Marchy shrugged and met April's gaze. He saw right through Melody's interference to keep them from falling into bed together, and strangely—it didn't upset him. He had a whole day planned with her.
Alone.
"Tomorrow then. I'll be helping Gareth clear out the rooms beyond the throne room. Meet me there when you're ready."
As he turned, Melody whispered, "Be careful with him. He's the resident Casanova who loves them and leaves them right after."
He gritted his teeth as he started to leave but paused when April replied, "I think he's sweet."
With a smile, he headed for his room.
Chapter 6
The maid's directions to the throne room were simple enough, but April got lost in the labyrinth of corridors more than once before finally finding her way there. Whoever built the fortress had been out of their mind. Luckily, the ballroom was located across from the dining hall, so finding those again for the masquerade would be easy enough. When she finally entered the gigantic room, it was empty aside from the turquoise squirrel creature from the night before, still adorned in a bicorn hat and a sword strapped to its side.
Perched upon the arm of Cadence's throne, the creature blinked at her. April paused and stared back at it. "I'm looking for Marchy…" she offered, not knowing if it would understand her. The squirrel thing hopped off the throne and ran toward a doorway in the back corner and disappeared. A moment later, it returned to the doorway and chittered at her.
Apparently, she was supposed to follow.
The creature scurried ahead of her, checking that she continued after him as she wound her way into a series of antechambers. A crash sounded around the corner and then a rumbling masculine laugh.
"I fail to see the amusement, Gareth," Marchy said as April stepped through a final doorway. The squirrel thing took off in the direction they'd come from without giving her a second glance. She walked in the room as Marchy bent over and retrieved shattered pieces of a vase or dish of some kind. On impulse, she rushed over to help, having gotten used to cleaning up after her own disasters in the antique shop.
Marchy did a double take when he noticed her but smiled warmly. Hawthorn stuck his little head out of the front pocket of his coat and squeaked with delight. At least…it didn't sound horrified, so that was something.
Gareth, who hadn't turned around from packing a pile of leather-bound tomes into a crate willy-nilly, replied, "Breaking things won't make this go any faster. This is the last room, and then we're free."
"Why are you packing everything up?" April asked, carrying a handful of broken pottery to a basket of what appeared to be rubbish and dropping them in.
Gareth turned around at the sound of her voice and he beamed at her. "April! I trust you slept well?"
Was he kidding? Who could sleep in a place like this? She'd been up most of the night, watching the phenomenon of the sky splitting into daylight and night at the same time. Through her window, she had witnessed bizarre creatures roaming the castle grounds. She even thought she might have seen a dragon in the distance. If she hadn't been so tired, she might have gone off exploring. To be honest though, it had all been so overwhelming that exploring was the furthest thing from her mind any time she found herself in a room with Marchy. "As well as one can in a strange bed."
Gareth nodded, and his blond hair fell into his eyes. Once again, he wasn't wearing a crown, but he did wear a red tunic over brown leather pants and boots. "I understand. Believe it or not, it took me a fortnight to sleep through the entire night in this castle. Kept thinking about how my wife almost died here."
Marchy huffed as he deposited the rest of the shards into the rubbish basket. "Your wife befriended a gryphon."
"Who wanted to eat her."
April stared back and forth between them. "Is Cadence your second wife?" If Ms. Scarlet had been the queen, wouldn't that mean the king was her ex-husband? Maybe he could fill in the blanks about her boss…
Gareth's mouth dropped open, and Marchy fell into a fit of laughter so hard he had to sit on the ground. How on Earth had what she said been that funny? She frowned at him, but he seemed adamant not to meet her eye. Gareth recovered first and crossed his arms. "Cadence is my first wife."
"Oh, I didn't mean to offend, but—"
Marchy's laughs got heavier and he clutched his chest like he was…in pain?
"You assumed because Cadence is a findling I was king already," Gareth responded in an amused tone as though nothing at all had come over his friend beside him. "That's fair. However, I was but a knight."
