“Kat, think about this,” Finn said quietly. “What you are suggesting is potentially treasonous.”
The word leapt out at Katryna, realising her brother was right. If Rowan caught on to her, there was no telling what the prince would do to silence her.
“Damn. You’re right, Finn. We need to go about this differently.” She considered for a moment.
“Rowan is potentially going to be king very soon. Rowan is no monster, but he can be a dangerous man when he is threatened.”
Katryna listened to her brother’s insight. She was putting herself at risk by confronting and provoking Rowan the way she had.
“I don’t know if Rowan did what you fear he did,” Finn said. “But if it is true, we need more solid evidence. We cannot make such drastic claims against the first-in-line without proof.”
Katryna nodded, holding out a hand and firmly grasping her brother’s shoulder. “I have a job for you.”
※
Katryna found Trish putting fresh linens on her bed back in Katryna’s quarters. She looked as stunning as ever, wearing another one of her crimson gowns that she so loved.
Katryna bolted the door shut behind her, wiping away her drying tears and trying her best to hide her bruised jaw.
“Are you alright, m’lady?” Trish asked. She turned and saw the swelling on Katryna’s face instantly. “Oh, my goodness, what happened?”
Trish rushed over and sat Katryna down in a cushioned armchair, before grabbing a cloth and soaking it in some cool, clean water. She handed the dripping cloth to Katryna, who dabbed it on her jawline.
“How many times do I need to say it, Trish? Don’t call me ‘m’lady’,” Katryna said.
Trish ignored the comment. “What happened to you?”
“Inquiries happened.”
“I wasn’t aware that inquiries involved being beaten up?”
Katryna winced at the pain as the cold cloth rested on her face. “My inquiries do.”
Katryna sat forward, resting her elbows on her knees, and trying to relax. She exhaled sharply, trying to relieve herself of the tension brewing inside.
“I fear I made the wrong decision by returning home,” Katryna admitted.
“Nonsense. We had to come, to see your father. For your brothers, your aunt.”
Katryna shook her head. “He’s nothing but a liar. All my life he has only ever used me! It’s all falling apart around me.”
Trish soaked the cloth and rung it out, applying it to Katryna’s blue and red jaw. She knelt beside Katryna as she vented her frustration, patting her forearm.
“I don’t know who these people are anymore.”
“A long time away from them will do that, Kat.”
Katryna looked into her handmaiden’s comforting green eyes, coloured like fields of grass. But her attention was instantly averted to the ugly scar down her face, long since healed.
It brought back vicious memories.
Katryna rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes, feeling her anger bubbling like a hot soup. She decided to let it out and tell Trish everything.
“Rowan befouled my father’s decision-making, convinced him that I should wed Prince Tesh Ex’rama from Ember to build a new alliance! My father wanted me shipped away as a bargaining chip! To use me like I’m property,” Katryna shouted. “Who does he think I am?! Some cheap handmaiden, or some brothel whore!”
Trish suddenly stopped and her lip began trembling. Tears began to well in her eyes. She shook her head from side to side, clearly distraught by what Katryna had said.
“Is that how you think of me too, is it then? Like some cheap brothel whore?”
“No, Trish-”
Trish erupted. “You know, your father isn’t the man you think he is. Your father took me away from my father when I was a little girl! Not once did he ever protect me from your mother! I lost everything! My home, my friends! After everything I’ve done for you, not once have you ever considered how that hurt me!
“And here you are, complaining and carrying on like a spoilt child, because your father wanted you married to a prince? A rich, powerful man, to take care of you? Are you kidding me, Kat? Being born a Bower has blinded you from the truth of the privileges you have been handed.”
“That’s not the point.”
“No, the point is you think you are better than me, just because you were born into the right family.” Trish was taking it very personally.
Katryna shook her head. “You know that’s not true.”
“You said it yourself. ‘Cheap maiden’. ‘Brothel whore’.”
Trish turned and stumbled away, leaving Katryna all alone in her quarters. “Trish, wait. I’m sorry.”
“You have changed since we came back to Ravenrock. I don’t know who you are anymore!” Trish yelled. “You’ve changed, Katryna. The Katryna I knew never let others decide who she was.”
Trish stepped out, leaving the door ajar. Katryna heard her sobbing as she went down the hall. She rubbed her temples forcefully, trying to relieve some of the tension. She had just realised what she had said, and how badly it must have sounded to Trish.
Katryna felt overwhelmed. She was unsure of what to make of anything anymore. The people around her were changing colours. Castle Bower felt as though it was falling apart, brick by brick. But the worst part of it- she felt unsure of herself.
Everything is becoming unravelled.
Katryna was perhaps one step closer to learning the truth of her parents’ poisonings, yet the truth seemed to be more bitter than she ever expected. It was affecting her more than she cared to admit.
A short time later, Finn came knocking on Katryna’s door. She unbolted it, and with her brother stood her Aunt Rashel and the royal physician Jerrem Denar. They shuffled into her quarters.
“Don’t let anyone else in, please,” Katryna said to the guard at her door. The Infinity Guardsman nodded, his helmet clinking and his crimson and salt-white breastplate
