The Regent's Betrayal

The scent of incense hung heavy in the ancestral hall, a grim prelude to the confession Eleanor Hayes was about to hear. Her husband, Arthur, the Duke Regent she had adored for years, was taking Clara Miller-her adopted "sister"-as a concubine. In his "kindness," her late father had brought the healer Clara into their home, and this was her repayment: shattering Eleanor's three-year marriage.

The betrayal escalated when Arthur not only sided with Clara but, upon learning of Clara's pregnancy, shockingly demoted Eleanor to a mere concubine.