She barely heard him. Marchy doubled over as the laughter started to subside. He hadn't been laughing at her or what she'd said. And it had been hurting him. April hurried to his side and squatted down beside him. "Are you all right?" He flinched when she placed a hand on his arm.
Hawthorn crawled up to where her hand rested and ran across her sleeve to perch on her shoulder, cuddling up against her neck as though urging her to continue. Weird how she felt like she could read a rodent's intentions, but they registered quite clearly to her for some reason.
"Marchy?"
"Leave me," he said, barely above a whisper.
"He has a madness. Many here do, in various capacities, if they aren't content," Gareth said, making Marchy cringe. "Uncontrollable laughter is his. He doesn't like to address it, so we let him be."
Well, that's horrible. "I'm sorry." She didn't know why she'd said it. There wasn't a better response that she could think of though, and ignoring it probably didn't help either.
"I don't want your pity," Marchy bit out, brushing her hand aside before rising to his feet. He still wouldn't look at her.
April stood as well and stuck her hands in her pockets. She'd decided to keep wearing the clothes she'd worn here, though she'd washed all the makeup off. "It's not pity, just understanding. Maybe if you'd stop being so prideful, you'd see that."
Gareth's eyebrows went up as Marchy slowly turned his head to look at her. "I do beg your pardon…"
"You heard me." Hawthorn remained on her shoulder, almost as though he was siding with her. Again, weird how she felt like she knew that. "You're upsetting yourself by assuming people think the worst of you. Consider that a lot of other people have misfortunes of our own." She thought about all the kids in the system who suffered from anxiety or depression, either because of losing their family or not being placed with a new one—or a decent one. Some kids were lucky. April had been lucky—until tragedy struck, and it had taken a while to fully recover from that heartbreak. "Just because they don't show it to the world through laughter, painful as it may be, doesn't mean you alone have problems. If you want to snap at me, that's fine. But I'm not going to sit back and politely take it when it's uncalled for."
His mouth dropped open. Hawthorn chittered like he agreed and stayed put. Gareth simply shook his head, then said, "So…I think I have this taken care of here, Marchy. Why don't you and April spend the rest of the day exploring."
April shook her head. "I don't mind staying and helping too. I work in a store cluttered with antiques and old objects. I'm constantly sorting and moving things around. It shouldn't take long."
Marchy finally gathered his wits and rubbed at the back of his neck. "No, Gareth is right. You shouldn't have to work on your visit here. I promised you a stroll through the Red Kingdom, and I'm going to follow through." Then, as if second-guessing, he asked, "Are you sure, Gareth?"
The king nodded and then returned to his task, officially closing the subject once and for all.
Marchy took a step toward her, and his eyes narrowed on Hawthorn. "Is he bothering you?" There was a wariness to his voice, almost as though he was afraid of the answer.
"Not at all. He's sweet." She'd never had a pet before, so it surprised her that the dormouse was so comfortable with her. And he was adorable, so she didn't mind him in the least.
"Hmm… Well, if he becomes a nuisance, let me know and I'll collect him." He held out his arm for
her, all earlier upset gone from his demeanor.
Harold March was a peculiar man, with peculiar ears, but if April wasn't mistaken, he had never been fully comfortable being himself. She wouldn't walk on eggshells around his temper, but she understood he had a lot of pain in his heart. She wished she could help him with that, but all she could do was be a friend for the remaining hours she would be in Wonderland.
But what if she stayed? Her breathing quickened…
Almost afraid to give in to that train of thought, she took his proffered arm, April allowed him to lead her out of the antechambers, through the castle. They stopped at the kitchens where he picked up a huge basket and winked at her.
"Before we stray too far, we're taking lunch in the fields."
