Chapter 70 Remove your mask

Chapter 70 Remove your mask
Zoe's POV

I sat on my bed and thought about it for a long time.

How did he know I am Zoe.

I had been Lady Margaret every single day since I stepped back into Lakewood. The mask. The accent. The name. The walk. Everything Rain had taught me. Not one slip. Not one moment where I had let anything show.

So how.

And who were they. This man with the still eyes and his wife who apparently had answers to everything I was looking for.

I thought about not going.

I genuinely considered it. Sitting right there on that bed turning it over. It could be a trap. Benjamin could have sent them. Jeremy could have sent them. Luther could have sent them. Anyone could have sent them.

But then I thought about the way the man had said my name.

Zoe.
Like he had always known it.

Not Lady Margaret. Not the South princess. And I could see some messages he badly wanted to pass to me without words.

And he said his wife had answers.

The next night I dressed up so fast

This time I was not going to be followed.

I moved.

But not the way I had moved last time. Not down the main corridor. Not through the front stairs. Not past the street where Jeremy had tracked me before.

I went through the east wing instead. The long way. The back passage that ran behind the kitchens and came out through the side gate near the old storage buildings.

I stopped twice. Pressed myself into doorways. Listened.

Nothing behind me.

I kept moving.

Checked over my shoulder at every turn.

Nobody.

I reached the building. Stopped outside. Looked both ways down the road.

Empty.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The man was there first. Standing by the far wall exactly as I expected. Still. Watching the door.

He nodded when he saw me. Said nothing.

Then I looked past him.

And my feet stopped.

Sitting in the chair by the table.

Brown shawl.

White hair.

Hands folded in her lap.

Natasha.

The same woman. The exact same woman who had looked me in the face not even twenty four hours ago and said she knew nothing. Not Zoe. Not Seraphina. Nothing. And told me to leave.

Now sitting here. In this room. Waiting for me.

I looked at the man.

He looked back. Said nothing.

I looked back at her.

"You." I said quietly.

"Sit down child." She said.

"You told me yesterday you didn't know anything." My voice came out harder than I intended. "You looked right at me and said you didn't know any Zoe. Didn't know any Seraphina. Told me to leave your home."

"I know what I said." She replied. Calm.

"So what changed between yesterday and tonight."

She looked at me for a long moment.

"Remove the mask." She said.

I went completely still.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said.

"The mask child." She said again. Patient. Unbothered. Like she had all night and intended to use every bit of it. "Take it off."

I looked at her.

"How do you know I'm wearing one." I said.

She held my gaze steady.

And for the first time since I had walked in. She smiled.