“But you are not my parent!”
Her face slackened.
“A parent, amother, wouldn’t think thatthis”—I gestured from my chest to my hips—“is all I am good for. Amotherwouldn’t tear me down, raising me in the shadow of my perfect brother. I may not be smart, but I have more to offer this world. I know I do. Instead of helping me discover what that is, you’d rather see me taken away by a callous man’s fortune—or remain trapped here under Basil’s watchful eye.” Adrenaline burned through my veins. I’d never spoken to her like this. I couldn’t stop as years of pent-up resentment poured out of me. “Is that what Pahn would want for me? To be owned as property?”
Nahn’s mouth trembled. I braced myself for her retort that would put me back in my trifling, obedient place where she thought I belonged. “As it stands,” she said calmly, tilting her chin upwards. Her eyes remained notably averted. “To make amends for yesterday’s mishap, I informed the baroness that you have accepted?—”
“No,” I breathed.
“—Jere’s proposal and will marry him.”
“You can’t do this,” I said. “I should decide how I live my life. I’m a grown woman.”
“You’re certainly not acting like one. Do you pay rent here? What about taxes? Household provisions? No, and I’ve never heard you complain.”
My arms shook at my sides. Even though she was right, I burned hotter than the sun. “How can you ask me to marry into that family after what they did to Pahn?”
Her chin quivered. “Your grandfather doesn’t?—”
“Thathagis responsible for his sickness!” I cried. “He lost his mind after the baroness forced him out of the Academy, Nahn! Stars, why do you act like nothing’s changed? Like he isn’t gone?”
“Because he’snotgone!” she yelled. “He’s right upstairs, and if you don’t lower your voice this instance, young lady, I swear?—”
“He’s a shell of the man you married. Of the man who raised us. Stop pretending everything is fine when it hasn’t been foryears.”
Nahn winced. She smoothed her hair from her forehead. “Whatever the baroness did is in the past. The present is your betrothal. I wanted to give you time to come to your senses on your own. Youwillaccept?—”
“I will not!”
“You. Will.Accept.” Nahn rose from the chair. In her youth, she must have been as tall as me, but age had curved her neckand back significantly. “Or you will no longer be welcome in this home.”
“Is this what happened to our father? Did you force him to leave too with your cruel ultimatums?”
A burning sensation tore across my cheek. It wasn’t until I recognized that my head had snapped harshly in the direction of the back doors, where moonlight pooled across the floorboards, that I acknowledged what had happened. Despite her sharp tongue, Nahn never hit us. Ever. Not as children, and certainly not as adults.
My grandmother gasped. I stared at her, too stunned to move.
When no apology came, I retreated in a fog of confusion. Tears streamed down my face. I chucked Basil’s pocket watch to the ground, narrowly missing her feet.
My legs carried me through the front garden and into the dead of night—aimless, wandering, and utterly alone.
Chapter 18
Rahzlyn
There wasa full moon tonight passing through Capricorn’s constellation. It was the second full moon this month—otherwise known as a blue moon—rare enough to stir unease. Today’s horoscope posted in the city’s market square warned of strange happenings, unexpected revelations, and auspicious energy.
“No time for fear,” I said into the mirror. My terrified eyes peered back at me from beneath my mask. The Black Rose was the dancer’s name that Yarah had tried to tell me about. Strange how no one seemed to mention those words around me until they branded me. I hadn’t bothered to look at the painful mark, instead washing and bandaging it blindly as though I could will it away.
I would either succeed tonight or die trying. My breathing grew labored from the weight of what was in store for me. Succeeding didn’t mean dancing. It meant seduction and thievery and treason and?—
“Bloody stars, pull yourself together before you pass out,” the matron chided behind me. She seated herself at the bistro tablewith a corked bottle of wine, cheese, dried meats, and grapes. My stomach growled at the sight, but my nausea was overpowering.
“I would if I knew my brother was safe.”
“Your brother is fine.” She plucked a grape and studied it. “We would be stupid not to secure such leverage against you.”
“You already had leverage when you threatened my family.”
