Chapter Nine

 

 

It took us a week to burrow beneath the Heart Castle, but during that week, we planned. First, I needed to get the Vorpal sword; then I needed to slay the Jabberwocky. The Vorpal was the only weapon that could slice through Jabberwocky hide. Once the beast was dead, it would weaken Queen Rina enough for me to kill her with my wild magics.

Not only did we plan, but we also talked. I got to know the Card Kings, and I quickly began to care for them. Each man had special qualities, and they seemed to compliment each other. Jaxon was a man of action, but he was also a strategist. He knew when to fight and when to stalk his prey.

Draven loved the finer things and believed that every day should be lived to its fullest. I would have thought that a man like him would fare poorly in hiding, but Draven also had an indomitable spirit, and nothing could dampen it. He had lost a wife and a kingdom, and yet he could still find the beauty in a sunrise or pleasure in a glass of wine. The King of Diamonds knew how to treasure every moment and hoard them in his heart forever.

Bevan, on the other hand, loved in a deeper and wider manner. A healer at heart, Bevan was at his finest when he was helping people. He truly cared about every living thing in Wonderland. When a patient was brought to him, he looked after them as if they were family and checked up on them often. He knew everyone's name and the names of their children. When he wasn't healing, he was experimenting with potions to be used to heal or help others.

They were all wonderful, but I felt incomplete. We were missing one king, and my heart knew it. It made me ache and also made me angry. I wanted to hurt the Queen of Hearts, not just conquer her. I was looking forward to killing the woman who had murdered the lover that I would never be able to love. My King of Hearts.

“Are you ready, Alice?” Jaxon stood in the doorway, staring at me curiously.

“I'm ready.” I went over to him and kissed him gently.

“I'd rather you just stay here–”

“Jax,” I growled, “we've been over this.”

“You're not to leave my side, Alice,” he said firmly. “Just you and I are going in there, so don't run off, not at any moment, or for any reason.”

“I understand, Your Majesty,” I teased him.

“When this is over, I shall show you my kingdom,” he whispered. “The mountains so tall that they seem to spear the sky–”

“And an ocean as blue as your eyes,” I interrupted. “I've seen it already, through the wild magic, but I look forward to experiencing it with you.”

“I love you, Alice,” Jaxon said softly.

I didn't even hesitate; the words were already waiting upon my lips.

“I love you too, King of Spades.”

“Yes, that's very sweet,” Nick said. “But, Your Majesties, I really must protest once more. I should be attending Queen Alice. I am the last Cheshire left, and the man her father, King Altair, appointed as her guardian.”

“And my last living relation,” I added with a smile.

Nick gaped at me. “You know?”

“I know.” I tapped my heart. “Why didn't you tell me that you are Uncle Ted's son?”

“I didn't want you to feel as if I had expectations of you.” Nick lifted his chin. “I have a duty to protect you–”

I pulled him into a hug and cut him off.

“Family is more important than duty, Nick,” I whispered. “Thank you for looking after me, but this time, you're staying behind.”

“Your Majesty–”

“Nick, call me Alice.” I kissed his cheek. “And the answer is still; no.”

Jaxon and I headed for the tunnel that was finally finished, the one that would take us directly below the Heart Castle grounds.

“Your Majes... Alice”–Nick hurried after us–“I'm at least coming into the tunnel with you.”

“Fine, Nick,” I tossed over my shoulder. “But you're waiting there. We can't draw any attention to ourselves. Two people sneaking in is already pushing it.”

“Have you forgotten that I can turn invisible?” Nick huffed, and we stopped walking. “Ah, now you see my point.”

I looked at Jaxon.

“No,” Jax snarled, “I am not being left behind, Alice.”

“It seems that Nick would make a better companion in this instance, Jax.”

“No.”

I grabbed Nick's hand and pulled him along. Nick smiled brilliantly as Jaxon sputtered in indignation.

“I am the King of Spades,” Jaxon huffed as he hurried up to us. “I am the finest warrior in all of Wonderland. You need me beside you when you infiltrate Heart Castle.”

“Actually, darling”–I stopped and kissed Jaxon's cheek–“I don't need a warrior today, I need someone sneaky. Someone like a cat.”

“Damn it all!” Jaxon cursed. “How did I become the man waiting in the tunnel?”

“Thank you, Jaxon,” I said sweetly and walked on with Nick.

The tunnel grew smaller the further in we went until there was only enough space for one person to crawl through it at a time. That didn't bother Nick at all, who simply turned into a cat and floated ahead of me. Then we reached the end of the tunnel. It sloped upward into a night alive with the flashes of lightning and the booms of thunder.

