en and haughty women in stiff, formal attire stared down at her, their painted eyes cold and jud

. She remembered this walk. In her first life, she had been terrified, he

ait of Lady Beatrice as a young woman-the same smile, the same cold eyes

ors of the morning room and took a

as laughing. She was seated on a plush velvet sette

d hair clip sparkling in her blonde curls. Aurelia was wearing a simple, me

It was replaced by a polite, distant mask. Rosalind's gaze, howeve

ts and sank into a perfect curtsy. She lowered her eyes, softened h

er, then? A proper lady must maintain her comp

be cross. Sister is new from the country. It's only natural she

yes filled with adoration. "You are always so considerate, my little rose."

gift from her adoptive parents, given to her when she left for the capital. The last thing her mother had pressed into her palm before the carriage pulled a

in her eyes. Her voice was soft, submissive

e. This was the Aurelia she c

usiness, "there is a matter you should be aware of. Th

or

ed from the sea, waterlogged and blue. Her mother's face, hollowed by grief, wasting away in a matter of months

cid mask. She did not f

continued, her voice devoid of any maternal warmth. "

f Alistair's reputation for arrogance and cruelty. M

Exactly as before. They were

carefully crafted innocence. "And what of Rosal

being planned. You need not concern yourself with it. Your

urned. The last, foolish ember of hope that this life could

She simply nodded. "I

osalind relax, confident that the little merc

moment her back was to them, her expression tr

ouse was a fool's errand. She

lligent, quietly ambitious, and desperate to secure a future for her bastard son. In her past life, they had been bitter rivals, circling each other with knives drawn. But that Aureli

ed Aurelia's lips, so fle

nto the gallery, she

d firm. "Find out where Mrs. Hayes is r