I fell to my knees, my eyes filled with tears. “My lady… what will become of me? Please, have mercy! I don’t want to marry him!” I wiped my eyes.
You promised me a good match! If I marry him, my life will be ruined!”
“Aurora, how can you be so selfish?!” Arabella stared at me in disbelief, her pretty face contorted with anger. “They say that husband and wife are
like birds who fly their separate ways when disaster strikes. Sterling is merely paralyzed, and you are already so cold–hearted as to demand the
engagement be broken?”
Her face hardened. “No one in my service will be so selfish and cruel. Your wedding to Sterling will be moved up. In three days, when I am married,
you
will
go to him and begin your duties as his caretaker.”
She was planning to skip the wedding ceremony entirely, to send me to him without any official status. I would be less than a common–law wife,
less than even a concubine,
I closed my eyes. I’m sorry, my lady. I gave you one last chance. But you are truly heartless. You have no regard for our years of service.
For the next few days, I served her in silence, showing no further discontent with the marriage. She was pleased, thinking I had come to my sens-
- es. As a gesture of her “generosity,” she gifted me a few gold hairpins for my dowry. I accepted them without a word.
Three days later, the wedding day arrived.
