Chapter 3

I am about to explain that I am not acting.

But then I remember—no one ever believed my explanations before.

I bow my head. “You're right, Sir Cedric. May I ask why you bothered to come all the way here? Was it to watch me put on a show?”

Cedric freezes for a moment. “Don’t flatter yourself. Today is Jade’s birthday. She said she's willing to forgive you and make peace. I am here to take you to see her."

Three days ago, I heard that Don Julian would name Jade Princess of Mafia and there’d be a parade today.

I’m a year older than her; that title is the one Don Julian gave me when I was ten.

If this were before, if someone tried to take what was mine, I would have made a scene.

No one would have had a good time.

Now I just tell Sir Cedric without expression, “I don’t want to go.”

Cedric pauses, then says, "That's not up to you."

He grabbed me by the arm and hauled me out.

He takes me back to his place to cleaned me up, dressed me, and then rushed me toward the toward the manor.

Sitting in the carriage, Cedric talks nonstop in my ear.

He tells me to kneel before Jade. Not to make her angry again.

My heart aches.

I watch the carriage go faster and faster. The thought of seeing my mother grows stronger and stronger in my mind.

Without thinking, I lift the curtain and jump out.

I haven’t hit the ground before someone gasps. I think at that speed I’ll surely die.

But the pain I expect never comes. Instead, I fall into a warm embrace.

Cedric catches me. We roll on the ground twice.

His furious voice explodes above my head. "Ivy, are you insane?"

I look at him.

He’s bleeding—bright red across his face where my head struck him.

I reach up to wipe it off.

His face goes hard.

“Can you stop playing these games? You want to see if I care? I’ll tell you—me saving you means nothing. I’d save a stranger the same way. If I’d known you were planning this, I wouldn’t have jumped. "

"From now on, if you want to die, go ahead. I won't stop you."

My hand freezes in midair. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the moat not far away.

I smile bitterly. “All right, Sir Cedric. Remember what you said."

Before he can react, I spring up and, without looking back, hurl myself into the water.

He had nearly drowned as a child. Water was his one fear.

He said those cruel things knowing he might not jump in after me.

So when the freezing water rushed into my lungs, I felt nothing but relief.

Finally—I am going to see my mother.