“After all, if we refuse to even try...then how can we claim to be better than any of those other nations you just mentioned?”
Miss Fennell’s eyes shone, but she pressed her lips together and lowered her head, waiting deferentially for her older cousin’s response. Lady Cosgrave looked at me for a long, silent moment.
When she spoke again, her voice was bitter.
“I should have known,” she said, “that you wouldn’t care for anything but your personal ambitions, no matter how many other women’s futures are shattered by your actions. You broke your own mother’s heart when you refused her legacy all those years ago. Now you’re ready to destroy it for every other woman in this nation, after all the work your mother and grandmother did to maintain our traditions and keep all of us safe.
“I’m disappointed in you, Cassandra...but I can’t say I’m surprised.” She swept towards the door, shaking her head. “Just remember: I offered you a chance to redeem yourself. I doubt that such a gift will be granted to you again.”
With an apologetic look, Miss Fennell turned and followed after her older cousin.
As they walked together through the doorway, I stood alone with my books in my arms and those final words echoing around me.
8
Amy found me ten minutes later as I sat in my office gazing sightlessly at a thick pile of papers on my desk. A quill pen in my hands dripped dark green ink that I hadn’t yet begun to use.
“Cassandra? I—oh!” She gave a quizzical frown as I jerked, ink spraying across my pages, at the sound of her voice.
“I beg your pardon.” Grimacing, I set down my pen and scooped up a cloth to dab at the spreading green spill. “I was in a haze.”
“I can see that.” Smiling ruefully, she stepped into the room, patting baby Miranda’s back comfortingly. My little niece was securely propped against her mother’s left shoulder, but she strained to turn her head toward me, tiny, light brown hands fluttering against Amy’s striped morning gown. The glimpse I caught of her dark eyes looked mischievously alert.
“Isn’t this her naptime?”
“So you might think.” Amy rolled her eyes as she held out the wriggling, gurgling evidence. “Butthislittle girl has decided she has no need of naps today after all, with so much excitement going on. So I thought I’d let her visit her aunt for a minute or two, as an excuse to catch up on all the gossip between classes.”
“Oh, I know alllll about troublesome girls who just won’t follow the rules!” I scooped Miranda from her mother’s arms and snuggled her soft warmth into my chest as she cooed with delight, her bright gaze fixed on my face. The sight made my vision blur—so I hastily buried my face against her warm, soft brown curls to hide my expression from my sister-in-law. “We’re the best kind, aren’t we, little one?” I whispered to my niece.
Amy had always been far too astute at reading other people’s feelings. It was what had made her such an excellent politician...at least until I had scuppered her career.
At the sound of my voice now, her own voice sharpened. “What’s amiss? If Annabel Renwick has—”
“No!” I said. “I can manage her malice.” I inhaled a long, sustaining breath of sweet baby-scent from my niece’s warm neck. Then I jiggled her around in my arms so she could view the rest of the room as I forced a smile for her mother. “I don’t need you or Jonathan to protect me from her anymore, I promise.”
“Hmm.” Amy settled into the chair across from my desk. “What is it, then?”
“Don’t you have a daughter of your own to worry about? You needn’t—”
“Cassandra.” Her brown eyes narrowed. Her long brown fingers tapped ominously against my desk. “Don’t waste my time!”
“Oh, fine!” I blew out a sigh. “I just...”
What was there to say? The raw truth was that I wouldn’t take back any of my choices even if I could. What exactly didthatmake me as a sister, as a wife, and as a woman in our world?
I said, abruptly, “Wrexham made me promise not to give up this school for him.”
“Well, I should certainly think not!” She let out a startled laugh. “After all the work you’ve put into it...”
“All the workwe’veput into it,” I corrected her. “That’s...” I stopped and took a deep breath.
Amy cocked her head to one side, expectantly.
But there were no words to express exactly how I felt, so I dropped my gaze to where baby Miranda clung to my right forefinger with one tiny fist. I let out my breath in a helpless sigh. “You do know how much I love you both, don’t you?”
“Mm,” said Amy thoughtfully. “And?”
I shrugged, and Miranda let out a gurgle of delight at the inadvertent bounce. “I just...don’t want to ruin her prospects.” I brushed my cheek gently against Miranda’s hair. “That’s all.”
