Chapter 3

Seraphina pointed a bloody finger at me. "Arrest her! She killed my niece!"

Captain Vance took two steps toward me, but he slowly dropped his hands. He clipped his handcuffs back onto his belt. "The girl took her own life, Lady Seraphina. I have no legal grounds to arrest her."

"Are you blind?!" Seraphina shrieked.

Before Vance could say another word, Rowena shoved past him.

Her palm struck my cheekbone. The impact snapped my head to the side.

"You fucking monster!" Rowena screamed. Spit landed on my jaw. "You stood there and watched her die!"

I looked down at Arabella’s blood soaking into the mud. A slight tremor ran through my fingers, but I kept my mouth shut.

Vance reached for Rowena. "Step back, Lady Rowena—"

He didn't stand a chance. The mob surged over the graves.

Black umbrellas dropped into the mud. Hands grabbed my dress, ripping the silk veil right off my head. Vance was swallowed by the furious crowd, shoved entirely out of the way.

"Beat the truth out of her!" a nobleman yelled.

A heavy boot kicked the back of my knee.

I hit the wet ground. The freezing rain mixed with mud and Arabella’s blood beneath my palms.

They dragged me by the collar. Blows landed heavily on my shoulders and back.

"Murdering bitch!" someone shouted. "Who are you protecting?!"

Fists rained down. I curled inward, shielding my ribs. I let them strike.

"Stop!" a strained voice echoed over the shouting.

The kicking paused. Hands released my ruined collar.

"I killed the Earl!"

I dragged myself up from the mud. My face throbbed.

My father, Duke Leopold, pushed through the wall of aristocrats. He leaned heavily on his cane, gasping for air.

He stepped right into the center of the circle.

"I killed Alistair," he repeated. He looked straight at Captain Vance, who was just fighting his way back to the front.

Dead silence fell over the cemetery.

My mother rushed up behind him. She grabbed his arm, crying.

"Leopold, shut your mouth!" My mother faced the crowd. "He has severe arthritis! He can barely lift a teacup!"

The crowd processed her words. The momentary shock dissolved.

"He's lying," a woman muttered. "He's just protecting his daughter."

"Is there no limit to her wickedness?" an older duke whispered loudly to his wife.

"First she watches her own child cut her throat, now she’s dragging her elderly father to the gallows."

"Absolutely disgusting. She’d bleed her entire family dry just to shield that murderer."

The hostility in the cemetery doubled.

"Look at this pathetic display," Seraphina sneered. She knelt in the mud, clutching Arabella’s lifeless hand. "She’s hiding behind a dying man."

"Throw the old fool in a cell too!" a nobleman barked. "Let him rot for her crimes!"

My father ignored the insults. He shuffled closer to me.

He looked at the dirt and bruises on my face. He looked at Arabella’s ruined neck.

"Take me," my father told Vance, his voice cracking. "She had nothing to do with it. I planned the whole thing. Blame me."

His hands shook violently against his cane.

My father was a man of absolute honor. He had never told a single lie in his seventy years.

Now he was tossing his entire life’s reputation into the gutter just to keep me out of handcuffs.

My mother turned away. She covered her face with both hands, refusing to look at me.

A sharp pain pierced my chest.

Rowena stepped over Arabella’s legs. She grabbed my chin, forcing my head up.

"Look at him, Cordelia," Rowena hissed.

"Your daughter is dead. Are you really going to let your father die too?"

I pulled Rowena’s hands off my face.

I walked directly up to Duke Leopold and bowed deeply.

"I am sorry," I told him.

I turned and walked straight toward Captain Vance. I held out my bare wrists.

"Leave my father alone," I said. "I killed Alistair."