Heartless

Cath responds to Jest’s death with rage. She prays for Time to rewind so that she can act differently, but Time, if he is listening, does not comply.

Cath dreams of the Three Sisters in a grove of green key-lime trees. Cath blames them for Jest’s death, accusing the Sisters of cursing them, but the Sisters respond that it was not them who swung the axe, killed the Jabberwock, or went through the door. The Sisters make Cath an offer: They will bring her Peter Peter, for Cath to mete out justice as she sees fit, in exchange for the heart of a queen—Cath’s heart, if she can still persuade the King to marry her. Cath accepts the offer, and when she wakes, the key limes remain, hanging over her head.

Cath requests an audience with the King and brings him a key lime pie made from the limes of her dream. Cath gives the King a public apology; the King, plied by the key lime pie, does not oppose Cath when she suggests they marry after all. The wedding is set for three days hence; as she departs the palace, Cath can no longer remember what it was like to dread becoming Queen.