‘Uhh’— she quickly forced a smile—‘Alice. Just Alice.’
He smirked. ‘Just Alice, eh?’
‘Yes …’ She paused, her fake smile stretched into a genuine one. ‘What’s your name?’
He bowed his head. ‘Gerard, milady.’
‘Nice to meet you.’
‘Why are you here?’
Alice frowned. ‘I fell through a mirror and ended up here.’
He leaned in, looking Alice up and down. ‘Was that your husband who came with you?’
She bit her lip. When did he see him? ‘No.’ She laughed a little too loud. ‘I met him on the road. He’s no one.’
Gerard perked up and leaned in. ‘So you are single, then?’
Alice ground her teeth. ‘I guess I am.’ She looked at the rabbit-looking man and pursed her lips. She did not want to be courted by him or anyone, at that.
‘Great.’
‘I’m not looking for a husband.’
He shrugged. ‘Fine, but trust me, you’re going to need an ally at the very least, and I can be quite resourceful.’
His lips were almost touching her ear; she could feel his hot breath on her neck and moved away. ‘What if I were looking for an object?’
Gerard laughed, showing off his laugh lines and crescent dimples. ‘Anything valuable is well hidden. However, tell me what it is, and perhaps I can help?’
Alice hesitated. This was obviously one of the queen’s men. ‘Nothing of importance. I was more curious about the artefacts here,’ she lied.
He nodded, unconvinced. ‘I’d be happy to give you a tour sometime, Alice.’ He looked at her gooey-eyed.
‘I would love that. Of course, I will say again that I am not looking for a husband so as long as you don’t have an ulterior motive.’
He looked at her greedily. ‘Not at all, Alice. Although, a husband would help your status here in Wonderland. Especially one with great wealth and favour from the queen.’
Alice half smiled and turned to face Gerard. ‘Again, I am fine but flattered. Thank you.’
‘Unless the queen made you. Then you would not be able to say no.’
Alice pressed her lips together. ‘Well, I pray that does not happen.’
‘You are very beautiful. Many men will want to take you as their bride.’
She shuffled away from him and looked out the window. ‘Again, flattered,’ she said with a harsh undertone.
Gerard smiled broadly. ‘Got this all figured out then?’ He ran his finger along the top of the purple jewel on his ring. ‘What if she chooses for you, and he is a brute? What if she does, and you say no? Then what if she locks you up here?’ He lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘They call her the red queen, the queen of hearts, for a reason.’
Alice’s eyes widened. ‘What would she do to me?’
Gerard sighed. ‘She would rip your heart out, so you’re incapable of love. You would not die while in Wonderland, but you could never leave. You can only leave with your true love.’
Alice clenched her jaw. ‘What? I didn’t know … How will I get home?’ she asked, pretending to know nothing about Wonderland.
‘You wouldn’t need to if you had a good life here.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m doing you a favour. Trust me. I recommend taking a husband.’
‘No.’
He shrugged. ‘Then you will be stuck here, poor, and remain in Wonderland until you find someone to fall in love with so you can leave. If you can’t, then your best bet is to do what we’re all doing.’
‘What’s that?’ Alice asked.
Gerard’s smirk disappeared. He looked at Alice gravely. ‘Try to remain in the queen’s good graces for as long as possible and hope she doesn’t turn on you.’
The trumpets sounded, and Alice and Gerard shot apart. Everyone stood up then knelt as the queen strode up the centre of the room on the red carpet, which was littered with rose petals, and took her place on the throne. Everyone returned to their food, and the queen turned her attention to her new guest. ‘Alice,’ she addressed.
‘Majesty,’ Alice said, bowing her head.
‘So tell me how you found your way here?’
‘I fell through a mirror,’ Alice said truthfully. ‘Then I met that man, and now, I am here.’
‘Well,’ the queen said, tilting her head. ‘Do you have any skills, Alice?’
Alice bit her lip. ‘I can play the violin. I am good with business, and I am good at finding things.’
‘Finding things?’
‘Yes.’
The queen smiled. ‘Well, Alice, I welcome you to Wonderland. You can remain here at my palace and play music in my court. You will also find things if I ever need anything found.’ She turned to Gerard. ‘Find Alice a room.’
‘Majesty,’ Gerard said. ‘And what of the man who she came with?’
‘Bring him to me. We shall see what he has to offer me.’
He bowed and accompanied Alice out of the hall and up three lots of stairs.
Alice walked into the overly decorated room. ‘Thank you.’
Gerard smiled slimily. ‘I will have you know that I am the right-hand man to the queen herself and am the wealthiest man in all of Wonderland.’
