21. Cherish

This must be the most bizarre girl’s night out in history.

Martha and I were disguised in huge black hoods, matching many other guests, apparently a White Forest Pack style Martha assured me. Together we guided a limping Genevieve, walking with a stick, sporting a large black hat with her masses of curly hair tucked inside. She had borrowed some of my clothes seeing as she only had the rancid silk slip she was first presented in. She could have been missing a leg and she would have dragged herself out to this pit of barbarity tonight, so determined to see Franklin meet his end.

Even so the mood was almost fun, the crowd was exhilaratingly wild. Martha warned me there was no way to escape, every exit out of the complex being severely monitored by the guards. How could I tell her, for the first time ideas of escape were not on my mind, not until I knew Ivan was safe. Amidst the flowing beer, crude jokes and jostling for position we found ourselves in the thick of it.

We couldn’t se