Chapter Fourteen

Alexander was livid. His face was contorted with anger he had never felt before as he looked at Annalise. How dare this scheming girl take advantage of Beatrice and her situation? He had to give her a stern warning now not to speak of it to anyone else.

"What is wrong with you? You are just spewing a load of garbage from your mouth in broad daylight. You must be out of your senses to even think of such a thing. Perhaps, you have begun to lose your mental functions. Do not speak of this untruth ever again. I do not want to hear it from your lips and if I hear it from anyone else, you will only have yourself to blame. Who would even believe you? What you have spewed forth from your mouth is nothing but nonsense and only a fool like yourself would certainly believe you," Alexander seethed, determined to protect Beatrice at all costs.

Annalise remained adamant. "My Lord, I am certain of this. I heard it from her own mouth. That woman is an imposter in this keep and she needs to be sent away before she causes any harm to us all. She was probably sent by an enemy to infiltrate us and weaken our defenses," she said.

" Do not talk of this again or I shall send you away from this town. You who do not lay claim to any right here wants to discredit my dear wife, the Marchioness of this town. You have lost your mind," Alexander spat out.

Annalise was determined to let Alexander see the truth in her words. For Alexander to think like this, not minding the danger that ugly imposter posed, she had clearly brainwashed him. Alexander was a wise man with a rational mind and he was supposed to see reason with her but as it was, he did not. What length that ugly animal had to go to completely brainwash Alexander was not clear to Annalise.

Still, she was determined to forge on with her speech. It was good as they were alone like this because she did not want anyone to witness Alexander's tirade. She did not expect the encounter to turn out this way but nevertheless, she had already started talking so she had to continue.

"Lord Alexander, you have to believe me. There is nothing but the truth in my words and you have to accept it. That ugly woman you call your wife is not the woman you got married to. I do not know how she did it but now, an imposter is in the body of your wife. You have to send her away from this town before it is too late. You certainly did not hear her conversation with that servant of hers. I did therefore, I can tell you about the graveness of the situation. I suggest you act fast before this issue gets out of hand."

Alexander had almost bursted open with anger by now. After his warnings, this fool still had the guts to talk further on the matter. Perhaps, he did not make his warnings clear the previous time. He would do that now.

"You are a big fool and you do not realize how utterly insane you are sounding. Perhaps, I did not make my words clear enough to be understood by you the first time. You must shut your mouth. You must not speak about this to any soul at all and you must never confront me or Beatrice with all these lies you have told today."

Alexander paused to look at Beatrice to see whether she had comprehended the graveness off his order before he continued. "No one in this keep must speak of Beatrice in a bad manner or else, I shall have you to blame. I know you well enough to tell that you do not have good thoughts about Beatrice. If you so much as breach or go against my warnings, I shall have you publicly flogged at the gallows before throwing you out of the town. The whole town would certainly want to witness a public flogging since it has been decades that it was last done. Now, do you understand me clearly or do I have to repeat myself again?" Alexander questioned furiously.

Annalise was trying to find fair ground with Alexander but he did not even show any sign of agreeing with her. She tried to implore him with her eyes but his eyes were cold and unwelcoming. Even his physique looked menacing. She had to try to back out with honour now so as to save a little face

"Lord Alexander, I am deeply sorry for that which I have spoken of today." Annalise looked repentant as she continued with her speech. " I am sorry about my statements and assertions and I promise not to utter them ever again. I must have been hallucinating when I heard it and decided to come to you with it. I shall never tell anyone of it and I shall never spoil the name of Lady Beatrice as you have so clearly stated. Please forgive me , my Lord. The offence I have committed today is a mistake and I will never repeat it again. Please, find it in your heart to forgive me. If you may, I would like to ask of you one final thing. Please, do not tell Lady Beatrice about this."

Annalise said all these words in a truly repentant manner that could have fooled anyone who was not closely observant. Deep down in her mind, she was not repentant at all and had no intention of doing so. The next plan she would take against Beatrice would be carried out meticulously and carefully that it would have no choice but to work or else she would be sent out of the town. She had to bid her time for a while before striking again. She had begged Alexander not to tell Beatrice of it because she did not want her to put her guard up.

From now on, she would act kindly towards Beatrice and not show any of the malice brewing in her heart. She had to make Beatrice close to her and convince her that she was a good person who was on her side before even thinking of another plan. She would fool everyone in the keep into believing that she wanted only the best for Beatrice and when the time came, she could strike with her carefully mapped out plan. She would tell no one of the plan once it had been perfected because she did not trust any person in this keep and secrets were guaranteed safety if only they were kept to oneself. With all these thoughts on her mind, she turned to Alexander and implored him further with truly repentant eyes since he had still not given any response to her apology.

Alexander looked Annalise in the eyes and saw the repentance but underneath all that, some signs of malice were still brimming in them. She claimed to have realized the error of her ways but he was not too sure about that. He was not certain whether she had truly repented. As for informing Beatrice of the situation, he would have to decide on that later. For now, he had to face this person in front of him.

"It is good as you have realized the error of your ways. I will keep repeating this over and over again. Do not attempt to pull off anything like this ever again other you shall have yourself to blame. Be careful," he warned.

With that, Alexander turned on his heel and headed towards the direction of the huge doors of the keep. He was still angry at the situation that just occurred but he had it under control. He had always known that Annalise had a bit of a bad side but he had no idea that her evil ran this deep. He had to act with caution near her. She seemed to want Beatrice out of the keep. Why did she want that? he asked himself. He was no close to getting the answer to his question as he walked into his office and shut the door after him, locking it. He had to be alone at the moment and he did not want any disturbances.

Annalise had gone too far but he did not want to take any rash action now. He would simply wait and see her next course of action. Whether she would be good like she had promised or would revert back to her ways of evil, Alexander had to wait to find out.

A knock sounded on the door and Alexander knew that it was Beatrice. He tried to bring a smile to his face before she came in but he did not succeed. He did not want Beatrice to start asking him about his unhappy expression. As the door swung open, a smile was already set in place on his face. They talked for a while before Alexander decided to leave his office for the day. They asked for food to be brought to their chamber as neither of them wanted to eat in the dining area. They walked to their chamber, talking about nothing in particular.

After the meal had been brought and they had eaten, both of them retired to bed and slept off. They were too tired to have a wash or make love so they just slept off in each other's arms.

**********

Almost two weeks after his encounter with Annalise, Alexander had monitored her movements and actions and had found her to be obeying his words. Still, he was not convinced that she had no evil plan under her sleeve. Maybe she was simply waiting and biding time before she struck out with an evil mission. Still, he had to caution Beatrice to be wary of her. She could not be underestimated through her calm and beautiful face that belied the evil that lay underneath her heart.

Alexander thought about how best to tell Beatrice about his encounter with Annalise. He had to inform her in a way that would make her not to be afraid of Annalise but simply wary of her and tread with caution when dealing with her.

The opportunity to inform Beatrice came one night after dinner as both of them laid on the bed. Beatrice was telling him about a pie that Annalise taught her how to make before he suddenly interrupted.

"My dear, I have something to tell you. It happened twelve days ago but I thought it wise not to inform you then."

" What is it, my darling?" Beatrice asked.

As Alexander began speaking about his encounter with Annalise, Beatrice's mouth gaped open in shock. So that wicked soul had heard the conversation between she and Lucia?

"This is the second time she is attempting to bring me down," Beatrice cried out furiously.

" What do you mean by second time?" Alexander asked already getting angry.