Alice shrugged and sat on the end of the bed. ‘Good for you.’
He walked over to her and grabbed her wrist then brushed his lips against her cheek. ‘I will have you, Alice. Not once have I set eyes on a woman more beautiful than you are, and that makes you the best. And I must always have the best.’
Alice kicked him off her and grabbed him by the throat. ‘Come near me again, and I'll—’
He laughed. ‘You’ll what? You’d be better having me as a friend, missy, than an enemy. I make a powerful friend but a vengeful enemy. Remember that.’ He looked down at her dress and smiled. ‘One day, you will be mine, that much I can promise you. And then, you will have to obey me.’
♥♥♥
The next morning, Gerard paced the pews in the church and laughed aloud. Each window was stained with images of the red queen who, of course, fancied herself as a goddess and expected all of those who had come to Wonderland to worship only her. What made it more hilarious was the simple fact that everyone willingly did. They were all mad here.
Gerard remembered coming to Wonderland. Like so many others, he believed it to be the world where dreams came true and one could just be themselves. He was wrong and was surprised at his ability to stay somehow sane amongst all the chaos. He left the church and took the collection plate with him, as was his job. The coins were favours to the queen, to forgive them for their sins, which he knew was just to keep their hearts in their chest. Nobody wanted their hearts to be ripped out because without the ability to love, they could never leave Wonderland. The mirror let only ones leave who were with their true loves; he was told it was a spell done by a woman who the queen had killed as a punishment. The queen never spoke about why, but Gerard figured either it must be that the queen was that unlovable, or perhaps, she had found her true love and something had happened to him. Either way, Gerard craved to find out. The queen trusted him; he had appealed to her mad and ambitious side and offered complete allegiance to be the eyes and ears of the kingdom.
The only one he had to watch out for was Lord Dain, one of the queen’s advisors and the Keeper of the Ruby.
Lord Dain hated Gerard, for many reasons— one being that Gerard had slept with his wife, Felicia. Dain had said that Gerard had raped her, but that was preposterous, Gerard thought. She shouldn’t have worn such a low-cut dress then, he thought.
Thankfully, the queen did not punish him when the truth surfaced, for the only way to truly punish him would be to send him to Willow Woods, the only place in Wonderland where you could die.
The queen had sent traitors there to die, but even so, she did sparingly. Mad, yet a bright woman. She knew the threat of the woods alone was enough to make people behave, but now and again, she would have someone executed there as an example. When he th
ought about it, it had been a while since anyone was sent there. The queen was hot and cold, known to believe one thing at sunrise and the opposite by sunset.
Walking through the small village of Pan, one named by the queen because of its youth, Gerard shoved the coins and plate into his satchel. He glanced at the old white house, five stories, all wonky and flaky; the windows were all different shapes—some circles, some squares, and so on. In the garden in front of the house, he saw Croon and lowered his head. Poor Croon. The queen had once favoured him. Around four months after Gerard came to Wonderland, the queen had imparted a punishment on Croon, or as everyone called him, the Mad Hatter. He had mentioned someone’s name during an argument; no one knows who, yet it annoyed the queen so much that she took his valuable tea time from him. Everyone knew that Croon loved having tea with his friends and knew everything there was to know about different types of tea. She made it so it was always ten minutes to teatime but never quite there. The only way it could be broken was if that person’s name was mentioned to him again; he was tongue-tied never to say it, and no one knew the name. Gerard sighed and peeked over the fence.
The hatter looked down at his teacup, and he was smiling. Why is he smiling? thought Gerard.
Wendy jumped onto the chair and nodded at Croon. ‘Stilt sent word to the queen.’
‘Is there a reply?’ Croon asked.
Wendy shook her head.
‘You know the queen will not act unless she has to, but without her support, this whole mission will be pointless.’
Gerard listened intently; if there was anything worth hearing, he wanted to be the first to listen. Anything that he could use, whether it was to hatch a plot, use a bribe, or use as leverage, was worth it.
Croon slammed his hands down on the table, making his hat drop down, so it looked even more lopsided. ‘The white queen must fight with us. If not, then we must use Alice to turn the townspeople to our side.’
Gerard pressed his ear against the fence harder. Wendy strolled over to Croon. ‘Let her do what she must do at the castle first. If not and the red queen finds out that she is a figurehead, then she will label Alice a traitor and send her to Willow Woods.’
‘Not unless she finds the Sword of Souls first,’ Croon pointed out. ‘Let’s pray she does. Let’s pray none of us gets caught. I can never go back to the asylum; I tell you …’ He shuddered. ‘It is as if they want me to be mad.’
