I turned around to face Prince Malachi, the dark-haired, mysterious stranger that was second in line to the throne of the White Kingdom.
“That’s not very polite,” I said, but I couldn’t even bother to defend her. It was as if all my energy had been drained, not by Caspian bringing up my father because of course he couldn’t know what had ultimately happened to the famed, legendary hero, but because of Celia spinning my own heartbreak around and using it to her own advantage.
“It doesn’t need to be polite if it’s true,” Malachi said while he approached the edge of the balcony.
I shrugged, not quite knowing what to say.
“I’m not really one for court politics,” the prince said as leaned with his back against the balcony railings, while looking toward the banquet hall. “Never have been. Caspian is much better at it. He can say things like ‘Lady this’ and ‘Lady that’, and make girls swoon.”
I turned around too, so I was facing the banquet hall as well. “And you’re more… straightforward?”
“Yes,” Malachi answered. “Our kingdoms were at war, not so long ago, and now we’re here, pretending to be… what exactly?” He scratched his chin.
“You oppose this union?” A hint of alert went off in my mind. If the crown prince’s own brother opposed our kingdoms uniting, then that could spell a whole world of trouble.
“No,” he said simply. “I just find it peculiar that one moment, we’re battling each other, and the other, we’re playing house.”
“There’s a threat to the east—” I started, but he quickly cut me off.
“What threat? Have you seen it?”
“No, but—”
“Have you ever been to the battlefields, Regina?”
He didn’t use the formal title ‘Lady’ when he addressed me, not like Caspian. He had been right about one thing: he was a lot more direct, a lot less court charm than his brother.
“No,” I replied. “The war is for knights to fight, not princesses or courtiers, not Kings and Queens.”
“If a war is like a game of chess, in the end the only pawns left are Kings and Queens,” Prince Malachi mused. “And when all your other pawns are wasted, and your knights and towers are dead, who can you use but your Kings and Queens?”
“But war is not like a game of chess,” I told him.
“I have been to the battlefields,” he said, taking me by surprise. I figured that he and his brother stayed as far away from the battle as we did, safe and sound in their castle. “My mother, the Queen, she thinks it’s important to protect the crown prince, but the second son is not that important, so she told me to go there and make a report.”
“And what is it like?” I asked him, lowering my voice.
“It’s not knights fighting your wars, Regina,” Malachi said. “It’s not as valiant as the stories would have you believe. Something dark is brewing in the east, and it’s targeting farmers, animals, forests, anything on its path. People are no longer fighting a war on a battlefield simply because it is what we have been doing for generations. They are now fighting because what they hold dear is being threatened.”
“A common enemy was what the King told us,” I mused. “That we must unite to fight a common enemy. But what is this enemy? If you went to the battle, then surely you must know?”
Malachi shrugged. “It’s not the time nor place to discuss these things. But when all is said and done, if the White and Red Kingdom unite and stop this infernal game of chess we have been playing for centuries, then we need a strong King. A strong Queen.”
I swallowed hard, thinking about the repercussions of what he was saying. “What you’re saying borders on treason, Prince Malachi,” I whispered.
“But I didn’t say anything.” A smirk played on his lips as he walked back toward the banquet. “Not out loud, not for the walls to hear. It was just a whisper in your mind.”
A whisper in my mind? Maybe he was more poetic than he had given himself credit for.
“Let’s go back inside,” he suggested. “Before people start gossiping.”
“A prince and a lady outside on a balcony, all alone,” I mocked. “Gossip will have already started.”
Malachi opened the door for me, so I could enter the banquet hall again. I immediately caught a glimpse of Mother looking at me furiously, and I wished I could just retrace my steps and head back to the peace and quiet of the balcony. Even if what Malachi had said upset me.
In Wonderland, the battle was fought on one field, and one field only. All the knights in our armies gathered there to fight, red against white. It was mad, useless, but it was the way things had been done for years. But if the war had spread from there to actual homes, to farms, to forests… What did this mean for all of us?
And how soon before the war stood at our door, calling for the Kings and Queens to join this wicked game?
Chapter 4
“Good, you’re back,” Celia said as I sat back down. “The dance festivities are about to begin. I hope you’ve had some time to recover?” Her tone was sickeningly sweet, and I wished I could just drop her down a Bandersnatch’s lair and be done with it.
“I’m fine, thank you,” I said.
“I already promised Caspian my first dance.” Celia beamed, as if this was a feat to be proud of.
We shouldn’t be here having dances and eating at a banquet if Wonderland was in danger, if something was threatening us from the east.
But you can’t very well go out and kill whatever it is yourself, Regina. You have a part to play. Your mother’s plan, remember?
“Then, I hope I can have Prince Caspian’s second dance,” I said, and before Celia could react, I added, “I want to get to know the man my cousin is about to be engaged to.” I softly rubbed Celia’s arm, pulling one of her own tricks on her. “I love Celia like a sister, so I want to know if you are as kind and chivalrous as you appear to be.”
