by A. K. Koonce
“Mmm, you here to punish me, Daddy?” I tip my head back to press his blade into my throat.
A cold glare from him is the only reaction. It’s like he gets called daddy every day and my little sentiment isn’t even appreciated.
The asshole.
“Let her go.” He nods to the woman I’m sweetly holding up, but who am I to question the demands of the King’s advisor.
I release her, and the chair bangs hard against the floor, causing a curse to snap from Madison, her eyes passing me over to glare at the man who gave the order.
With his sword still at my throat, I shrug a small I did everything I could gesture and it only makes her lips thin even more.
Kais offers her his hand, and her small palm slips into his, sending a strange flit of jealousy through my veins just because of the casual touch. Thanks to the blade against my throat, I stay casually seated there at their feet. I tilt my head slowly, letting the blade cut the smallest slice into my throat as I wait with blatant patience for him to finish his little protector act.
The little sting of pain calms me, grounds me.
“Care to remove that sword, my friend? Wouldn’t want Rotter blood poisoning the blade, would you?” I arch my neck, letting the blade scratch a little more into my flesh, cutting into me just enough that I can feel the warmth of my own blood sliding down my skin.
Completely grounded.
“Kais, stop, you’re hurting him,” Madison says, and I can’t help but smile wider as Kais grimaces harder.
It’s not every day I meet someone who pities me. I never knew pity was something I was missing in my long endless life until this very moment.
“Listen to Alice. You’re hurting me, Mr. St. Croix.”
Both of them curl their lips at me at the same time.
They just make it so damn easy.
“He came to see if a centuries old plague had killed me in my sleep or not.” She crosses her arms beneath her breasts, and the loose fitted shirt she’s wearing doesn’t stop my gaze from traveling her curves.
“Why did he touch you?” Kais’s blade pushes just a bit harder against my wind pipe, his jaw twitching as he looks to her.
“No. I did not touch her.”
The truth is in the details. Give your protector the details, Madison.
I wait patiently to hear if she’ll lie to her boyfriend or not. When she says nothing, I decide I’ll just push him a bit more since I’m already here. Without a sound, I vanish from my spot Kais was so intent on pinning me to. I slip in behind her, my fingers toying with the ends of her pale hair as I walk a slow, predatory circle around her.
“I’d never be so rude as to touch a woman without her permission. You of all people should know that I’m a respectable man among so many traitors, Kais.”
He turns swiftly, his blade swings up, and I vanish with a crackling sound stinging the air, leaving behind the soft feel of her blonde locks. I reappear directly in front of her, reveling in the breathy gasp that leaves her full lips. My fingers brush along her hair, almost slipping it back behind her ear but not quite.
Another slash of that angry blade and I’m forced to disappear once again.
I smile to myself as I look down on them, Kais turning swiftly to seek me out, her looking around slowly in a more hesitant and almost wistful way.
God, I hate how vividly I remember her lips against mine.
I thought the only thing in the world that I wanted was to be touched, but now I’m finding it’s an incredible torture to remember something you’ll never have again.
I drift down with all the magic I possess. My eyes meet hers, my body poised upside down as I lower myself until my lips brush just gently against her ear.
But I can’t fucking help myself. My mouth grazes the shell of her ear. I whisper just quietly enough that Kais won’t turn toward us and ruin the perfect little moment between a man named the Rotter and a girl who most definitely is not the destined Alice. I like the way her chest rises and falls heavily when I’m near. It’s like the tiny little touches that spark me to life affect her as much as they do me.
“I’ll see you tonight, my Alice.” I’m tempted to press my lips to her cheek, her throat, between her thighs, anywhere she’ll fucking let me. But I don’t. I play nice.
For now.
Twenty
Madison
That night, a lively amount of laughter fills the cool evening air. None of it’s mine, but Tweedle and Twat-tle seem to be having a lovely double date.
Alixx and I are just the extras.
Constantine places his palm over my knuckles on top of the small dining table that someone has positioned here in the most romantic setting beneath the stars, among the thousands of glittering white roses, across from the most handsome man who’s ever infuriated me to the point of passion.
What in the tweedle fuck is wrong with me?
Alixx leans over the table as Constantine and Konstance share another burst of cackling amusement. “What do you say you and I find a closet somewhere and play that game seventy minutes in heaven?”
“It’s seven. Not seventy.”
“Well, I don’t know what kind of low expectation Kais has set for you, but what I had planned needed at least an hour,” he whispers just low enough that the King’s sister who’s placed a good three feet between her chair and his can’t hear him.
“There’s no low expectations.” I smile politely when Constantine shifts his distracted attention over to me for just the smallest amount of time. “There’s none. There’s zero expectation.”
“Zero.” His gaze cuts to his King, my betrothed, before sliding back to me. “That is fascinating. I guess I just don’t find you to be as innocent as everyone else does.”
He infuriates me but he’s so intriguingly different I just can’t help but play into the palm of his hand. All he wants is a reaction. And I give that to him time and time again.
And I hate it every single time.
His features remain impassive, but I can see that little arrogant shine of taunting amusement. I shift in my seat and force myself not to antagonize him. I just have to get through this night. I just have to make it a little longer before I can excuse myself.
