Page 117 of Heartless

She spotted Mary Ann and Abigail, too, loitering near the tree line. Both were pale and wide-eyed. Mary Ann looked relieved, her hands pressed against her stomach.

‘Did he . . .’ Her mother swallowed, hard. ‘Did he hurt you?’

‘What? No!’ Cath shook her head as her mother’s words pieced together. She disentangled herself from her mother’s embrace. ‘He didn’t . . . it was nothing like that. This is all a misunderstanding.’ She spun back to the guards. ‘Let him go. He hasn’t done anything!’

‘It’s all right now,’ said her father, stepping forward to brush back a strand of Cath’s hair. ‘He’s captured. You don’t have to be afraid. His Majesty has ensured us this will never happen again.’

Aghast, Catherine peered down at Jest. His lips were pressed thin, the only sign of emotion on his face. All signs of their previous euphoria were gone. His gaze, now cunning and sly, was darting from the King to the guards to Raven, perched somewhere overhead. He wasn’t looking at her.

Nor was he looking particularly innocent.

Cath frowned and planted her hands on her hips. ‘You’re all overreacting. Jest was helping me. He took me . . .’ She hesitated, but only for a moment. ‘He took me to the treacle well. He knew where it was, and look! My leg is healed!’ She lifted the hem of her dress.

‘Catherine!’ Her mother slapped her hand down and the hem fell, but not before Mary Ann’s hand had flown to her mouth. She had seen the damage at the theatre. She knew the miracle of it.

Cath dared to turn her focus on the King. Her suitor. She gulped, but guilt over her mussed hair and swollen lips was barely a gnat pestering at the back of her thoughts. ‘Your Majesty, please. You can’t arrest him. He hasn’t done anything wrong.’

The King ducked his chin between the folds of his cloak. The crown started to slip on his head.

‘Nothing wrong!’ her mother barked, fluttering her arms. ‘He kidnapped you! Twice!’

Catherine’s breath snagged.

‘I can’t imagine what spell this man has on you,’ her mother continued, ‘but to steal you away . . . once, directly from beneath the nose of your betrothed—’

He’s not my betrothed.

‘And even from our own house, your own chambers!’ She wailed. She was crying again. Catherine’s father scooped her into his arms, but she pushed him away, turning her wrath on Jest, who was still on his knees, held firm by the guards. ‘You wretch! You villain!How dare you!’

Jest held her gaze, his jaw twitching, his expression unreadable.

‘Mama, stop it!’ Catherine clung to her arm. ‘It isn’t like that. He’s . . . He . . .’

Her thoughts skidded to a stop.

Her parents knew. They knew he’d come to her chambers. They knew they’d sneaked away in the middle of the night.

Her eyes drifted back to Mary Ann, chest aching with betrayal.

Mary Ann stared back, her eyes watering and hands clasped.I’m sorry, she mouthed.

‘We were expecting a demand for ransom,’ her father said, his voice gruff. ‘We didn’t know if we would ever see you again.’

‘Yet here I am,’ Cath said, still reeling. ‘Not kidnapped. Not ransomed. I can explain everything.’

‘He stole you away from this very house!’ her father bellowed. ‘Unchaperoned! Anything could have happened!’

‘But nothing did happen—’

‘You mean to tell me—’ His voice had darkened. He was an ocean storm gathering on the horizon. ‘That my daughter, my angel, went with him willingly?’

Her cheeks flamed. ‘I . . . Father . . .’

‘Did my daughter,’ he continued, speaking as if every word were a strain, ‘sneak out of my house in the middle of the night, alone, with the court joker, and attend a gathering of strangers and ruffians and who knows what sorts of creatures?’

Her ribs collapsed inward, pushing the air from her lungs. How many of her secrets had Mary Ann told?

This was her last chance, she knew. To deny it all. To blame Jest for everything, to pass the consequences on to his shoulders. To maintain her parents’ perception of her forever.

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