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