“I was clearly the favorite.” Konstance smirks at her brother.
“Mom always said we were identical and so was her love for us.”
“That was a lie to make the less favorite feel better.” Konstance sends another shrill of laughter after her own words, and Alixx physically flinches from the sound of it.
“You were not her favorite.” It’s a half-smile he passes his sister, and I just now notice how quickly she’s going through the bottle of Rosen Alixx brought tonight.
She empties her fourth glass.
“You’re pretty, Alice. I’m happy you’re pretty at least.” Her gaze attempts to focus on me.
Alixx glances slowly from Konstance to me and then back again. With his wings, he looks like the devil plotting his sin. Nothing good can come from Alixx paying too close attention. He seems to have a thing for exploiting people’s weaknesses, and I know he’s picking apart every single word I say or don’t say.
My lips part, and before I can think of a petty half compliment to match hers, she carries on without me. “I’d absolutely die if my brother’s wife gave us ugly babies to inherit our Wanderlust throne.”
My eyebrows lift, and I decide just to take a long drink of my water instead.
“Sorry,” Constantine whispers under his breath to me. His gaze doesn’t linger on mine before he smiles up at his belligerently drunk sister.
“Constantine wants me to bond with you, share secrets, and become the best of friends.” The tense smile Konstance gives me is uncomfortable to look at. “I’ll start, I suppose.” She thinks for the smallest moment. “Is it hard for you?” she asks very suddenly and, despite my mouth opening, she doesn’t wait for any words to come out. “I find it impossible to orgasm, and other women tell me the female
climax isn’t a myth, but it—it’s hard, right? I just get so anxious about it, and the nicknames don’t help. They give me these awful nicknames that just make me so damn self-conscious. How can any woman bring herself to orgasm when they call you Snarl Snatch?”
My eyes widen at that. Constantine shakes his head at her, attempting to get her to stop rambling with a silent plea while Alixx stifles his laughter, coughing here and there before clearing his throat several times but chuckling throughout.
“If you’ll excuse me, my darling.” Alixx nods to his betrothed. He stands, making him seem even taller as he stares down at us all. “I think I’ll grab us another bottle of Rosen and really loosen you out of your shell.” He places his fingers obnoxiously close to hers, his little finger twitching just slightly, threatening to touch her with the smallest fraction of skin against skin.
She topples out of her chair to get away, her layered gown fluffing up around her as she lands in the damp grass on her ass, struggling to sit up to a kneeling position.
“My sweet beloved,” Alixx hisses a bit dramatically and, with a slicing smile, his voice drops so low I barely hear him. “I never expected to see you on your knees again, sweetheart.”
“Be careful, Rotter.” The King’s sister glares daggers at the man, and Constantine quickly rounds the table to help her stand while she continues to look at Alixx through hateful steely eyes. “Maybe it’d be better if you left. It’s getting late,” she snaps out.
Oh no.
“That’s not necessary, Konstance,” her brother whispers, chancing a glance over his shoulder to remind himself that I’m still here.
Still here. Unfortunately.
“I’m going to use the restroom really quick.” I stand slowly, and Konstance shifts her glaring eyes from Alixx to me which is more than I can say for her brother, because he doesn’t acknowledge me at all.
I exhale slowly before trailing through the rose garden. My fingers skim along the white petals, and glitter shines against my fingertips as I go. Everything here is beautiful. Beautiful on the surface and dangerous underneath, it seems.
The ground is soft, and I sink with each step I take, my heels lowering down into the dirt, letting the hem of my new white dress drag along the grass. I can’t find it in me to care. I hope the whole damn dress gets wet and muddy from neckline to hem.
None of it matters. Does this charade, this Alice Game, does it matter?
What am I really signing up for here? I thought I was getting a fairy tale life. A life I should have had. It seems I’m getting a loveless life, and that hurts to think about. I’m not overly romantic, but I did think the guy I married would be attracted to me. What kind of fucked up life am I creating when I’m clearly more attracted to my demented future brother-in-law than I am my future husband?
An awkward one. Definitely an awkward life.
My heels click when they meet brick, and I trail toward the back doors. They split down the middle, creating large French doors that lead into an empty sitting room. Kais said I could take a left and it’d lead down a long corridor. I scurry down the dark hall. The estate is quiet, but I do hear murmurs when I pass what appears to be the kitchen door. I hurry past it before someone can spot the wandering girl who’s about to commit treason because a white rabbit said it’d be a good idea.
Someone reserve me a room at the nearest mental institute; I’ve clearly gone mad.
The sex dungeon is just around this corner. I turn to the right just as Kais described.
And come face to face with pale white features looming in the darkness.
The scream that slips from my lips is covered quickly by my hand. We stand in the dark, the prophet and I, both trying to figure out why the other is here. The young boy is blocking the door to the lower level.
“Hi,” I say, smoothing my gown.
“Hello, Madison.” His head tilts, but he doesn’t say more. An odd feeling slips down my spine when his gaze lowers to my bare shoulders and the top of my dress that’s tight against my breasts.
