Page 23 of Those Fatal Flowers

Cora finishes the part about how the primordial couple is banished from their home in Eden and looks up to face the rest of us. This is the story that Rose loves? It makes my stomach roil.

“I’d forgotten that God creates beasts and birds for Adam as companions before he creates Eve,” I say. It takes all my strength to keep my features from twisting into a sneer. To be no more than an afterthought—why believe such a story?

Emme barks with laughter. “It seems a bit silly now, doesn’t it?”

“I just like the part about the serpent tricking Eve,” Rose says, a bit defensively.

“But he didn’t trick her.” I can’t help myself.

“He convinced her to eat the fruit!”

“He told her she wouldn’t die if she ate it. And she didn’t, did she?” I don’t bother asking why this god would put such a tree in Eden in the first place; just like mine, he enjoys setting humanity up to fail. An apple and a pomegranate. Two women damned for their taste in fruit.

“The serpent is Satan, Lady Thelia!” Elyoner’s face darkens, and she draws Virginia closer to her chest as if I’ve invited evil into the room by defending a snake.

“I—I know,” I begin, unsure of how to recover. I don’t know what else that giant book contains and can only speak confidently about what we just heard. “I’m just saying that he didn’t actually lie.”

“But he deceived her.”

“Did he?”

“Do you think Eve would have eaten that fruit if she knew what it would cost her? What it would cost us?”

Virginia nuzzles at Elyoner’s chest, looking for a breast,and I soften. She’s still young; the memory of childbirth must be fresh. “I’m not sure. But even Eden might grow to feel like a prison after an eternity of it.”

“I think we all know how quickly Eden can spoil,” Cora muses sadly as she turns to Elyoner. “After all, didn’t your father describe the New World as Eden on earth? Isn’t that why we’re all here?”

Elyoner’s cheeks turn scarlet, and she pulls Virginia closer. “He believed that, Cora; otherwise he would’ve insisted I return with him on the supply run.”

My eyes grow wide. “Your father is Governor White? And he left you behind?”

“Virginia was only nine days old when the fleet returned. My husband thought it safer to stay.”

“I know your father believed it, and that your husband did, too,” Cora says softly. “But if the choice was yours, would you have stayed here?”

Perhaps it’s a trick of the light on the haze or a result of the smoke itself, but Elyoner’s eyes are suddenly glassy. “Of course not. We knew it was dangerous here that first day we disembarked.”

“Some places more than others,” Emme murmurs, her eyes wandering to me. Her stare, previously so warm, is now sharp with warning. Cora bristles at the comment.

“What are you implying, Emme?”

“Only that Lady Thelia should be careful in the Bailie house.”

Cora’s eyes turn into slits. “Say what you mean plainly.”

“Ladies, please!” Wenefrid interjects. Emme’s lips fall open in protest, but Wenefrid holds a hand in the air to silence her. The woman’s age must carry weight, because Emme’s mouth snaps closed, though her silence isn’t enough to quell Cora.

“I won’t sit here and listen to you slander my future family.” She stands abruptly, her movements frenzied, save for when she turns to delicately place Emme’s Bible on her empty chair. I push forward in my own, ready to follow her, but Margery places a hand on my knee. No one else tries to stop her, and before I can untangle what just transpired, Cora has already bolted from the home. The door slams loudly behind her.

Emme shakes her head, huffing with frustration.

“You shouldn’t have been so blunt,” Margaret chides her. “What would you have her do? The engagement is already set.”

“Would you prefer I say nothing? She’s about to marry a monster. Lady Thelia islivingthere!”

“What are you talking about?” My palms grow slick with sweat.

“He was a little rough with me one evening,” Margery whispers, looking to the floor. “Master Bailie walked in before anything happened, Lord protect his soul, and he scolded Thomas properly…”

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