*Summer*

I stagger back two steps as though a blow has been delivered, I might have crumpled to the floor if Dion hadn’t immediately reached me, taking me in his arms and steadying me. My heart is pounding so ferociously that I fear the servant might hear it. But then what do I care what he hears, what he thinks of me ?

“The one who is tasked with delivering it to a baby farmer ?” I ask.

He gives a quick nod and clutches his hat in his hands. “Yes, Miss”.

I want to rail at him, to call him all manner of unkind names, but he is a...