Chapter 2

Seraphina’s accusation sank into the crowd.

Under the black umbrellas, the local nobility didn't bother lowering their voices.

"She wants the estate for herself. It's obvious."

"No tears, no shock. She probably smuggled a lover through the terrace to do the dirty work."

"She planned this."

I swept my gaze over the sea of dark veils and top hats.

"Unsubstantiated gossip will only drag this House into the mud," I said.

The whispers stopped, but the disgust in their eyes hardened.

Rowena slammed her fists against Alistair’s casket.

"He worshipped the ground you walked on for over a decade! He gave you the world, and you spit on his grave by hiding the monster who slaughtered him?!"

"Throw her out!" a nobleman barked from the back of the mourning crowd.

"Yes! Strip her of the estate!" an older noblewoman agreed vehemently. "A woman like that has no place in this family! Kick her out!"

The murmurs quickly swelled into an angry chorus.

I didn't blink.

"Shut your mouths, all of you!" a sharp, high-pitched voice pierced the rain.

Arabella stepped out from the crowd. She stamped her designer shoe into the mud, her chin held high.

She reached into her expensive coat and pulled out a silver hunting knife.

She pressed the edge directly against her throat.

Several women in the crowd gasped.

Seraphina lunged forward, her face violently draining of color.

"Arabella, no!" Seraphina cried out, her hands shaking mid-air. "Put that down! Don't do anything foolish, please!"

But Arabella ignored her completely.

"Mother," Arabella choked out. "When you got that awful fever in Vienna, Father stayed up with you for three straight days. He wouldn't even let the nurses near you. He loved you way too much to leave for even a second."

The memory flashed in my mind.

Alistair’s cool fingers holding my burning hand. Him looking down at me with absolute devotion, his voice cracking as he swore I was his whole world. Saying he’d gladly die in my place.

He had kissed my sweaty forehead, and back then, I bought every single word.

Arabella pushed the metal deeper. A bead of blood swelled at her collarbone.

"I refuse to believe you’d protect his murderer," she demanded. "Who was in that room?! If you let his killer walk free, I'm dying right here."

"Cordelia, stop her!" Rowena begged. "She is the sole heir to this Earldom!"

Seraphina stepped up right behind Arabella, hyperventilating. She pointed a trembling finger at me.

"Cordelia!" Seraphina yelled. "Are you really going to watch your daughter die just to hide your filthy secrets?! Tell them the truth!"

Every eye at the cemetery locked on me.

Captain Vance unclipped his radio, stepping onto the grass.

"I do not know the killer," I said.

Arabella froze.

"I curse the day I was born to you," she whispered.

She yanked the blade hard across her carotid artery.

Blood sprayed hot and fast. It splattered against my face, soaking straight through my black veil.

Arabella hit the muddy grass.

Rowena let out a guttural scream.

She scrambled over the gravestones and threw herself onto Arabella's convulsing body, frantically pressing both hands against the gaping wound.

Seraphina collapsed into the mud, instantly covered in Arabella's blood.

"No! Not my—not her!" Seraphina shrieked, her throat tearing. "Wake up! Somebody save her!"

Total panic erupted.

Guests shoved each other, running blindly toward the cemetery gates. Someone screamed for a doctor.

Near the back of the mob, a reporter from who knows where lifted a heavy camera.

Flashbulbs exploded in rapid succession.

The blinding white light captured the blood dripping from my veil, the two hysterical women crying over the dead girl in the mud, and my completely motionless posture.

"She did it!" A nobleman yelled, pointing at me. "She forced her own child to die!"

Captain Vance shoved his way through the screaming crowd. He pulled out his handcuffs and marched straight toward me.