Page 75 of The Starling and the Hatter

I looked down. There was indeed a ring sitting on the floor at my feet. It was huge. A thick gold band with a large red stone in the middle. It could have belonged to no one else but the duchess.

“You ungrateful thief! I’ll have your head for this!” she screeched.

I looked up at her words, horrified to see her staring straight at me. She thought I’d stolen it. I shrank, wanting nothing but to disappear and be somewhere else. This could not be happening. Contending with my brothers was one thing, but being branded a thief by the Sovereign Duke and Duchess of Winberg?

“Guards! Remove this girl from my sight!”

The guards rushed to obey.

“No!” Hatcher jumped up in my defense. “It couldn’t have been her!” he shouted as the guards moved to block his path. “She was nowhere near the duchess!” he pointed out.

“Halt,” the duke said calmly, and the guards stopped, though their hold on Hatcher was firm. He fixed his icy gaze on Hatcher. “Speak,” he ordered.

“Your Grace,” he said, swallowing with difficulty as he directed his question to the duchess. “I beg you, think back. Was this girl ever close enough to you that she could have taken something off your person?”

“I cannot remember everyone I came into contact with,” the duchess declared, her eyes cold.

“But she has been occupying that seat the entirety of the evening until she was called upon to perform. Can any who sat close to her say differently?” he asked, looking to the people who had sat on either side of us.

The duke directed his attention to those who had sat around me. None spoke up. He rubbed his fingers along his chin as he considered what Hatcher was saying. Then he said, “Go on.”

Hope blazed in my chest. The duke was hearing him out.

Hatcher went a little pale but stood his ground. “And what of these men?” he said, gesturing toward my brothers. “Were they always in their seats?”

There were murmurs and several people shook their heads.

“No,” the duke said. “They moved freely about the room. They even came over to give us a favor during the meal.” His shrewd gaze fell upon my brothers, anger and suspicion in his eyes as he looked them over. “It was a clever distraction, to be sure, but the young man is right. The girl never came close enough, but these men did. Bring them here.”

The guards surrounding Hatcher moved to seize my brothers and forced them to kneel before the duke.

The room was buzzing with murmurs and whispers, but everyone was silenced when the duke looked shrewdly down at my brothers and said simply, “Explain yourself.”

Morley’s face was a picture of befuddled innocence. “We have done nothing, Your Grace,” he said, his eyes beseeching. “Truly, we do not know why this man insists on our guilt. We may have approached you, but if it were us, how did the trinket end up with the girl? We never came near her.”

I knew in an instant he was speaking the truth.

The duke turned to me. “Young lady, did these men get close to you?” he asked.

“No,” I said, though part of me wished to lie, just to ensure their punishment.

“Not that you noticed, at least?” he prompted.

I shook my head, my mind running like a swift river as I thought through how that ring could have ended up in my pocket if my brothers had stolen it but hadn’t come near me. “Believe me, Your Grace, if they had done it, I would have known. I’ve been watching them all evening, keeping track of where they were so that I could avoid them.”

His head tilted to the side, clearly curious. “And why is that?”

I swallowed hard, making the decision to lean into what I knew. “Because I didn’t want them near me. I didn’t want them to get close enough to recognize me.”

The duke looked baffled. “Recognize you?”

I breathed deep and then took the headpiece off. “I am their sister.”

“Elise!” Morley hissed in shock.

I spared him a look, noting the disgust and surprise on his face, before turning back to the duke, my head held high.

The duke’s brow lifted. “Are you saying they are innocent?”