"I've never had a picnic before," she said, excitement bubbling up. Marchy's answering smile brightened his handsome face. Butterflies erupted in her stomach, and she was overly warm all of a sudden. She was about to head off alone with a sexy man who was known for sleeping around, but she didn't mind it. She wasn't a virgin, and though she didn't make a habit of jumping into bed with men she barely knew, she wasn't against getting intimate if the mood was right. Her only worry was she wouldn't return home and he would feel trapped by her. Apparently, he'd claimed her as his unbirthday gift, which Melody had described as the Wonderland equivalent of "dibs" or "finder's keepers."
Part of her wanted to be incredulous at the aspect. She wasn't a possession, after all. Yet it was kind of cute, especially since he wasn't acting possessive of her or overbearing. It seemed more hopeful than anything else.
"Never?" Incredulity filled his statement as he gawked at her. "Not even once?"
She blinked at him as she was brought back into the moment. Remembering they were talking about picnics, she replied, "Not even once."
"That won't do at all. Aye, a picnic is exactly the thing we need to start our day." He led her through the back door and into the sunlight.
Blue sky stretched as far as the eye could see with clouds as fluffy as cotton candy covering the direct rays of the sun. The grass was green, and well-tended. However, in the distance, the trees were an assortment of colors unlike any she had ever seen. Though she had glimpsed them the night before through the window, it was much more awe inspiring in the light of day.
"The trees…" She didn’t know what to say about them. "Aren't green."
"Wait until you see the flowers."
Marchy guided her through the castle gardens. If possible, he brightened more with every gasp and sound of delight she made examining the otherworldly blooms. There were many that looked exactly like flowers she'd seen before, but others so alien in appearance they didn’t seem real. A fat orange caterpillar sat on a wood fence, watching them when they were examining bright red daffodils with black stems and leaves. April stared at the insect. It blinked two bulbous eyes and tilted its head to the side.
"Is he going to start talking?" she asked Marchy. It didn’t have a hookah at least.
"Whom?" He looked around and finally spotted the caterpillar. "Oh, not him. He’s merely curious."
"Curiouser and curiouser…"
Marchy stiffened beside her. "That phrase… It may seem silly to someone who hadn't met her, but I ask you not to bring up Alice around here. She's not remembered with fondness."
Taken aback, she gawked at him. "I’m sorry." He had reverted to his dour attitude, and April mourned the loss of his bright and cheerful nature from moments before. "Where I'm from, the Alice books are considered great literature. They are referenced and alluded to in practically everything. References are so commonplace that most people don't realize they make them half the time. I wasn't thinking, but I definitely didn't wish to offend."
He looked down at his feet, stopping dead in the path toward the back gates. "Aye, I know, and my apologies if I snapped. That girl broke Hatter's heart, called me a hare—a hare!—and you know the rest. She may be someone of reverence where you're from, but here she caused nothing but mischief."
Hearing Alice's story being talked about as factual still felt odd. There was no denying Wonderland was real, and though it was magical and different, it definitely wasn't topsy turvy nonsense. She appreciated that fact since that sounded exhausting.
"Is that why you chose the name Marchy over Harold? Because she called you the March Hare?"
He scowled, but at least his ire wasn’t aimed at her. "She made a mockery of me and my good name. Hare-old March. The March Hare. Bah! Marchy is a name Hatter uses for me. It made sense to stick to it." He clenched his jaw and with a look dared her to challenge him on his reasoning.
"For what it's worth, I don't think you look like a hare.”
One of his ears twitched. "You’re lying. But I appreciate it."
"You have long, pointy ears. So what?" She let her gaze travel down his body, slowly. "Everything else appears to be all man. Not hare-like at all."
His lips parted and his eyebrows raised up to the brim of his top hat.
Maybe she had been too bold. "We, uh, better have this picnic," he said, and though it was hard to tell with his complexion, she'd wager he was blushing.
Desire coursed through Marchy as he laid out a blanket and gestured for April to take a seat. The basket of food covered the evidence of his situation as he tried to settle his nerves. The way her gaze had caressed his body… She wanted him. Marchy had been in and out of bed with countless women in both the Red and White courts for years. He knew the signs as well as he knew himself.
