In which Bethanie and special guest Soumaya discuss Chapters 23-25 of Heartless by Marissa Meyer.

Cath struggles with the King’s numerous overly sentimental love letters, which deepen her feelings of disgust, guilt, and anxiety about their courtship—especially since she knows Jest actually penned them. Cheshire visits, having learned about Cath’s attendance at the tea party, and Cath begs her to keep it secret to protect her reputation and relationships. Cheshire tells Cath about an upcoming baking contest at the Turtle Days Festival with a grand prize large enough to help Cath open her bakery—but the King will be one of the judges. Cath is still grieving the Lion’s loss and frustrated by the King’s inaction against the Jabberwock.

Preparing for the contest, Cath and Mary Ann visit Peter Peter’s pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin for Cath’s spiced pumpkin cake. They find the patch heavily damaged, and Peter hostile. They hear scratching from inside a gigantic pumpkin shaped like a cage. Intimidated, they leave but Cath finds a lone sugar pie pumpkin to harvest. As they depart, Cath feels a sharp pain underfoot and discovers a miniature carousel pony like the ones on the Lion’s hat when he was taken by the Jabberwock.

At the Turtle Days Festival, Cath finds Hatta’s shop, where he gifts her a hat modeled after her macarons. Hatta shares that his father, Hearts’s previous hatter, suffered from mental illness and died by suicide, and that madness runs in his family—but Hatta has found a way to escape it. He tells Cath to wear the macaron hat during the dancing and baking contest, hinting it will boost her charisma.

This podcast is hosted by Bethanie Finger and produced by Three Sisters Podcast Network.

Logo Art was created by Cosmic Nova Flare and the Intro/Outro music was composed by Emma Povvo.