Suddenly, her arms wrap around my neck. Her hot breath scorches my skin.
“Katia, if I broke a fever, I don’t need another one.”
“Oh,” she says, but it’s several heartbeats before she lets go.
Then Katherine rises like the queen she is, slow and steady.
“You’re going to be alright.” She turns and performs a few steps of the minuet. If those slippers fly off …
“Did Scarlett give you the wild-lettuce tea too?”
“No.” She blushes. “Should she?”
“Go. Go get Mr. Steele.” I flick my hand toward the door. “Then leave.”
She doesn’t move, not an inch. “We don’t have a deal.”
Her stare sinks to my chest. Does she see how hard my lungs must work to secure the next portion of air?
“I asked you to go—”
“You should throw a ball. Then London will know that you’ve truly forgiven me. And that you’ll not strike down my new suitor.”
I close my eyes. Her movement is dizzying.
Her arms return to me, surrounding me with starch and honey and Katia. “Don’t you see? I know I’ve lost all rights to you andLydia. If I’m not respectable, I’ll never be afforded a relationship with my daughter.”
“Unlike you, I’d never keep Lydia from you.”
She holds me tighter. “It won’t always be up to you.”
I can joke about my mortality, but not her.
Feeling tired and drained, I won’t allow the person who’s caused my greatest disappointments to finish me. I force myself to stand. I’ll be the one that leaves this time.
A mistake. I’m dripping and instantly chilled. Unable to control my legs, I fall.
Chapter 15
JAHLEEL—MARBLE ANDRESOLVESCRUMBLE
Knees buckling, heading toward a watery grave, I tangle in Katherine’s arms.
“I’ve got you,” she says. “Hold on to me.”
It’s not like I have a choice—face in her bosom or drown.
Her embrace tightens. “Let’s get you from the tub. Now we move together.”
Together? As in one? Like at the dacha on our wedding trip. The best moments of my life were in these arms holding me like she’d never let go.
Then she did.
“Step out.”
One leg obeys her. Then the other follows suit. Water sloshes everywhere. I’m free of the tub and death by drowning, but Katherine has always been lethal.
Wet and naked, I shiver. The floor beneath my feet feels like ice.