April wanted him. Somehow, he hadn't screwed up his chances by making an absolute arse of himself. She hadn't even been upset after witnessing his affliction earlier and had taken up for him against the king. Of course, she'd followed that by dressing him down something fierce, which he had deserved. His attitude wasn't his finest attribute sometimes. No woman had ever taken him to task for it so thoroughly before. Somehow, though he didn't enjoy it, he found it…attractive.
Marchy set the basket down and opened it up, beginning to pull out the fare he had requested that morning to have prepared, arranging it methodically on the blanket in front of them. More mome rath meat, some cheeses, tarts, fruit…
April cleared her throat, and he paused to glance up at her. "We both know why you brought me away from the castle and to a secluded spot."
"W-we do?" His right ear twitched and he suppressed the urge to allow his nose to do the same. He must be truly out of sorts for his nose to twitch. It hadn't done that since he was a young lad and he was nothing but nerves.
She nodded and clasped her hands in her lap as she sat there staring at him, half innocence, and half…determination. Since when did he get shy about women desiring him?
Because she's different. You knew it from the moment she fell into your arms.
"You wanted me for your unbirthday gift," she said, "and you wanted to get me alone."
He gulped. She was truly on to him. He had hoped the day would lead to carnal activities but was fully prepared to be turned down as well. Could it be that April was on the same page?
"I'm not the kind of girl to run around having torrid affairs with strangers." Her voice was huskier than usual.
"I—"
"So, I need to know something before this day goes any further."
"Certainly, but—"
She scooted closer to him and laid a hand on top of his, still hovering above a container of tea meant for travel. "Everyone here thinks I'm going home and not staying, but what happens if I do? What happens with us if I don't vanish like magic after we do anything?"
Her voice had lost the seductive edge it'd had moments ago and was now laced with sadness as she continued, "If I am nothing but a spot of fun for you, I need to know now. Before I…before I allow myself to feel anything for you. I've had enough heartache from losing those I love in life. I don't want to believe there's something here if there's only lust."
He opened his mouth and shut it. "Do you…feel something?" He gulped a
gain. "For me, I mean?"
"I don't know. Maybe? A little.” She moved her hand back to her lap and expelled a breath. “I mean…we're both consenting adults, and I do like you, Marchy, but I don't want to disrupt your life if you don't want me in it should Wonderland keep me here." April glanced away, watching the distant silhouette of the Jubjub bird flying near the edge of the forest. "I don't have family holding me back like Cadence or Melody had. Nothing there calls to me, but what if something here did?"
Marchy couldn't do more than watch the emotions wash over her face as she made this confession. She was lost and alone, and still she wanted him. Him with all his flaws.
Hawthorn crawled onto his knee and looked at April and then him. A fierce glint lit his little black eyes, like he urged Marchy to say the right thing. But what should he say? He liked April, craved her, but did he want her to stay? Forever? Did he want to be tied to someone permanently and be like Hatter or Gareth? So far, April didn't disrupt anything too badly. But that could always change, couldn't it?
What if they let out all the lust brewing between them only to find out they weren't suited? He'd been seen leaving the castle with her to this secluded spot. He was as good as betrothed to her already, had been since claiming her for his unbirthday gift before the queen and king of the Red Kingdom. A ruse he'd chosen because the likelihood of her remaining was so small. However, perhaps there had been a notion somewhere in the back of his mind that she could possibly stay. Didn't he deserve a chance at the happiness his friends had with their wives?
And yet…the panic that came with the thought of being tied to someone who would be in his space and touching his things was not clawing at him. At least not yet. He was broken, and eventually she would see it and no longer want him. It was a matter of time.
"I don't know what to say," he finally replied, and she glanced back to him. Oh, how he wanted to kiss away the sad uncertainty in her gaze. "I'm eccentric and cranky and very set in my ways. I cannot promise that I won't be all of those things to my own detriment."
The Enchanting Page 5