The small amount of moonlight illuminates his pale features, pale hair and stark black clothes. I hate how creeped out the small boy makes me. I shouldn’t feel this uneasy around a child, should I?
“I was…just looking for the restroom.”
Shit, can he tell if I’m lying?
“Your mother says she’s not angry.”
My stomach twists hard, attempting to shelter itself from the eerie words the boy just spoke.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Your mom. She’s not angry you missed her funeral.”
I back away from him, my heart and my stomach both squeezing painfully.
“Listen, Sixth Sense, if you could just point me in the direction of a restroom.” My gaze never once lifts to the door behind him, and I try my best to block out the things he just said about my mom.
“I would, but you owe me.”
He seems old and young all at the same time. His stance is that of an arrogant man who’s somehow earned the right to be cocky and condescending. It’s the strangest sight to see in a little boy.
“I owe you?” My arms fold, and neither of us moves an inch.
“I gave you a message. Messages from beyond aren’t as pricey as messages from the future. Messages from the past that you’ve overlooked—those are the cheapest, but all of them come at a price.”
This is what Kais was trying to tell me all along. Not Prophet. Profit.
Clever boy.
Nothing in this life is free.
Except that message he just delivered. Because I’m a broke college student whose debt will likely loom over me into every realm I fall into.
Including this one.
“I think I’ll have to owe you. I didn’t bring my wallet”—into this realm—“with me tonight.”
“It’s not a pay as you go situation, bitch.” His eyes harden, looking years older than just a twelve-year-old boy once again.
A light crackling hisses through the room.
“Hey, save your pet names for your King, Preston.” Alixx slips in at my side from literally thin air, scaring the shit out of me even more.
I take a small breath and realize what Alixx said at the end. “Preston? Aw, that’s cute.”
Preston’s eyes roll, and he glares over at Alixx whose chest almost brushes my arm. “It’s Profit, and the bitch owes me.”
“Call her a bitch again and you’ll have to find someone to deliver your messages while you’re in the afterlife, Preston.” Alixx unfolds two bills, and the boy is careful not to touch the man’s hand when he rips the money from him.
And then he runs off, turning the corner so fast, his sneakers squeak.
“Sorry.” I keep my arms folded, my attention slipping over toward the curved torture dungeon door.
“Everyone gets conned by the Profit a time or two. He’ll try it again on you. Don’t let your guard down.”
My gaze slips toward the man still lingering close to my side, almost touching but not quite.
“Is he real though? What he tells people, the messages he delivers, do you think he’s real?” I swallow hard as I think about what he said about my mom.
Alixx nods slowly. “I think so. Preston’s mother is said to have been a real life medium. One of the best.”
“Wow. That’s amazing.”
“Yeah, she used him as a conduit a lot. A host of sorts. Real nice fucking woman.”
A conduit…the word doesn’t ring a bell, but the idea of that little boy being a host of some kind for spirits paints an alarming picture.
A chill slithers down my spine. I can see how stiff and defensive his shoulders are held. I don’t know what connection Alixx has to Preston, but he seems to hate Preston’s mother. Hell, after hearing that little fact, I hate Preston’s mom now too, but it seems deeper for Alixx. Something I can’t explain.
“You hate his mom?”
He looks at me from under his thick dark lashes. “I hate mothers
who use their children in the worst possible way. So, yeah, I hate Preston’s mom.”
Just mothers? Maybe it isn’t Preston’s mom at all. Maybe it’s Alixx’s mother who’s giving him this foreign rage that I’ve never seen in him before.
“If you’re headed to the lower level, we need to go now. The King asked me to check on you before I leave for the night,” Alixx says with a long sigh that seems to pull the tension right out of his shoulders.
“What makes you think I’m going to the dungeon?”
Alixx’s lips tilt at one side with a curving half-smile.
“Because Kais isn’t as smart as he thinks he is. Anyone with a bit of time to kill would be able to tell that the King’s most trusted advisor is a fucking traitor.”
My eyes snap wide open.
“Shut up,” I hiss, covering his mouth with my hand. With little strength, he seems to let me control his body with a light shove. His back hits the wall. He stiffens against my touch, my chest pressed to his. But he never touches me. His hands stay carefully positioned at his sides. “Do not ever suggest that again. Don’t even think it. Don’t connect treason to Kais, and do not connect treason to me. Understand?”
From above my fingers, his green eyes glint in the moonlight shining in from the small window. It’s that amused watchful look he gets when he dissects people slowly. Seconds pass. He never nods. His teeth bare, and he bites me just hard enough to sting pain into my palm.
I jerk back from him in an instant. “You fucking bit me.”
“You fucking offered your hand up to be bitten.” He takes a step closer, another and another until I’m forced to back up from his continued steps. The emptiness in his expression is an ominous sight, and I’m suddenly second-guessing what I thought I knew about Alixx Stone. “Don’t threaten me again, Madison. I like you. I really do. But the next time your hands press to my body, I won’t stop at just a playful bite or a deliciously chaste kiss. I’m not a playful man.” The sinister smile that pulls across his lips makes energy pool in my chest. Some of it’s fear…and some of it’s unexplainable desire.
