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And then her father was ed She hadn’t been to Mossband in ten years, when her mother had closed up the house and happily taken up residence in Mayfair Her grandone, died not a year after they’d left the house Pasties had been deeer now delivered their wares to the back entrance of their impressive Mayfair town house And the baker’s sonhe was a distant, foggy memory

No one else in the fa to this world that Sophie had never wanted For which she’d never asked

No one else in the family seemed to care that Sophie hated it

And so it was that there, in the gardens of the Liverpool estate, with all of London looking on, Sophie grew tired of pretending that she was one of these people That she belonged in this place That she needed its acceptance

She had s to carry her

She looked to her sisters, each beautifully appointed, each certain that she would one day rule this world And Sophie knew she’d never be them She’d never enjoy the scandal She’d never want this world and its trappings

So why defer to it?

It wasn’t as though the ton would welcome her after today; why not take her scandal and speak the truth for once?

In for a penny, in for a pound, as her father always said

She turned her gaze on the group of theraded our sister that I had no choice but to play the hero and avenge her honor, as none of the rest of these so-called gentleh for all of London to hear "Poor His Grace, indeed, that he was raised in this world that has deluded both itself and hientle with most of his brethren, if one is honest--is a boor And so much worse That rhymes with boor"

Her s!"

Howladylike enough? How e of this aristocratic world that would never accept her? That would never accept any of them, if not for its need of their money? "I wouldn’t worry," she replied in front of all of London "It’s not as though they think us ladies as it is"

Her sisters stilled

"Sophie," Seline said, the word filled with disbelief and not a small amount of respect

"Well That was unexpected," Sesily said

The countess lowered her voice to a barely-there whisper "What have I told you about having opinions? You’ll destroy yourself! And your sisters with you! Do not do soret!"

Sophie did not lower her voice when she said, "My only regret is that the pool was not deeper And filled with sharks"

Sophie did not knohat it was that she’d expected froh-pitched ladies’ cries Or even loud, masculine harrumphs

She wouldn’t have minded a swoon or two

But she didn’t expect silence

She didn’t expect cool, exacting disinterest, or the way the entire garden party sih she’d never spoken As though she wasn’t there

As though she’d never been there to begin with