Her rings pressed hard into my skin.
“You will not shout in my house.”
“Let go.”
“Tonight decides whether the board trusts me with the merger.
Do you understand? Olivia Voss is downstairs.
She has the capital, the influence, the discipline this family needs.
She was prepared to marry Julian before he lost his mind over a librarian in a borrowed dress.”
“Julian chose me.”
Her grip tightened.
“Julian chose rebellion.
There is a difference.”
Another contraction struck.
My knees weakened, and for one humiliating second I had to lean against her to keep from falling.
Celeste inhaled sharply, as if my pain had dirtied her.
Then her expression changed.
She glanced toward the terrace doors at the end of the sitting room.
Beyond them, a narrow balcony connected to the outdoor steps leading down to the garden.
Those steps were old limestone, beautiful in daylight, dangerous in rain.
I saw the idea arrive in her eyes.
I tried to pull away.
“No.”
“Fresh air,” she said loudly, as if someone might be listening.
“You look faint, Mara.
Let me help you.”
“No.
Celeste, stop.”
She forced the terrace doors open.
Cold rain blew across my face.
Music drifted from below, strings and laughter and the clink of glass.
To anyone glancing up, it would look like a concerned mother-in-law helping her pregnant daughter-in-law outside.
Her fingers dug into my arm.
“Smile,” she whispered.
I did not.
At the top of the steps, the garden blurred beneath me.
My slipper slid slightly on the wet stone.
I grabbed the railing.
“Please,” I said, hating the word as soon as it left my mouth.
“Call Julian.”
Celeste leaned close enough that her diamond earring brushed my cheek.
“After tonight, he will thank me.”
Then she shoved me.
There are moments the body remembers without allowing the mind to keep them whole.
The sky turning sideways.
My hand clawing at rain.
Stone striking shoulder, hip, knee.
My breath leaving me with a sound I did not recognize as mine.
The baby.
That was the only thought with shape.
The baby.
When I stopped falling, I was curled beside the fountain at the base of the terrace.
Water spilled over carved marble behind me.
Rain soaked my hair.
Pain moved through me in hot waves, but beneath it was something worse: the feeling that my body had become a locked room and I was trapped outside it, begging to be let in.
I tried to call Julian.
Only air came.
Celeste descended slowly, lifting her ivory gown above the wet steps.
She did not run.
She did not stumble.
She did not look frightened.
She looked inconvenienced.
When she reached me, she crouched carefully so the hem of her dress would not touch the ground.
“Listen carefully,” she whispered.
“You can keep breathing, Mara, or that child can.
But not both.
My son needs a bride with money, not a burden with a baby.”
I stared at her, unable to answer.
Her face softened then, but not with mercy.
With satisfaction.
“I will tell them you fainted.
I will tell Julian grief confused you.
I will tell everyone I tried to catch you.
And when this is over, Olivia Voss will be there to help him rebuild.”
My hand dragged weakly over my
