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I thought I was prepared for it until I saw the eyes fix on us as we walked through the club. There was so much shock and surprise on people’s faces as Hans offered me a stool alongside Frederick at the bar and sat right next to me.
“Katherine,” Frederick greeted with a nod, as though we were great friends. “Lovely to see you.”
I grinned at him, as though I was living in a conspiracy movie.
“Thanks for my things, and for the jam, too,” I whispered. “Oh, and the bat sweets.”
He winked and raised his glass of merlot.
“You’re very welcome.”
Eliza stared at me when she saw us there, open mouthed as she approached.
“Hey,” I said, with my fingers twisting in my lap, expecting a confrontation at my sudden departure. But none came.
“Wow, you look incredible,” she told me. “And congratulations! The management told me you’d be moving on to a great opportunity.”
Hans took my hand visibly, squeezing my fingers on the bar top.
“Katherine is a superstar,” he told Eliza. “Both personally and professionally. It’s an honour to steal her from Regency, but my apologies for taking an such asset from you.”
I swear she sighed as she smiled at him. “She deserves it.”
I got another lovely glow at the flattery. This emerging self-worth was a world away from how I’d felt about myself through my years back home.
“A merlot for both of you?” she asked, and Hans looked at me.
“Yes, please,” I said.
A look passed between Frederick and Hans before Frederick excused himself for a bathroom break.
“I’ll be back in a moment,” he told me, and for once, up close, I realised he was taking his glass with him.
Empty.
I got another strange tickle of a sensation, and it still took me aback, despite the fact I should be getting used to them by now.
“Is Frederick really taking that empty glass to the bathroom with him?” I whispered to Hans.
“Yes,” he whispered back. “Trust your instincts. Feelings not thoughts, remember?”
I let the tickle spin around inside me.Trust your instincts.
“What do you think is happening here?” Hans queried. “You wouldn’t have seen it before. We were very careful to hide it from view, and even the most observant people aren’t all that observant. But your instincts are heightening. View this as a tester of instincts. Say what comes into your head.”
“Is he, umm…”
I struggled to voice it out loud. In case I was wrong.
“You aren’t wrong,” Hans said. “Just speak it.”
“Is he bleeding for you? Into the wine glass?”
Hans smiled like I’d just won a competition.
“Your senses are indeed heightening. Very good, Katherine. That’s an excellent sign.”
An excellent sign of what, exactly?
