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“You caught me,” Catherine replied, laughing. “I wish to be a wealthy and successful widow.”

“That is good to know,” William said. “I think I want an annulment.”

“After you went through so much effort to marry me?” she asked. “I think not, my lord. That would reflect terribly on you and ruin your reputation, which I know you care very strongly about.”

“Regrettably, you are right,” William said. “I do care too much.”

Hester and Hannah joined them beneath the tree.

“Oh!” Hester exclaimed. “Look at you! Can I try climbing?”

“No,” William replied. “Certainly not.”

“What will it hurt?” Catherine asked, hooking her leg around the branch and idly kicking the air. “I climbed trees often in my youth, as did you.”

“No,” William said, crossing his arms. “Do not argue with me about this.”

“Why would you want to climb?” Hannah asked. “You would ruin your pretty, white gown.”

“It can be washed,” Hester replied, gazing longingly upwards. “Besides, Catherine has done it.”

“Catherine is older than you,” William pointed out. “She is less likely to be harmed by a fall.”

“Indeed,” Catherine replied. “But look—let me climb down, Hester. It is unfair for me to be up here, while you are on the ground.”

William sighed in relief, partly because Catherine would no longer be in the tree and partly because he suspected her compliance would appease Hester. Catherine gathered her skirts, and William turned to face his sisters. “I do not want to see either of you climbing trees,” he said. “Do you understand me?”

Catherine yelled, and William whirled around. Everything happened so quickly that he scarcely understood what had happened. One moment, Catherine was climbing down from the tree. In the next, she was lying on the ground and held a hand to the back of her head.

“Catherine!” he shouted.

She groaned lowly, tears brimming in her eyes. Ice plunged into William’s veins as he beheld his bride wounded on the ground.

CHAPTER26

Once, Catherine had heard a story about the goddess Athena. Zeus had experienced a terrible headache, and when he could endure the pain no longer, he asked the god Hephaestus to take his axe and cleave his head in two. Once Hephaestus had, the goddess Athena sprang forth in full armor.

As she lay on the grass, black spots dotting her vision, Catherine understood what had driven Zeus to ask for his skull to be cut apart. She winced and hissed through her teeth, and a sharp pain spread through her head. Catherine lifted herself just a little and placed a hand at the back of her head, certain there must be blood. But her hand came away white and pristine.

“Do not sit up!” William snapped.

His pinched face came into focus. Behind him, she saw Hester and Hannah clinging to one another, watching her with twinned expressions of worry. Catherine’s breath caught in her chest and made her body shudder. “I am fine,” she rasped.

“You are not,” William retorted. “You need to stay there for a while! Once you have recovered, I will carry you to the house, and?—”

“Carry me?” she cried. “I am not that badly injured! There is not even any blood!”

Catherine slowly became aware that her back ached, but there was no warmth or wetness. However, that pain was manageable when compared to the pounding in her skull. Bile rose in her throat. She felt as though she might vomit, and the garden tilted alarmingly around her. A low groan tumbled from her throat, and William tensed.

“You are badly hurt,” he said.

“I am not!” she argued. “I just need a moment.”

William shook his head and raked a hand through his hair. The man began actually pacing, and if his face had not been so distressed at the sight of her, Catherine might have laughed. She tried to prop herself up on her forearms, and he fixed her with a stern look. “Stop moving,” he said. “You struck your head!”

“I am aware,” she said sluggishly. “How could Inotbe?”

“Are you going to be all right?” Hannah asked hesitantly.