Her eyes fell on the macaron hat perched on a corner of her wardrobe. A flurry of emotions twisted inside her, all braiding together into one.
She was the best baker in Hearts and everyone who tasted her pastries knew it. Even Hatta was inspired enough to make her that bizarre hat after only a tiny bite.
Hatta, who made magical hats.
Hatta, whose business was thriving. Who had probably made more sales today at the festival than that miserable Mr Caterpillar had made all year in his little shop on Main Street.
Sitting down at her desk, Catherine pulled out a sheet of parchment, unscrewed the cap to her inkwell, and considered her proposal.
CHAPTER 31
HATTA’S MARVELLOUS MILLINERY had returned to its spot in the forest meadow, the little ramshackle cart in the shadow of broad, leafy trees. But when Jest had brought Catherine before, the lane in between the Crossroads and the hat shop had been empty – abandoned in the dead of night in a secluded corner of the kingdom.
Not so any more.
Catherine passed more than a dozen patrons of the shop on their way back to the Crossroads. Birds and mammals and reptiles, all with smiles on their faces and elaborate hats on their heads, some with servants dragging along in their wake, carrying yet more brightly papered hat boxes.
The Hatter’s popularity was expanding like a hot-air balloon.
An OPEN sign hung on the shop door, crisp with newness. The window that the Jabberwock had broken had been replaced.
Cath entered without knocking. A pair of Owls were standing before a mirror, trying on different hats and hooting to themselves, but otherwise the shop was empty. It looked much as it had at the beach, only the long table was back, now covered with tools and supplies for shaping and felting and ornamenting a variety of headdresses. Not only shears and thread and ribbon and lace, but also the strange little ornamentations that Hatta was becoming known for: soft-worn chips of blue and green sea glass. Fish scales. Talons. Long, sharp teeth – she didn’t know from what creatures. Assorted seashells. Still-sticky honeycomb. Dandelion tufts and huckleberry branches and white bark peeled from a birch tree.
There was a curtained doorway at the back that Catherine was sure hadn’t been there the first two times she’d been in the shop. She approached it and knocked softly.
‘You can pay the money tree out front for your purchases,’ came Hatta’s tired-sounding reply.
Steeling herself, Catherine pulled aside the curtain, revealing a small, cluttered office and Hatta with his feet thrown up on to a desk.
‘I am not here to make a purchase,’ she said.
His eyes lifted and there was a quick and deep down-turn of his mouth. ‘Lady Pinkerton,’ he drawled, ‘I wish I could say this is a pleasant surprise.’
Catherine shouldered through the curtain. ‘Good day to you, too, Hatta. I didn’t realize you’d gone back to disliking me.’
‘What do you want? I’m busy.’
‘Would you like me to come back later?’
‘I wish you wouldn’t.’
A twitch started above her left eyebrow. ‘I’m not sure what I’ve done to earn your ire this time, but I’ve come with a proposal for you, Hatta.’
He guffawed. ‘A proposal! My, my, you capricious thing. How many men do you intend to attach yourself to?’
Her shoulders tensed. ‘So it’s the King’s proclamation that has you turned against me?’
‘I apologize, Your Ladyship,’ he spat, ‘but you are not the Queen yet, and I have no time to entertain your whimsies. As you see, I’m working.’
He did not at all look like he was working, but Cath bit back the accusation. ‘I am not engaged to the King, whatever you might think—’
He snorted.
‘And even if I were, it would be no one’s business but mine and His Majesty’s. You have no place to criticize.’
‘No one’s business but yours and His Majesty’s and the hapless chap that would twist himself into knots to impress you. But then, I suppose Jest willingly took the role of amusing plaything for the King’s court, so why should you treat him any differently?’
Her heart throbbed. ‘Jest was there when the King asked to court me. I’ve kept nothing from him, so I don’t see why you should take offence. Now, if you can stand to be civil for a moment, I came to speak with you about your business. I need only a minute of your time.’
‘You wouldn’t believe how few minutes I have left to spare.’ Hatta swung his feet down from the desk. ‘Besides, my business is mine alone, Lady Pinkerton. I bid you good day.’
She ground her teeth, trying to bury her growing annoyance. ‘As I said, I’ve come with a propo—proposition for you, and I believe a savvy businessman would hear me out.’
His lavender eyes burned with more disdain than Catherine could ever recall having directed at her. ‘You could be offering me the King’s crown itself and I would not wish to hear a word of it.’
Red spots flickered in her vision. ‘I’ve done nothing to earn such disrespect.’
‘You are not playing by the correct rules!’ he yelled, slamming his fist on his desk so hard Catherine jumped.
Hatta inhaled sharply and turned his face away. Reeling in his temper, or perhaps embarrassed that his madness – that hated family trait – was beginning to show.
Catherine swallowed and proceeded, more cautiously, ‘I did not realize we were playing a game, sir.’
He took in a few long breaths before he said, ‘No, it is not a game. I spoke with little consideration for the reality of the situation.’ He cleared his throat and peered up at her again. Some of the anger had cleared from his face. ‘You are going to marry the King, Lady Pinkerton, and I shall wish you all the happiness in the world. I am only ashamed to have been party to your feigned interest in my friend. All those smiles and flirtations, and all the while you had your eye set on a crown? Quite the step up from a hat that jingles, I’ll give you that.’