Author's Note: this is just a short little thingy that I wrote for the poem My Last Duchess, which we had read and analyzed (for a week or so) in English class. Sorry about placing this in Misc. Books section; I didn't really know/couldn't find a place to put a story for an already-existing poem. If anyone would know where it could properly go, please tell me! I will be forever thankful!

Disclaimer: I do not own Robert Browning's My Last Duchess.

The Duke snarled. The servants look up from their cleaning, register the livid expression on his face, and rush out of the parlor in a whirl of fabric. Wise choice.

He doesn't seem to notice. The scowl deepens further on his face. The matter at hand? His troublesome Duchess. She loved everyone, had a smile for any and all that passed her way, be it a serving boy or a Lord. He fumed silently.

The white mare she so loved, riding it around the grounds, showing it off, giving it treats and kind words? Dead after a fall on the grounds. The man who gave her a bough of cherries, the officious fool? It seems he suffered an…unfortunate accident in the orchards. And the sunset she would gaze in awe upon, every breaking dawn? Well, he made sure to bar her windows. Wouldn't want anything to come into her room at night now, would we?

But still, even after that, she persisted in her actions. For a while, he had punished others for her behavior, but now she was going to be put in her place.

He snapped his fingers quickly, and his most trusted butler (one with almost as much a devious mind as his own) appeared at his side within seconds.

"Notify Gerard. Immediately." He smiled, a shadow suddenly cast upon his features. "I have a job for him…"

Soon, Mr. Gerard would arrive with everything he would need for the job at hand. And soon, very soon, he would be rid of his blasphemous Duchess once and for all.

The Duchess blinked back tears, shock and fear evident in her emerald eyes. Cowering behind the evergreen trees, her favorite, she was rendered speechless by the engraved dagger that glittered in the moonlight.

What did she do to deserve this?, she wonders in horror. What was a touch on the arm, a kindly smile to a harried messenger, a small laugh at a man's jest? What, indeed. To her, it was nothing at all, mere trifles. To the Duke? It was obvious evidence of her blasphemous, cheating, conniving ways, and she had to be punished.

The Duchess looked up fearfully into the eyes of her attacker. Examined his eyes. There was not a shred of mercy in those obsidian orbs. Only cold-blooded murder. He was trained to do this, she realized. She couldn't run. She couldn't fight back. She could never reason with this man; she'd be dead before she uttered a word.

So, she resigned herself to her fate.

And soon, it came. The dagger left the man's hand, flew towards her chest, and hit it's mark. She was dead before she hit the ground. Blood seeped into the tree roots and into the ground, staining the fallen holly berries an ugly deep burgundy.

The man stands there, stone-faced. He removes the dagger, lifts up the corpse, and carries her away.

Come morning, the freshly fallen snow has covered the tracks of blood.

The Duke smiles benignly, dressed in his finest clothing. Time for him to put on a good show. After all, he is about to go and woo the Count's daughter. Hopefully, he will win her hand in marriage…and her sizeable dowry.

And so the cycle begins anew.

Author's Note: Wow…I didn't realize that this oneshot was actually that short…hehehe…sorry…Well, please review this story!~ Thoughts, corrections, critiques, any and all are appreciated, Hope you enjoyed this!~