Page 64 of Cashmere Ruin

Nora’s smile curves into a crescent. “And this must be baby May!”

She reaches to take her from my arms without so much as asking. May gives a wail like a tiny banshee, curling up tighter against me. Luckily, the swaddle keeps Nora’s grabby hands from yanking her out, too secure to give even an inch. Thirty seconds into this disaster and I’m already glad I took this precaution.

“Sorry. She gets shy with strangers.”

Nora recovers quickly. She drops her hands and gives a sickly-sweet smile. Funnily enough, it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Maybe later.”

How about maybe never.“So, you wanted to see me?”

“Right!” She claps her hands together. “How rude of us. Darling, why don’t you show her into the drawing room?”

With a noncommittal grunt, Dominic starts walking. Nora’s arm hooks into mine, her sharp nails digging half-moons into my skin as she kindly leads the way. You know, like I haven’t lived here most of my life.

After what feels like an unnecessarily long walk to the gallows, we reach the drawing room. Yes, the actual drawing room. I look around for Elizabeth Bennet, but she seems to have missed this particular invitation. Lucky her. “Look, I can’t stay long, so?—”

“But you just got here!” Nora gasps. “And the girls were so looking forward to seeing you! Isn’t that right, girls?”

Suddenly, I hear it: giggles.

My blood freezes. It’s like that scene inThe Shining, but worse, because at least the protagonist there didn’t have childhood trauma about twins. And these twins? I bet there isn’t a ghost out there they couldn’t scare back into the grave.

“Hi, Kate, Diana.”

More giggles. “Hi, April,” they chirp in unison. I swear to God, it’s like they practiced this.

“Is that your baby?” Kate asks.

“She’s paler than you,” Diana remarks.

“Her hair is lighter.”

“And shorter. No pigtails.”

“Why aren’tyouwearing pigtails anymore, April?”

“Yeah, we liked them.”

“Liked them lots.”

“Like” is an understatement. I don’t think I’ve spent a single day here without one twin hanging on either pigtail, tugging like their lives depended on it. It’s one of the reasons I don’t wear my hair like that anymore: no hairstyle is worth getting scalped for.

I suppress a shiver and force myself to smile. “Yeah, I know.”

“Girls, give our sister a breath. Don’t you see she’s tired?”

If my blood froze before, the sound of that voice turns my veins into pure ice.

A new face saunters up from the hallway. Regrettably, it isn’t new to me.

“Hi, Anne. You’ve… grown.”

She shoots me a winning smile, the carbon copy of her mother’s. “So have you,” she says, eyes wandering eloquently down to my hips.

Bitch.Of Nora’s litter of three, only one is the actual spawn of the devil. Sure, Kate and Diana might enjoy pulling wings off of butterflies, but there’s always someone behind them egging them on, musing out loud, “I wonder what they look like without…?”

Well, that someone is Anne.

“Aww,” she coos, lowering her head to look at May. It gives me chillsandgoosebumps. On top of that, there’s a glint in her eyes that I really don’t like. “Did you see that, Kay, Dee? It’s like a little doll!” she squeals. “Why don’t we wake it up and see if it’s real?”

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