It’s time for a showdown!. In this corner, Cynthia Vane, goddess, casual lover of a great many men, never defeated. In the other corner, Daphne Vane, Cynthia’s daughter, not even officially recognized as a demigoddess, one of her many defeats. It looks like it should be no contest, but Daphne’s been laying the groundwork for this fight for some time. I’m going to defy the bookies and say it will go a whole fifteen rounds unless one side or the other scores a knock-out — and I’ll lay even odds on which one of them will do it! Check out the action in “Mommy dearest, Daddy dearest,” chapter 13 of To Ride the Lightning Bolt, my weekly serial about a young American woman who’s prepared to blackmail her mother to get out of an arranged marriage.

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