A Lie so Pretty and Poisonous

Prologue

Cold, grey eyes bore into me as her spoon swirled in the steaming, dark liquid. The clinking of the metal against the delicate teacup made my hands—and nerves—tremble. I never thought I would return to this place. Back to this life. Back to her.

Three days earlier, my life had shattered.

I was unaware that it was as fragile as the floral porcelain she held delicately between her manicured nails.

Everything fractured, sliding and slicing like broken glass around me, so fast and brutal that there was no time to process what happened or what I was about to do in desperation.

The stiff, pink sofa held my posture with the rigidity that was expected of me. I rocked my fussy six-month-old daughter, soberly staring into the face of the person I fought to rid myself of all my life.

My mother.

“A year ago, you ran off with some lowly stable hand to start what you thought would be a better life than what I have provided you, and now, you return to my doorstep with an infant, asking for my support?” A wicked grin pulled her pink-painted lips into a sneer as she set her teaspoon on the saucer.

“My, my, how perfectly predictable this was.”

My head dropped, and my eyes averted, damming the tears she aimed to coax from me. Seeing me suffer was her favorite pleasure, and she wasted no time sinking her teeth back into the holes of my neck that I spent so long prying them from.

I glanced at Cora, snuggled in my arms. Three mornings ago, my heart soared as I watched her tiny hand grip Micah’s index finger, broadening his smile as she cooed at him. That now seemed like a lifetime ago.

In the early, gentle hours, he had me wrapped in his arms in the afterglow of lovemaking.

There were no signs that my life was about to be upended when he leaned in and whispered, “You are the best thing to ever happen to me.” He was the first person to ever make me feel that I was enough, and that the vicious words my mother callously tossed at me all my life were nothing more than cruel lies.

Now, Micah’s words rang hollow while my mother’s came back to life, taking their heinous form and seeping into every vein.

He had kissed Cora on the forehead as I held her in my arms. “I love you, my sunshine,” he murmured.

His eyes met mine before leaving a lingering kiss on my lips.

Micah strode out the front door that morning, never to return home.

At the rising sun the following day, I frantically scoured the village, only for his employer to tell me that Micah had left the village on horseback the day before…

right after he resigned from his employment.

My world tilted on its axis, throwing me to my knees in the dirt as a fissure tore me in two.

A coarse truth coated my fracturing heart, whispering to me that he was never coming back.

And there I was, tear-soaked and broken in the middle of the village, with Cora cradled in my arms, folding into the regret that my mother warned would consume me.

I proved her right. He proved her right, making the choice for Cora and me.

My life of love and joy was a ruse, and my mother’s maniacal laughter rang in my head, like she could see my body shaking in destruction.

With nothing left, I dragged myself like the wounded animal I was to her doorstep. My possessions were abandoned, save for a few mementos and a note. One in which I could only bear to read once but couldn’t bring myself to leave behind.

Cora’s cries snapped me back to the stuffy sitting room. “Shh, sweet girl. It’s alright,” I soothed, rocking her.

My mother crinkled her nose. “It is no wonder he left you, Aurora. Being stuck with a screaming baby and a pig-headed woman would make any man flee. You cannot even properly keep your child from crying! Honestly, I am astounded he lasted as long as he did with such a disappointment of a woman.”

This is how babies act, you bitch. Try being around one for more than a minute.

I swallowed my retort and settled into a passive, safe voice instead. “Yes, Mother.”

Tense silence passed between us. If my father were here, he would know how to soften the intensity of the situation and dampen my mother’s cruelty.

“Well? Let me look upon my granddaughter,” she said sharply through pursed lips.

I shuddered. I had never wanted Cora to be in her presence.

Now, I had to present my daughter as an offering to this beast. The polished poise of her outward appearance hid the sharpness of her teeth and claws.

A perfect-presenting mother to anyone outside this manor, but I knew well how she villainized me to her elite friends.

Cora settled back into her usual sunny disposition as I stood to show Mother my baby.

Before I could take a step toward her, she raised her hand, pausing my approach.

She gave a slight nod to one of her servants lingering by the door.

“If you want my help, Aurora, you will become the proper lady I raised you to be. That starts now.”

The servant stepped to my front and held out her arms to take Cora from me. I sucked in a breath and stiffened. My mother watched with measured eyes and a wisp of a grin. Her test had begun. A test of compliance.

I was at an impasse. I had to choose: Become the submissive and meek woman I rejected all my life, or live a life of destitution.

I had no trade or skills to work and provide for my daughter, nor anyone to care for her if I did manage to gain employment.

My predicament was designed to keep me in need and in reliance on others.

A woman was more pliable when she had no options.

I slowly and hesitantly placed Cora in the servant’s arms before sinking back to the sofa.

The freedom I had once tasted was decaying before my eyes.

I didn’t know I could feel any more devastated and helpless than I already did.

The tears fought for control over my manufactured calm, and I choked them down, refusing to give my mother the victory.

I was already relinquishing so much to her on behalf of my daughter’s survival.

