tell you how fed up I am to come to this point. Nothing will happen to my image. I will make sure of it. I am tired of you,” Priscilla said. Instead of getting into the tub, she used a cloth to dip into the water and start rubbing her skin first. “You still have connections to the court so make it happen as fast as possible. I will write down what is to be mine in the morning. Oh, you need to get out of my house too.”

“Your house?” Edmund asked in disbelief.

“Yes, my house. My father gave this to us as a wedding gift. I am sure your mother will convince you not to let me keep anything she gave us so I am doing the same. You can have the house in White town because I am not leaving Lockwood again. You should start packing your things before I am done here. I won’t be so gentle in packing them,” said Priscilla.

Edmund was still trying to wrap his mind around her request for them to get a divorce to think about who gets what house. This wasn’t like Priscilla. No matter what, she would never want to get divorced to face questions from her peers about her separation. She wanted to keep her image of a perfect life with the perfect husband and son.

“Did Edgar release you only if you divorce-”

“Do I not have a mind of my own?” Priscilla snapped, deeply annoyed by his assumption that she would never think on her own to divorce him. “You are a coward, Edmund. I wasted twenty-five years of my life with you. I reached my end today when it comes to you. Your wife was taken to a cell but you are home reading a book? What is the point of me having a husband?”

“Edgar-”

“Save it!” Priscilla exclaimed, not wanting to hear his pathetic excuse. “You could have held your ground against Edgar that day. I don’t have to ask but I am certain you did not visit to plead with Edgar to release me or at least contact my father to get him to free me. I bet you wished I would have died so you could bring that whore inside of this house just as you always wanted.”

Edmund sighed as this was far from the truth. “Priscilla, that is not true.”

“Don’t Priscilla me. I thought she was dead after years of silence but I know she is in town and you are aware of it. That’s why you did not move a muscle to free me right? Seven years I had to deal with you running around with her behind my back and yes, I did tell you to go ahead and do as you pleased. Who was I to stop the treasured son of Rose Collins from seeing his mistress? I have done many things but I have remained faithful to you from the very beginning even when I wanted to get even,” Priscilla argued.

“We have never loved each other. Even after that woman was out of your life, you did not start to love me. You felt guilty for what I had to endure and were kind to me to make it up to me. I want to be free of you and your suffocating family. I smiled throughout our marriage when I wanted to cry. I am going to enjoy my life without you in it. Edgar is grown so there is no reason for us to communicate with each other,” Priscilla said as she stepped into the tub.

“Priscilla, this is a rash decision. You should clean up and we will think about it in the morning. You might be drunk from the wine already. I will let you sleep in this room while I take another for the night. Your mind will change in the morning,” Edmund said, certain of it.

Priscilla shook her head. “It won’t change in the morning or the day after. Perhaps it would have if you truly apologized for what I endured in the early years of our marriage or apologize for not coming for me. I can’t help thinking you wanted me dead which is why you continued with your daily life here. It is why you thought you saw a ghost when I walked in.”

Edmund placed his hands on his hips as he paced back and forth. Their divorce would cause a lot of bad blood between the two families and he didn’t need this now when there was something important he planned to propose to the court. He didn’t need the divorce to become the talk of the town inside of his plan.

“Priscilla, we will talk about this in the morning. I will leave you alone for now,” Edmund said then left the bathroom before Priscilla could object.

Priscilla rolled her eyes, annoyed that this would have to be dragged out into the morning. She would like to toss him out now but her priority was getting cleaned first. She needed him gone soon so she could ban him and Rose from stepping foot inside her home.

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