Prologue
“We met when stars danced and rivers ran.”
Eliza quickened her pace.
The need to escape the vile things that called themselves people was unwavering.
She was done with this damn party and her damn sister.
Out of everyone at the party tonight, it had been her twin sister who had hurt her the most.
Ever since they were children, Eliza had spoken up for Emily. She had been the one brave enough to voice both of their concerns.
She had spoken up to their parents when it came to an unreasonably early bedtime. When they wanted snacks before dinner. When their parents had decided something neither girl liked.
It had always been Eliza who stood up and spoke for both of them.
And yet, when Eliza had needed her sister to defend her after she spoke up about the ridiculousness of these parties they were both forced to attend, Emily had cowardly looked away.
She had even sat there and smiled while their so-called friends snickered and talked behind Eliza’s back.
As if Emily were embarrassed by her.
Ha.
If anything, Eliza should have been the one embarrassed.
It wasn’t Eliza who nervously chatted away with every male who approached them.
It wasn’t Eliza who craved attention so badly that she would kiss anyone’s ass to get it.
Was Emily really so desperate to abandon her for the likes of those brain-dead women who called themselves friends?
A stinging pain bloomed in Eliza’s chest at the thought of losing her sister.
Perhaps Eliza had lost her sister a long time ago.
She looked back at the dim glow of the building her friends and family had fallen all over themselves to enter.
Eliza swiped away the stupid tears of anger, realizing that the empty space between her and the building showed her just how little everyone cared about her.
Not her sister.
Not even her chaperone.
No one had come looking for her.
She was alone.
Because of her unwillingness to hold her tongue when angry.
Because of her need to speak her mind.
She was an outcast.
What had once brought her parents laughter and smiles as a child was now what vexed them most about her.
Unladylike.
Untrained.
She had been called it all.
She had been told countless times that a woman should be an accent in the room. Someone who existed only to draw attention to her husband.
But how could any woman be happy with that life?
To Eliza, it sounded boring.
Gloomy, even.
Yet Eliza felt as if she were the only one who saw it that way.
Was Emily simply better at faking delight at such a frivolous life?
Or maybe…
Maybe her sister actually wanted that life.
Perhaps she even enjoyed the barely breathable dresses and painful shoes they were forced to wear to every ball.
Was Eliza being childish, just as her backstabbing friends had said?
…
No.
It was them.
Not her.
It was all their fault Emily had turned against her.
Out of breath, Eliza tried to pull her dress up even more. But the tightness of her girdle and the heaviness of the fabric made it almost impossible to move faster than two steps at a time.
Damn it.
Her shoes were wet.
When had she walked to a river?
Dropping her dress, Eliza looked down at the shallow stream and watched her own reflection ripple in the water.
A crying girl stared back at her, her hair so messy that Eliza’s chaperone would have fainted at the sight.
“You’ll catch your death like that.”
A deep voice came from behind her.
Eliza turned.
A tall, dark figure was walking toward her.