“Stay here a moment, Alice”–Nick went invisible–“I shall scout ahead.”

I sat beneath the hole anxiously until Nick's head appeared, hovering before me.

“It's clear”–he floated upward–“this way.”

“I'll be right here,” Jaxon said. “Do not tarry.”

I looked back at him and nodded before I climbed out of the tunnel. I came out into a garden. Oddly enough, there was no rain, although lightning illuminated the beds of sleeping flowers and hedges trimmed into the shape of hearts. A fountain was off to my right and beyond it was a gigantic chess board. Before me, there were rows of roses planted behind low stone walls. Some of them seemed to be bleeding.

I frowned and stepped closer. When I touched a flower, my finger came away with a thick substance coating it. I rubbed my fingers together and scowled at the tacky feel as the smell of paint hit my nose. Who the hell would paint roses?

“This way,” Nick was a floating feline head again. “Follow my tail.”

His head disappeared, and the tip of his tail popped into view. I followed it carefully down the line of rose bushes, then into the castle. Men in white uniforms with red hearts emblazoned on their chests came striding by us several times, and I had to press myself into dark corners to hide. Nick just went completely invisible. It was a shame that he couldn't hold the Vorpal in his cat form, or I would have just sent him in to fetch it.

We edged around another corner and then down a set of steep stairs. As soon as my feet hit the stone floor, I felt it. The Vorpal sword was nearby. I started walking faster, passing by Nick's flicking tail.

“Your Majesty,” Nick forgot to use my given name, “please wait. There will be locks to circumvent ...” he trailed off as I held up a hand and then slashed it down.

The door in front of me swung open.

“Cutting,” Nick whispered. “You've mastered that magic, Alice.”

“Thank you,” I whispered as I headed into the room.

The Vorpal sword was placed horizontally across a stand that was set upon a stone pedestal at the far end of the room. I took one step into the room and felt the other traps the Queen of Hearts had laid. I smirked and lifted my hands. With a flinging motion, I shuffled the mechanism she had placed beneath the floor, sliding its gears out of place. Then I dealt a card of energy out toward the trap set beneath the sword itself, springing it and destroying it at the same time.

I walked across the floor unimpeded and picked up the sword triumphantly. I was about to say something terribly witty when I felt something else. One more precaution that the Queen of Hearts had taken... stolen, in fact.

“What is it?” Nick asked as he popped into view. “And also; well done, Alice!”

“I feel him,” I whispered and rushed out of the room.

“Him? Who him?” Nick floated out after me. “Whoever he is, stop feeling him. I don't imagine your lovers will be happy with it.”

“He's near,” I went further into the subterranean level of the castle, and it became clear that it was a dungeon.

“You there! Halt!” A guard had been lounging across a table, having his dinner, when he spotted me.

I turned my hand and folded him in upon himself. He gasped as he tried to draw enough breath to speak.

“Easy now,” I said as I approached him. “It will wear off soon, but do not anger me, or I will use another wild magic against you.”

The heart soldier nodded. Satisfied, I reached down and removed the keys from his belt. Then I turned toward the cell he'd been guarding. Nick stared at me with wide, kitty eyes as I opened the thick door. Inside the cell was a man laid out on a spartan bed. He turned to me in shock when I entered, then stood to face me.

He had deep mahogany hair and eyes that shifted from green to gold in the torchlight. His body looked malnourished, but he still had thick muscles giving it definition. His cheeks were gaunt, displaying bone structure that was elegant and masculine, all at once. He swallowed with some difficulty and wet his cracked lips before he spoke.

“Alice?”

“Kyran?”

And then he was in my arms, my missing king. Henry had not been meant for me, after all. It had been his brother, Kyran, who Wonderland had chosen. When I had bonded with the other kings on Barnabus' pyramid, my magic had surged out seeking Kyran too... and it had found him. I just hadn't realized it until I was close enough to feel our connection.

“I saw you,” he whispered. “I felt you inside me, but I didn't dare to hope. You found me, you actually found me.”

“Yes, this is wonderful,” Nick exclaimed from the door, “but perhaps we'd best save the reunion for later. Perhaps when we're not standing inside a dungeon? No one wants to hear that bitch scream 'Off with their heads!'”

“We'll return and restore your kingdom to you,” I promised Kyran. “But for now, the Cat's right; we need to leave Hearts.”

“I go where you go, love.” Kyran smiled at me, and just like that, my heart was his.