Page 103 of Cashmere Ruin

Fucking vipers.I force myself to breathe through my nose, count down from ten, though all that Zen shit that never helped anyone who was truly mad.

And by God, I am. Right now, it’s taking all of my willpower to keep my fists where they are, let alone keep silent.

But I have to.

April’s a fighter,Elias said.So let her fight.

“Envy?” she balks. Then, as if a lightbulb just went off, she turns to Anne. “My sketches. Back at the house, you saw my sketches.”

“This should be good.” Anne smirks viciously.

“You took pictures of them, didn’t you?”

“Really? Did I also fake the moon landing, sister?”

“You…!” She grits her teeth. “How can you shamelessly cheat like this?”

“Oh, please. Don’t be such a sore loser,” Nora scolds. “So what if it looks like yours? People have similar ideas all the time.”

Similar, my ass. It’s a carbon fucking copy.

“Besides, it’s the execution that counts, yes?” the wicked stepmother adds. “And I don’t know about you, but I spare no expenses for my daughter. Right, dear?”

“We hired the best tailors,” Anne grins. “A wholeéquipe. I think they did my design justice, don’t you?”

“Mydesign,” April retorts. “At least when it’s just us, you could have the guts to be honest. You didn’t sketch out that dress—Idid.”

Something shifts on Anne’s face then, soft features turning sharp and cunning. “Maybe. But I still turned it in first.”

The clerk comes back. Nora makes a beeline for her, asking who the fuck knows what, and Anne doesn’t waste any time going back to hiding behind her mother’s skirts.

As soon as they’re out of reach, I whisper to April, “Is that allowed? Making others do the dress for you?”

Reluctantly, she nods. “It’s a design contest, not a tailoring one. Most entries here haven’t been sewn by their designers.”

“I see.”

Then I take a step towards the counter.

“Wait!” April stops me. “Where are you going?”

“To tell the clerk,” I answer. “She stole your piece. She deserves to be disqualified.”

April shakes her head. “As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right. She turned it in first.”

“All done.” Anne glides back towards us, Nora in tow. “What’s wrong, April? Aren’t you going to turn in your dress?”

That’s it. I take an aggressive step forward, all good resolutions forgotten. There’s only one urge in my veins now: to make these goddamn snakespay.

Anne’s demeanor changes instantly. She draws back, an instinctive fear telling her to get the fuck away from me. It’s the first good idea she’s had today.

“You little—” I start.

But April’s hand settles firmly on my back. “No,” she says. “It’s not worth it. Let’s go.”

It takes everything in me to swallow back my rage—everything.

But I do.

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