Simone’s POV
"Get your hands off me," I hissed, wrenching my arm back with a sharp jerk.
My mother did not let go. Her fingernails dug through the thin silk of my sleeve, biting straight into my skin. She yanked me off the gravel path, dragging me behind the thick stone wall of the estate greenhouse. The scent of damp earth and rotting fertilizer filled my nose.
"You absolute fool," she whispered. Her breath smelled like the bitter black coffee she had been downing all morning. Her face was grey, the skin around her mouth tight and wrinkled. "You blew it, Simone. You blew it completely."
"Let go," I snapped, planting my heels into the dirt. I broke her grip this time, stumbling back until the rough brick wall scraped against my shoulder blades. "What is wrong with you? The guards are j