This made Celia smile, and I almost felt kinder toward her again. Why was I so soft-hearted when it came to her? I couldn’t let my feelings for her get in my way.
Think about Derrick. Think about what she took from you then. Your one chance at true happiness. She broke your heart without blinking.
The herald announced the dance party, and all of us got up from the banquet table and moved toward the ball room. The music of a waltz glided in the moment the doors to the ball room opened.
“Of course, Lady Regina, I will be delighted to dance with you,” Caspian said, and he sounded like he meant it. But if he was as well-versed in all the flirts and charms of court life as his brother had alluded him to be, then of course he would answer like that.
As the first waltz began, Caspian dutifully guided Celia through the dance. I stood to the side, along with the other women who weren’t asked for a dance yet. Malachi had asked another lady in waiting for a dance, and I was glad for it. Our encounter on the balcony had been enough for one night, I didn’t want anyone to start gossiping about me and a foreign prince.
Not when the prince I actually wanted—or should want—was one dance away from dancing with me instead of my cousin.
“What happened?”
Mother suddenly appeared by my side, startling me and nearly making me drop the glass I was holding.
“Nothing. Celia sent me outside. She was acting up again.”
“And that other one followed you? I saw you enter the banquet hall together. James saw it too.” Mother sounded less than pleased.
“Yes. He already gave me some valuable information.”
This piqued Mother’s interest, judging by the frown on her face. “Like what?”
“I will tell you later. Caspian will dance the second dance with me.”
“Good, good.” Mother nodded at me, and disappeared again, back to King James. Despite what my uncle said, he relied on my mother’s advice and presence much more than he would ever give her credit for, especially since his wife, the Queen, had gone mad.
We’re all mad h
ere, Regina.
My father’s voice echoed in my mind and I shivered, trying to exorcise the terrible memory. I wanted to remember my father the way he had been, the strong, brave man willing to risk everything for his kingdom. Not the man who had drowned in the Pool of Tears, but the hero who had killed a jabberwocky.
The first waltz ended and as promised, Caspian and Celia came toward me. Celia looked radiant, her cheeks glowing. “He is yours, cousin,” she said. “But just for this dance.”
Sometimes, she was so naïve.
Caspian took my hand and led me to the dancefloor. The music began, another waltz.
I had spent my entire life at court, so I knew how to dance a waltz with my eyes closed, but I still felt a little nervous as he twirled me around at the rhythm of the music.
“I don’t want to pry,” he said mid-way our dance, when I hadn’t uttered a word to him yet, “but are you all right, Lady Regina? You seemed quite upset when you went outside, and I fear me bringing up your father was the cause of that.”
“I’m fine, Prince Caspian,” I said. “You couldn’t have known, please don’t blame yourself.”
“Please, call me Caspian.”
“Only if you also drop the ‘Lady’ when addressing me,” I said. “We are to be family, after all,” I added, with a quick glance toward Celia. She was watching our every move, but in a dreamy way—she would never suspect I would do anything to snatch her soon-to-be fiancé away from her.
“Ah, yes,” Caspian said. “That is true.”
“You’re a good dancer,” I noted, utilizing one of the tricks Mother had taught me. Give compliments, but not too often.
“Thank you. You’re quite good yourself,” the prince said to me.
“How is your palace back home? Is it anything like here?” I asked, batting my lashes, but not in a too obvious way. Flirt, but discretely, another one of Mother’s tips. Ask him about his home, he’s sure to miss it, everyone misses home.
“It is, yet it isn’t.” Caspian smiled. “It’s a palace, pretty much like this one, and we also have a banquet hall, and a ball room, but our palace is made of crystal.”
“Crystal?” I blinked, taken aback. “How is that even possible?”
Caspian shrugged. “It’s Wonderland. Here, everything impossible is somehow possible.”
That, he was certainly right about.
“I would love to see it one day.” I intentionally kept my voice lower, hoarser. “Will you show it to me one day, Caspian?”
He opened his mouth to reply, his eyes meeting mine, and then he closed his mouth again. He seemed to contemplate his answer for a second, before replying: “I’m sure that when Celia and I are engaged, I will show both of you how marvelous our crystal palace is.”
He was smart. Morals, like I had already predicted. He wouldn’t fall for my trap as easily as Mother had hoped.
Still, for a moment, he had wanted to just say ‘yes’. Some of what I was doing, was working at least.
“Wonderful,” I said with a smile. I couldn’t be too obvious, if he caught on that I was flirting with him, he would put up a wall so big not even a giant could climb over it. “I look forward to it.”
The dance ended, and Caspian and I bowed to each other. He led me by the arm back to the side of the room, where Celia was waiting for us. “I fear I will be caught up in dances with Celia for the rest of the evening,” Caspian said before we reached her. There was a hint of wariness in his voice, but he hid it well—I almost hadn’t caught it.
He would rather dance with me than her, but he is too polite to state it.
“But I enjoyed our dance together, Lady—I mean, Regina.”
I smiled at him. “So did I, Caspian.” I enjoyed saying his name, enjoyed the way it tasted on my tongue.
