ora
, the smell of cheap air freshener clinging to my clothes as I stepped out.
riarch's birthday celebration tonight. It was part
and silk pouches, was the envelope. The rejection papers
d
d the envelope
, and my stepsister, Isabelle, were seated on the velvet sofa in the l
smile. "Sister, you're back. We were starting to
n. "Look at what you're wearing. Like some kind of v
xed on the staircase. I ju
king in with a beautifully wrapped box. "A packa
hot up from the sofa, intercep
ipping with false curiosity. "Let me see
be sending Aurora packages? We should check it, make sure
as if Isabelle's eagerness had crossed a line even she hadn't authorized. Did Carol know what her daughter had done
" Isabelle said, her fingers ab
ur hand
cut through the air like a
y eyes were cold. "The package says 'Aurora Beaumont.' Un
keeper. "Maria, pleas
, glancing nerv
of wounded innocence. "Mother, look
der so the other servants in the hall could hear. "Or perhaps you believe a 'wolf
ion of discriminating against a wolfless, a sensiti
waiting at the open door. "Excuse me, is there an Aurora Be
. Isabelle's face flus
and took the box. Holding it, I walked back and paused i
of them, I tore ope
the chandelier light. It was clearly valuable, a piece of delicate, old
e bottom. A haunting, ether
sabelle. "It seems some people appreciate true artistry," I
d pieced together years ago, watching the way her father's relatives looked at her, the way certain docume
e with fury. She c
box, I turned and ascended the grand staircase, lea
a divorce. I'd walked straight into a trap instead. Isabelle's trap. She'd handed him that glass. I'd seen her smile. She wa
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