SECRETS OF THE CLOCKWORK CITY

"I beseech you,what did you do to him?" The whip landed against her back again and her only response was the tears.She couldn't scream because she was mute and her tongue still hurt.


Again it landed on her back five,nine,eleven and twelve times but she wouldn't speak.Her only response was the tears.With that,they untied her and dragged her from the disciplinary court to the dungeons,with the queen bearing witness to all this.


"Eloise," Esmeralda rushed to her cousin and hugged her tightly.She was all tears, but that was replaced with a frown as her fingers dug into the scars in her back.



"W-W-What did y-you d-do to my sister?"She demanded as she turned her attention to the grim faced palace guards.



"What did you do to my sister?" She turned to the queen,her eyes blazing.


"We suspect she had something to do with old Davington's death" replied one of the guards."since she was found with the murder weapon and was the only one beside his figure in the room."



"Lies!Lies! All are lies!" She yelled turning to Eloise,"Please tell them you had nothing to do with this.Prove them wrong,tell them!"


But the girl wouldn't speak.She opened her mouth in an attempt to speak only for blood to pour from her mouth.Esmeralda was grief stricken.She wanted to see Eloise return in a happy way,but her cousin was being tortured for something she was sure she didn't do.


As the queen had commanded,Eloise was dragged to the dungeons leaving Esmeralda with her tears on the disciplinary grounds.
**********

***********
Esmeralda Dynevor is forced into an arranged marriage with Edward Knights - Duke of Brittania,who views her as nothing but a scandalous woman.

She,however,tries to make her marriage work by giving him her heart but is only greeted with coldness.


When the elderly clockmaker,Davington,is found dead in his workshop,the official ruling is that he died by hands of his assistant,Eloise.
Esmeralda suspects foul play as her best friend wouldn't be engaged in such an act.



Beneath the ornate clock face in Davington's workshop,she discovers clues that point to more sinister cause of death.And is meant to battle the culprit and make her marriage stand..but is she also bound for a happily ever after love?