He asked Celia for the next dance, and I was once again left to my own devices in the corner of the room. Not for long, though, as one courtier after another came asking for a dance. Half of them always did—dances like these were regular occurrences in our castle, and it meant next to nothing to dance with someone—but I knew the other half were specifically arranged for by my mother.
She would, no doubt, think it would make me look more intriguing in the eyes of the foreign prince if the entire court came to ask me for a danced.
Out of politeness, Caspian danced with a lot of other girls as well, ladies-in-waiting, but he was gentleman enough to always come back to his bride-to-be. Not to me, though, although I caught him staring at me quite a few times.
I pretended to enjoy myself, but not too much. In general, I hated dance festivities. Not the dancing itself, that I enjoyed, but the whole theatrical affair around it: the bowing, the girls having to wait for guys to ask them for a dance, the stiffness of the entire affair.
As I was taking a break in between dances, sipping from a glass of water, I spotted Malachi approaching me. I really didn’t wan to dance with him, but I knew decorum demanded it. Next to Celia, I was the second highest-ranked lady-in-waiting in this room, so he as the brother of the crown prince, had no choice but to ask me for a dance.
Reluctantly, I agreed. There was something about him that still put me on edge, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. He was different than I thought a prince would be, than a prince should be.
He led me on to the dance floor, while my heart practically jumped out of my chest. Keep calm, Regina. Keep calm.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” I asked him, trying to break the ice. I didn’t want him to repeat any of the things he had said to me outside, on the balcony, and this seemed like safe territory to talk about.
“I’m not very fond of dances, to be honest. At least, not these affairs. I much prefer dances in town, they’re much looser. More about the dance, less about the formalities.”
“Dances in town? Like in pubs, you mean?” I raised an eyebrow, wondering what a prince was doing in such places.
“Yes. You’ve never been to one?” This time, he frowned at me, as if it was crazy that I had never been in such an establishment.
“No, can’t say I have.”
“You’re missing out on something here, in your ivory tower, locked up like the princess Rapunzel,” Malachi said. “How can you know the people of your country without interacting with them? How can you know the wondrous citizens of Wonderland if you spend all your time in a palace?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but I couldn’t think of any good reply. He was right.
“What happens there?” I asked. “At those places? How do they dance there?”
A smirk played on Malachi’s lips. “Not like here, that’s for sure. Not just following formal steps laid in stone. They dance to the rhythm of their hearts, moving whatever limb they want at whatever time they want.”
“That sounds peculiar,” I said, although I was curious. “They just… move?”
“Yes.” Malachi nodded. “I will take you to it sometime, I think you’ll like it.”
I wanted to protest, but something stopped me. I shouldn’t be going anywhere, not with him, not when my target was someone else, but…
The same feeling I had had all those years ago, when Derrick and I were chasing each other in the snow, returned to me. Derrick had thrown a snowball at me, and I had pretended to fall down in the snow, just to push another snowball in his face when he offered to help me up. We had laughed so much my ribs hurt. Then, he had caressed my cheek.
It was a fleeting moment. For him, it might’ve meant nothing. For me, it meant the world.
But in that moment, something had awakened, deep inside my belly, a warmth that spread all over my body.
I had never felt it again and I had begun to fear that for the rest of my life, that feeling would be tied to that one moment, so brief it was over in a second, and I had feared the feeling would never return.
Now it did, fleetingly, disappearing again at almost exactly the same time, but still, I had felt it, even though I had no idea what it meant.
“Then, that’s settled,” Malachi said. “I will arrange for it.”
The dance ended, and although I had been nervous at first, I was sad now to see it end, to have to let go of him.
You can’t do this, Regina. Not again. This will jeopardize everything your mother wants. It will put you at risk—what if Celia sets her eyes on him, this time? Like she did with Derrick?
Celia always gets what she wants, and the entire point of this is to make sure that for once, she doesn’t get what she wants. To take that what she wants the most and make it yours. Forever.
Still, no matter what I told myself, the warmth instantly left me the moment Malachi let go of me and was replaced by the same icy cold that had settled in my heart ever since Celia had taken Derrick away from me.
The worst part of it all was that she had never even realized I liked him in the first place. She had used him like a pawn, flirted with him until he liked her—a skill she possessed well enough, for all her theatrics about being nervous about meeting Prince Caspian—and then she had dropped him like garbage.
She did that to guys. Derrick wasn’t the first, nor was he the last. She used them like toys, and then she got bored. So, in a way, I was doing Caspian a favor by prying him from her claws.
As I made my way back to Celia, who had taken a break from dancing as well, I felt a million years old. Losing Derrick had hurt me, but it was nowhere near the pain I had felt considering my own cousin, whom up to that point I had considered my best friend, had stolen him from me. And why? Because she thought he was cute.
That was all it was to her.
“Why the sour face?” Celia asked as I approached her. “Did he say something wrong? I don’t like him.” She gestured at Malachi, who had retreated to the other end of the room.
“No, he didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just tired, that’s all,” I said.
Kingdom of Villains and Vengeance Page 58
