“What did you just say to me?” he demanded, his voice dropping to a dangerous hiss.

I swallowed the throbbing in my spine until it turned into something hard and hot in my chest. “I said you made a catastrophic mistake.”

His handsome features hardened into contempt. “The only mistake I made was marrying a charity case with a damaged womb. You were supposed to be decorative, Mara.

You couldn’t even manage that.”

Above him, Celeste let out a high, tinkling giggle.

That specific sound — that empty little laugh — did something to me. It peeled away the very last shred of affection I’d been foolish enough to save for the man I’d married.