Page 1 of Cora
JANUARY 1882
LONDON
CHAPTERONE
CORA
The first day of 1882 dawned bright with blustery promise. Cora thrust open the door to her private balcony, shoving away mounds of snow that had fallen overnight. There was nothing she loved more than a fresh start.
“Go on, Titi,” she said encouragingly to the tiny dog posed anxiously at the threshold, her little nose twitching. “I know it’s cold, but you need to go out.”
Titania, a bundle of brown and black fur that barely stood higher than Cora’s ankle, shivered.
“Don’t be such a coward.” Cora scooped up her pet and carried her outside, barefoot, relishing the stinging bite. Titi took care of her business promptly, and minutes later they were back inside, where her maid was waiting to help her dress.
“Mrs. Wilder has requested an audience,” the maid informed her.
There could only be one Mrs. Wilder, for Cora remained a mere miss. She glanced at the clock.
“A bit early for that.” She lived with her brother and new sister-in-law, but her wing of the mansion was sufficiently separate that most days they only intersected at either the midday or evening meal.
Downstairs, she found Annalise staring out the front window, her blond hair frosted by the cold winter light. Halting with one hand on the banister, she said, “Is everything all right?”
“Fine,” Annalise said, glancing at her and then gazing down at the street. Cora had heard her brother, Annalise’s husband, Eryx, stomping around the house earlier. He must have gone out.
One might think that a first Christmas with his new wife would merit a proper holiday, but her brother had been the opposite of cheerful, snappish and irritable all week. Eryx was a grump on the best of days, but his behavior lately was extreme even for him.
So much for a fresh start.
“Be honest, Anna.” Although Annalise was only a few inches shorter, she was fine-boned and being near her often made Cora feel like a galumphing giant. “Everything is not fine. What is going on?”
Her sister-in-law turned to her and said calmly, “There’s been a run on the bank. Surely you’ve seen mention of it in the papers.”
“I hadn’t, actually. I stopped paying attention to anything they print about my family years ago.” She’d quit for her own sanity after her one and only disastrous Season, except for a brief foray into the classified advertisements, which no one needed to know about.
Cora knew that once they started, bank runs were difficult to stop. One could not live with a banker for years without learning a few things about the business, whether one wished to or not. Her brother had parlayed a substantial inheritance from their father into building his own bank, Wilder & Co. She and Eryx were born on the wrong side of the blanket, but their father had tried to set them up in life despite their parentage. With their legitimate half-brother Lysander’s help, Eryx had won the trust of many in theton. Granted, they were the fastest set, and he had invested in some unsavory enterprises at the outset.
Still, the bank that bore his name was Eryx’s pride and joy.
What could have gone wrong?
Until now, Cora had never minded being cut out of dreary financial matters. Society, yes, but she was not remotely interested in the business of earning money. Despite the circumstances of her birth, she was privileged and protected, and content to remain that way.
According to everyone around her, she ought to have been married a decade ago. Thanks to one horrid man, here she was with her pet Yorkie, in advanced spinsterhood at the age of twenty-nine. She entertained herself with visits to a small circle of friends and enjoyed the freedom of riding her penny-farthing bicycle in the calmer streets of London.
She was not lonely. She had Titania, and her brothers.
Nor was she bored. Nothing had ever quite replaced her passion for playing piano, but she found ways to amuse herself.
She had always assumed her well-managed dowry would carry her through life and into her dotage. It had grown into a substantial sum under her brothers’ stewardship. Not having control over her own money sometimes made her feel like a kept pet, but she had at least trusted that her investments were in capable hands.
Until now.
If the bank went down, she could lose everything, too.
Shock rolled through Cora like a thunderstorm.
This was serious. This crisis affectedher, personally.
