Adelaide

The carriage jolted over another stone in the road, sending my body forward despite the suffocating tightness of my corset. I could hardly breathe; the boning dug into my ribs with every shallow inhale.

Beside me sat Lady Whitcombe, a distant cousin of my father’s, assigned to escort me to my new “home.”

Her eyes flickered to me every so often, with a look of disdain on her face. She looked as though she would rather be anywhere but here with me.

“My dear,” she said, ...