If she stayed with them, would there be a time when she couldn’t return to the outside world either?
She already felt it. A separation from the people around her, based on a knowledge of what was coming, as though she had one foot in the ancient world.
Will said, ‘What are you going to tell your family?’
She pulled her gaze from the squabbling patrons. Her family weren’t naive or unknowing, like the men and women sitting in this tavern. They knew the fight that lay ahead. And they had arrayed themselves on the Dark King’s side.
‘I used to sneak out at night all the time,’ Violet found herself saying. ‘Come back at breakfast. Just plonk myself down at the table and ask for some toast. My father would pretend he didn’t know I’d been gone.’
‘Part of you wants to go back to them.’ Will said it in a quiet voice.
‘Wouldn’t you?’ she said.
Will looked down at his scarred palm. ‘My mother and I, we moved around a lot. I never really got to know people. She kept us to ourselves.’ He looked up and smiled, a wry expression. ‘I’ve never lived somewhere like the Hall of the Stewards. I’ve never had somewhere that was safe, to depend on, and to protect.’ She couldn’t look away from his straightforward words. ‘But there’s a part of me … My mother and I didn’t have much, but we had each other. We were family.’
Family. Tom was still there in her heart, underneath all the painful fears and doubts. The Tom who she looked up to, the Tom she had striven to emulate, before she knew about Lions.
She knew what Will meant because she had felt it herself, the devotion to one person who she had believed would always be there for her, and the safety of that feeling.
‘Would you go back to that?’ Violet looked again at the others in the inn and tried to imagine being one of them again. ‘To not knowing?’
‘I can’t.’ Will pressed his thumb into his palm. ‘I thought my life was normal, but I know now that it wasn’t.’ He looked up, his eyes very dark. ‘My mother was scared. Always on edge, always looking over her shoulder … She was trying to protect me from the truth. The truth about who I was and what was happening.’ The scar that ran along the fate line of his palm was mirrored on the back of his hand, as if it had been run right through. ‘I can see why she did it, and a part of me might even want to go back to it, but I can’t. Not now that I know what she knew.’
I thought my life was normal, but I know now that it wasn’t. Violet thought about her childhood, indulged by her father, doing as she pleased, without rules or schooling.
She’d thought that was normal too. But something had been wrong the whole time.
‘I’m glad I know,’ she said, making the decision suddenly and with stubborn pride. Better a Lion than a lamb to the slaughter.
‘We both get to choose our family,’ said Will. She flushed slowly. She felt suddenly, fiercely protective of him, remembering his strange determination and his loyalty. He’d come back for her when no one else had, and he was here with her now, despite the danger.
‘I should go soon,’ she said gruffly. ‘I don’t know how long it will take.’ She had to find out the information they needed either from Tom or her father.
‘I’ll be here waiting.’
‘Don’t get into any trouble.’
‘What trouble could I get into?’ said Will.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
KATHERINE WAS PUSHING her toe back into her shoe at Martin’s as the strange man entered, strode over to Mrs Dupont, and whispered something in her ear.
She had just been fitted for the most perfect pair of slippers, white silk each with a tiny pink embroidered rose. They would match exquisitely with the gifts that Lord Crenshaw had sent: beautiful day dresses of sprig muslin with high, tapered waists and delicate puffed sleeves; white silk gloves with six embroidered buttons; a necklace of pearls that was just the right accompaniment.
Now, however, Mrs Dupont was approaching with a small frown on her face. The man who had whispered in her ear was waiting by the door. Katherine hadn’t heard what he had said, except maybe she had seen him mouth the words the boy.
The boy?
‘If you’d wait here, milady,’ said Mrs Dupont. ‘I’ll be back in a moment.’
‘But what—’ Katherine began, but Mrs Dupont had already left, striding out of the door of the shop.
It left Katherine standing awkwardly. She remembered Mr Prescott saying something about a boy. What was it? I’m sure Mrs Dupont will be back shortly. Moments ticked past. She could see the curious looks of the shop owner and his assistant. She flushed, imagining their disapproval. No young lady should be seen in public without a chaperone. Especially not the young fiancée of a man like Lord Crenshaw. Even the idea could ruin a reputation, and Katherine knew that she was watched by many who were prone to gossip.