The Duke's Masked Wife

"I can't," Bella stopped digging and looked at her fingers. They were on the verge of bleeding and they were quite sore.

Bella pushed her way out of the small hole she created. With there not being a lot of time, she had to find another way to get out of there. Something she was never bold enough to do in the past because of her fear Simon would see her or a servant would. She had to try pushing open the door.

She was no longer afraid of getting caught as she felt she was dead either way as that was the feeling she got from Simon.

"Kate," Bella said when she exited the hole.

She found Kate still leaning up where she had placed her long ago. Bella couldn't help wondering what Kate had done that Simon snapped at her so soon.

"Her face is going to be ruined," Bella muttered, feeling sorry for Kate. "Kate!" Bella called again as she went closer to tap Kate's leg.

Kate groaned at the sound of someone calling her name and the pain in her head.  It was unbearable like someone was constantly hitting her in the head each time she moved. The rest of her body was sore and she barely remembered it was because of Simon pushing her into furniture when he found her in her room and then dragging her down the stairs.

Accusing her of saying something to Edgar when she didn't. Simon was present the entire time she was around Edgar and his guards. Kate didn't think he had seen her mouthed help. Something else must have happened and Simon blamed her for his mistakes.

"Good. You're alive," Bella sighed in relief. "I'm going to try opening the door and if I do, I need you to be ready to get on your feet. I can't carry all your weight myself."

Kate slowly opened her eyes, ignoring the headache as she did so. Her vision was blurry at first, but she could see Bella was sitting right in front of her. "Y-You are not leaving me?" Kate asked, not believing that she would be helped out of there once Bella found a way out. Bella could make a run for it and be fine. Kate would only slow her down.

Kate would leave Bella without a second thought if their roles were reversed and Bella was the severely injured one. It was best she didn't tell Bella that she was looking for a husband for her. Kate did it to make Simon happy, but she truly wanted Kyle to be down here because of her hatred for him. With that, Bella would have suffered from whatever plans Simon had for that marriage.

"I've been looking out for myself because everyone who gets thrown here with me ends up dying. I should at least try to save someone else. I would want to be saved if I were in your position. Don't get your hopes up yet. I still have to try breaking open the door. It only opens from the outside so it will be hard. What happened with Simon?" Bella asked as she stood up to get started with breaking open the door.

"Edgar Collins visited us today. I told one of his guards to help me. I don't know what led Simon to think he was found out, but he came to my room and attacked me. I hope he truly is caught," Kate said.

If Simon wasn't caught, Kate wouldn't put it past him to come to her apologizing to her for what he did and then try to take her back as his wife.

"Edgar is really leading the case to find us? I thought Simon was joking about it," Bella muttered.

"How long have you been down here?" Kate asked as even should know that the King assigned Edgar to do this.

Bella tried to find her way toward the entrance of the room which was darker than the space where she was with Kate. "It feels like years. I truly do not know. I tried to keep track but I don't think it is accurate."

"It is winter now," Kate said, hoping that would help. "Well, it has been for a while, but it will soon end."

"Really?" Bella stopped.  "There was a play I wanted to take part in at the beginning of winter. Well, I have to get us out of here so I can join one at the end of winter. I've been here long before winter. It was somewhere near the start of the season. I remember the last party I attended and then I made the mistake of wandering off to audition for a play in the middle of the night. I was taken and brought here. There was another actress with me. She was nice."

Kate couldn't imagine being stuck in here for so long. She wasn't married to Simon long and she already had enough of the things he did. Bella was far better than her seeing how the young woman survived longer than everyone else Simon took.

Kate squeezed her eyes closed when another headache happened again. There was an excruciating pain right above her left eye. "How bad is where he hit me on my head?" She asked. Kate was worried about the mark the wound would leave. She could not take her face being ruined along with everything else. Marrying Simon was enough torture.

"Uhm," Bella hesitated to tell Kate that it looked like it would leave a bad wound, but there was a lot of blood so it was hard to tell exactly how bad Kate's wound was. "We should get you to a doctor first. I could tell you something wrong and you start to panic. Come on," Bella said as she hit the door with all her strength. "I feel bad for you."

"Because of the wound?" Kate asked, raising her hand to try touching where the pain was coming from.

"That and all the other things Simon told me. I don't know if you were aware, but he would come here and tell me things. I can't tell anyone his secrets so that must be why he always came to tell me his plans.  Like he planned to bring your sister here. Perhaps to torture you. I could never stomach seeing any of my relatives here. Did he ever tell you about it?" Bella asked.

Kate remained silent as Bella misunderstood something here. Simon liked messing with Edgar, it was Kate who wanted Alessandra here so she could share the same fate. If not for Simon becoming too much for her to handle, she would have helped him get Alessandra here.

"I understand if you don't want to talk about it. It must be hard to stomach the fact he wanted to bring your sister here. I feel even more sorry for the fact that you married him. Did he court you?" Bella asked, interested in how the two met. She needed to talk about something to get her attention off the fact the door was not budging.

Kate closed her eyes. She didn't like speaking with Bella anymore since she was reminded of the fact she had chased after Simon in an effort to find a man she could compete with Edgar and be where Alessandra was as Duchess. "I don't want to talk anymore," she said.