“No. Of course he might have wished I’d been more forthcoming when I refused. He has not looked too deeply into my past, or the family pedigree, and for that I am grateful.” She wet her lips. “However, since I am adamant I will not marry him, he has offered a more agreeable arrangement. Agreeable to me, but perhaps not to society at large…or to you two, either, I suspect.”
Eugenia reached for Sylvia’s hand. “Tell us.”
“I have been offered carte blanche, and I have accepted. I will be Lord Sullivan’s mistress.”
“Sullivan?!” Aurora’s cousins gaped together, and then Sylvia looked away.
“He shouldn’t have done that!” Eugenia growled. “He should be ashamed of himself after all the care and attention and worry we’ve felt over his situation. The nerve of the man to offer a lady less than you deserve! I have gravely misjudged him.”
Aurora winced. “He is not to blame. The fault lies with me. He could ask me a dozen times to marry him, and I would still say no to him each and every day. My mind was made up long ago not to marry. I gave him no choice.”
Aurora turned her gaze on Sylvia, who had yet to say anything. She still had her face turned away. Was she offended with her for agreeing? Embarrassed they were related by blood? Disgusted?
Eugenia poked Sylvia in the thigh when she noticed their cousin’s continued silence, too. “Well, say something. Stop her!”
At last Sylvia looked back, and her expression was bleak. “I always feared it might come to this one day. That you’d accept a lesser status than you deserve because of what happened when you were younger.”
“It’s what I expected, Sylvia. All I want and need.” Aurora lifted her hands to gesture at the riches surrounding her. The palace she currently lived in felt like a prison so often. A gilded cage where she never dared put a foot wrong for fear of displeasing the marquess, and the dowager marchioness, particularly. “I was never meant for this life.”
“Neither were we. But if you married Sullivan, you would grow accustomed to it like we have,” Eugenia whispered. “Sullivan is set to inherit Northport, after all.”
“And he will. And he’ll marry eventually, too. Once he’s over his obsession with me, he’ll be able to move on with someone else,” she promised them, even as she secretly wondered if he could. He was so stubborn. He was just like her in that respect.
Eugenia and Sylvia exchanged a long look and then turned to face her, each with one brow raised. “Obsession?” Eugenia asked.
Aurora shrugged. “How could it be anything else? He refuses to turn aside, and he doesn’t really know me. Only you two know my darkest days and don’t judge me.”
“It’s not as if you had much say in the matter,” Sylvia whispered.
“Neither of us has ever blamed you.”
“I do. It’s only right that I return to my level. I choose to be a mistress and am content with that. Sullivan has provided me with a town house, a generous allowance, jewels, servants, whatever I want. All the usual riches a courtesan could expect from her protector will be mine.”
Sylvia slid to her knees and crawled across the room to kneel at Aurora’s feet. She did not touch her, but her eyes were swimming with tears. “Don’t do this. It’s not too late to change your mind.”
“It’s done. I gave my word,” Aurora whispered. “It is the only thing I have of any value.”
“I’m sure if he’s proposed a dozen times, he’s still hoping you’ll change your mind,” Eugenia suggested, joining Sylvia to kneel before her.
She shook her head. “He promised never to ask me again. He gave his word, and you know him almost as well as I do. He wouldn’t break a promise to a lady.”
Eugenia stood. “You know what this means, don’t you? You’ll be excluded, whispered about most horridly.”
“I’m sorry if what you hear in the future will upset you. But they are speaking the truth. I was a whore once, and I’m still one.”
Sylvia scowled. “Don’t you ever call yourself that again!”
“It’s the truth.” Aurora smiled sadly. “I traded my virtue for my survival when I was young, and this time, I have no doubts. I leave tonight. Sullivan has sent the key to my new home already. He’s expecting me to be there this evening to receive him.”
“You cannot go,” Sylvia said, grabbing her arm tightly.
But Aurora shook her head and removed her cousins fingers from her arm gently. “I’m sorry but this is where we part company. I have loved living with you both. I’ve never cared about any women more than I have the two of you. You are the older sisters I always wished for when my spirits were low. I cannot allow you to call on me at my new residence. It wouldn’t be proper for either of you. You must think of your reputations.”
“To hell with that!” Eugenia cried. “You are family.”
“Yes, by blood until the end of time.” Aurora stood. The lump in her throat grew harder to swallow around and her vision blurred with unshed tears. “I love you both, so very much,” she managed to say in a whisper.
The pair embraced her, begging her to stay, which of course she could not agree to. After a while, Aurora was not sure they would ever release her, their grip was so tight. But she had to pull away, extract herself from the pair. Partings were painful but at least she had a chance to say a proper goodbye, unlike everyone else Aurora had ever loved.