The servant brought Cora to my mother and presented my precious baby for the beast to assess, eyes roving over her.

“She has the look of her father. Pity,” she spat.

She flicked her hand at the servant, indicating she was done with scrutinizing an infant, and the servant gently bounced Cora as she came to stand by my side.

My hands shook when my baby was not placed back in my arms, and I had to stop myself from reaching for her.

A noblewoman wouldn’t carry around her own infant. I was expected to be a noble once more.

Mother tipped her chin with satisfaction, knowing she gripped the winning hand.

“You told me what happened. You asked me for shelter, safety, and help, but you have not given me the one thing I need to hear from you the most, Aurora.” She tilted her head and waited for my response, boring her cold eyes into me.

I swallowed with resistance from my drying throat.

“I apologize, Mother.” I tried swallowing again.

“You were right, and I am sorry I embarrassed you with my insolence. I was selfish to not think about how my actions and wants would impact you and my family name.” The words were vinegar on my tongue.

Her face alighted with a vicious grin. She detested that I never apologized for who I was and what I did with my life.

Now, she was finally able to bend me to her will by leveraging what she always wanted out of me: groveling and guilt.

To be the small, whimpering thing she crafted me to be.

If it had been just me, I never would have returned here.

I would have made it on my own, anyway I could.

But Cora was my priority. My world. I had to think about her well-being before my own, and I would do whatever it took to keep her safe and provided for.

“I will accept your apology and provide all that you and my granddaughter need, as long as you agree to my conditions,” she stated.

The conditions of her motherly love. How perfectly predictable.

I hadn’t realized how wrong this was. How a mother’s love shouldn’t come with conditions until I held Cora in my arms for the first time.

Tracing the lines of her tiny, innocent face, the truth of my upbringing turned past the point of sour.

It became a festering wound. I had only just met her, and I had already made quiet promises to her that I would endure immeasurable pains to keep her happy and healthy.

To ensure she would always be loved. I was holding myself to those promises by willingly becoming everything I was not.

“Of course, Mother,” I placated in my meekest voice.

My focus shifted to Cora resting in the servant’s arms. I would agree to whatever my mother wanted.

Tell her what she needed to hear. But I was determined to find a way outside of those roles and responsibilities to care for and raise my daughter in the way she needed. In the way I, too, needed.

My mother took a sip of her tea, staining the white porcelain rim pink. “You will not question me nor share your opinion on anything that goes on in this household, as you have done in the past.”

“Yes, Mother.”

She folded her hands properly on her lap. “Cora is to take lessons and be educated on how to be of nobility. You will not impede any of it.”

I clenched my teeth. “Yes, Mother.”

Her grey eyes sparked. “You will be the ever-proper lady I have always expected you to be, attending events, balls, and outings as a representative of your bloodline. If you even once embarrass me, as you are so inclined to do, I will throw you out of this manor.”

Heat rose inside me, and I inhaled a deep breath. The burning desire to exert defiance, woven into the fabric of who I was, must be doused. “Of course, Mother. I will make you proud.”

She scoffed and eyed me. “Doubtful, Aurora. It would take an act of the gods for you to even impress me, much less make me proud.”

I cast my eyes to the overly glossed floor. After twenty-five years of hearing such vitriolic rhetoric, I thought I would have grown numb to it. It stung just as much as it did when she spat such things at me when I was barely out of diapers.

“I should have had another child. Maybe that one would not have turned out so disappointing.” She sighed dramatically before taking another dainty sip of her tea.

“You and Cora shall remain under my roof. To show you that I still have your best interests at heart, I have arranged a gesture of goodwill.”

This can’t be good.

I flicked my eyes up at her, and she disingenuously smiled. “Upon your unexpected arrival yesterday, I went to work to find you a suitor. Not an easy task to find someone willing to court someone like,” her eyes moved up and down my frame as she wrinkled her nose, “you.”

My breath hitched. I was mourning the life Cora and I had settled into, having it violently torn from my grasp, and the beast wanted me to fill the cavernous hole in my chest with the shallow commitment of another man. It was punishment poised as a gift—a favored way for her to deliver cruelty.

“You may remember him from your youth. He has grown into a fine gentleman and comes from a good lineage. I am unsure why he has not made a match with any worthy noblewomen, but I did not want to question why he is willing to consider a woman who has sullied herself by producing offspring with a filthy commoner. Especially after said commoner didn’t even want her.

” Her words were venom, dripping with disgust.

I worked to control my breathing, unwilling to reveal any apprehension or disapproval. My eyes wandered to Cora, held in the arms of a stranger.

She raised her chin again and continued. “You are lucky to have a mother who went out of her way to find such a good match for you after everything you did to me.”

I forced a stiff nod. “Yes, Mother. Thank you for doing this for me. May I ask the name of the noble you have graciously set me up with?”

My mother grinned. “Lord Jairus Grimaldi.”

The color drained from my face, and my eyes widened. Oh, goddess, no. Not him.