Heartless (by Marissa Meyer) Fanficiton

Chapter Four.

Cath danced with the King for what seemed like an eternity. In reality, it was only three songs. He should have asked if he could have had three dances. Throughout the whole time she danced with the King, he was very stiff, and instead of him leading Cath, she lead him. He was also very nervous. Hardly any words came out of his mouth. The ones that did only talked about Cath's looks, or (the only thing they ever talked about) her baking.

She still couldn't see why out of all the women in Hearts would he want her to be his wife, his Queen. She knew the King didn't love her, and never would. He didn't seem to have any understanding of who she was. Cath wasn't herself around the King, only the person her parents and everyone wanted her to be, so if he were somehow to fall in love with her, it still wouldn't be with the real her. Cath tried to imagine how life would be like as a Queen. The King didn't have a spine, it was most likely that she would have to be the one in charge of Hearts. There would be no time for any baking. No time for anything, or anyone.

At the end of the third dance Cath used the excuse that her feet were hurting in order to get out of more dancing. The King didn't seem to mind, In he seemed relieved as he kissed her hand goodbye.

Before the King had courted her she would have stayed until the end of the ball, now she was too tired of all the fake smiles, walking in such a tight corset and the loud music. It was going to come to an end in an hour or so. Cath already had done both what she wanted, and what her mother wanted out of her. Cath couldn't handle waiting until the end of the ball to leave.

Her mother was currently dancing, and although it was probably best to tell her that she was leaving Cath started to head for the door.

She stopped when she felt an arm on her shoulder. She turned and seen it was Margaret. "Leaving already?"

Catherine nodded. "I'm rather tired, so yes I am leaving."

"There is no need to speak in such a tone Lady Pinkerton. Don't you think that you should stay, I mean the King is your beau."

"Yes Lady Mearle, I probably should stay. Now goodbye." Cath rushed out the door before Margaret could say anything else.

Once Catherine was home she avoided talking to anyone in her sight, headed straight to her room and sat down on the bed. She couldn't put to words what she was feeling. Angry? Sad? Overwhelmed? Suffocated? Confused? Her breathing was very fast pace and her chest felt heavy. No matter how many times she told herself that things would end up fine, she never truly believed it. Throughout the whole night Cath kept trying to subside her negative thoughts on her future, but they kept coming back. The only thing she'd be able to do to make things okay is refuse the King's offer.

No matter how many times she told herself that, she knew it wouldn't be that easy. For the time being, she just had to enjoy her life, and make plans for what she wanted.

Cath heard footsteps coming up the stairs and a knock on the door afterwards. "Lady Pinkerton?" She heard Mary Ann say.

"Yes? You can come in." Cath said standing up.

Mary Ann walked in closing the door afterwards. "How was the ball?" She asked as she walked towards Cath.

Cath turned around and felt Mary Ann's hands on her back starting to take off her corset. "It was fine."

"And the King?" Mary Ann asked. "Tell me everything."

Cath sighed. "The King was fine. We danced for three songs. He told me how beautiful I looked, which was flattering, but also insulting because that and my baking was all we talked about."

Mary Ann laughed. "Well, he wants a woman with beauty and baking skills to be his wife. Both- things that you have."
"Thank you Mary Ann." Cath said. "But compliments do not excuse how shallow he is."

"Catherine, even you know the King has nothing, but good intentions."

"If good intentions mean ruining our plans of opening a bakery then yes, the King has nothing but good intentions." Cath felt herself be able to breathe freely again as Mary Ann helped her out of her dress.

"I'm sure he'll support our dream. The bakery will most likely end up being at some high end place." Mary Ann smiled at Cath as she gave her her nightwear. She walked towards the door. "Instead of starting from nothing, we'll start from something, and there'd be no need for a loan from your parents."

"Continuing to name the positives for marrying the King, only makes me think of the negative." Cath said smiling.

"Oh come on." Mary Ann said picking up Cath's dress. "The bakery would be pretty easy to get." She laughed. "Either way, Good night."

Cath remembered she put the paper Jest had given her in a pocket of her dress. "Mary Ann, can I see my dress for a second?"

"Yes, of course." Mary Ann said handing the dress to Cath.

Catherine quickly took the paper out of the pocket and passed the dress back. "Thank you. I just left a business card and well I needed to get it."

Mary Ann furrowed her eyebrows. "Yes, well I assume you would. Good night."

As her maid closed the door Cath yelled "Good night!"

Catherine sat back down on her bed and closed her eyes. She took a few deep breathes trying to calm her nerves down. She knew that opening this paper, this note, would only be continuing something she knew everyone in Hearts would consider to be wrong. Cath took one last deep breath remembering the shape of Jest's lips as he mouthed the paper, then opened it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: Hey guys, I hope you like the Chapter. Sorry it's a day late. The next one will be tomorrow. I update every Tuesday, Thursday and sometimes during the weekends. 2/6/17