When she arrived, she was not long in finding that she had a rival in the Princess Flavia; rendered desperate, she stood at nothing which might give, or keep for her, her power over the duke.

As I say, he took and gave not.

Simultaneously, Antoinette found herself entangled in his audacious schemes.

Unwilling to abandon him, bound to him by the chains of shame and hope, yet she would not be a decoy, nor, at his bidding, lure me to death.

Hence the letters of warning she had written.