She would never know.
How unaffected and remorseless Mother appeared as she said, “Oh, Artemis, that’s all in the past.”
Love is many things and expressed in many ways, but not like that.
She had been too overwhelmed in the moment to give Bran’s words proper consideration. But they came to her now, and she understood them.
Mother hadn’t been motivated by love for her daughter.
She’d been motivated by appearances and her own interests. Those were the only values that mattered to Mother.
And Artemis only mattered to Mother as long as she was a mirror that reflected what Mother wanted to see of herself.
Slowly, Artemis nodded. “You are correct that it is all in the past,” she said. “But it doesn’t have to be the future.”
Mother’s brow gathered. “What are you on about? I acted in your best interests.”
Artemis shook her head. “My whole life, that was what I believed. But it isn’t the truth, is it? You used my belief as a shield and hid the true you behind my faith in the false you.”
“You need rest, daughter,” said Mother. “And several drops of laudanum.”
But a momentum was building inside Artemis. “You only ever acted inyourbest interests.”
Words and combinations thereof were forming in her mind.
Words that once spoken, she would never be able to retrieve.
Words that would form a new basis for the relationship between herself and Mother.
A wave of embarrassment crashed through her.
These were words she should have spoken years ago.
Bran saw it.
Even Rake saw it.
But she had been blind.
No longer.
And it wasn’t that these wordsneededto be spoken.
Shewantedto speak them.
“Mother, you’re a bully.”
“I beg your pardon?” A flush of crimson crept up Mother’s neck. Artemis had never seen that before. “Iam the Duchess of Rakesley.”
“TheDowagerDuchess of Rakesley,” countered Artemis. “Gemma is now the Duchess of Rakesley.”
Exquisite blue eyes wide and incredulous, Mother gasped.
Another first.
Artemis hadn’t said it to be mean-spirited, but rather to illustrate a point. Mother had a habit of diminishing and outright negating anything that didn’t adhere to her narrative of herself and her preferred view of the world—which included Artemis.
How many times had she been diminished and negated in service to Mother’s comfort?