‘Of course, they do.’
He narrowed his eyes, his expression growing darker. ‘If we do not win this, if we fail, then I must die.’
‘No.’
‘Yes! I must never go back to the asylum, and you know they will send me there. You must promise me that you won’t let that happen; promise me you will take me to Willow Woods instead and cut my throat with your sword.’
Wendy gulped. ‘No, I mean … the asylum helps you. You are haunted by demons of your past and …’
Croon's big blue eyes widened and sparkled with madness. ‘You are so very wrong. Well, if I cannot die, then we must win. We should steal the chest and bring it here, open it here. Or at the least, let it slip to Gerard. He would steal it, and you know he would get away with it. He’s a skilled thief; we could all get out of here, but we must offer him something in return.’
Gerard pressed his ear against the hole in the fence. A chest? What chest?
Wendy shook her head. ‘I know not where she keeps it, and Gerard is happy to be her right-hand man. I cannot risk it; Gerard may report back to the queen …’ Wendy paused and sighed. ‘I trust that Alice will come through for us.’
‘Me too,’ Croon said.
Gerard stood back up and slid away from the hatter’s fence and down a cobbled street. Wendy wouldn’t need to suggest anything. He knew their secret, and now, perhaps he could get Alice, after all.
♥♥♥
Snow’s mood changed icily. Snow covered Wonderland, turning it into a winter paradise, which looked a lot better than the glum mood Snow had left it in for a while. Fierce winds swept around the castle, snowy blizzards captured the towns, and storms roared over the ocean.
Snow looked down at the mahogany chest with hooded eyes. It was ten times bigger than the small matchbox it was once. With each cut of her sword, souls went into their eternal prison. She placed it on her dresser and looked around blankly. The world she had created felt so empty, emptier without James, but releasing him would bring pack painful emotions that would kill her. Surely, it was easier to live without love, to be cold and heartless, rather than to face the truth? That she had removed the only man in existence who had loved her unconditionally.
Memories swarmed like locusts and crippled her. Doubled over, she was glad no one could see her. It was such a simple thing, the reason for her pain; she missed him. She thought of the good ones at the white palace, Gallisa and Red. Her best friend and a woman who regarded her as a sister. They were the closest things she had to family, and neither of them wanted anything to do with her anymore. James was gone, and even Belle was dead, killed in Neverland by a giant in Willow Woods.
She should have never gone to Neverland.
She wiped her eyes and walked out of her chambers, leaving the chest behind. The guards bowed to her as she walked down the corridor.
Another prisoner had been captured, a boy who had stolen a loaf of bread and some apples. Snow stood in front of the heavy metal door, and the guard opened it. A small boy around five years old sobbed. She could see the torn skin from where the shackles had rubbed. He looked up at her with doe eyes, a beautiful brown that matched James’s, her one true love. His hair was a light brown, and his bottom lip trembled as tears spilled onto his grimy cheeks.
‘I’m sorry,’ he sobbed quietly.
Secretly, she hated him; hated that he reminded her of James. Those brown eyes had looked at her with such betrayal before he went into the chest.
‘Take him to the woods,’ she said sternly.
Even the guards gasped but did not question.
The boy screamed. He knew what that meant and held the bottom of Snow’s dress, burying his head into the fabric for comfort like he would a teddy bear. One tear almost escaped, but she said nothing and felt her heart ice over.
She turned to her guards. ‘Never mind,’ she screeched, ‘let him rot in here instead.’ The guards nodded, and Snow held her head high. ‘Fetch Gerard and bring him to my chambers.’
She needed to finally do it. Her pesky emotions kept her from being the fearsome ruler that she could be. She wanted Gerard to rip out her heart so she could no longer feel.
♥♥♥
Gerard trudged up the winding stone steps and passed portraits of the queen that followed him with judgmental eyes. He stood outside her varnished door as a guard announced him then swept in and sunk into a low bow. ‘Your Grace.’
‘Gerard.’ She addressed him but did not turn; instead, she stared out the arched window at the gardens below. Her servants were painting the roses but had to keep redoing them every time it rained so were now hoping to finish before it rained again. ‘I need you to do something for me.’
‘Your wish is my command, Majesty,’ he said to her back.
She twirled, the net on her red dress remained still as if it were coated with gloss. ‘I need you to rip out my heart.’
‘May I ask why?’
‘You may,’ she replied, ‘but you wouldn’t receive an answer.’
He nodded in reply. His gaze flitted up to her dresser. On it sat a chest, one he hadn’t seen before. It almost glowed with magic; he could see a golden dust surrounding it. He lifted an eyebrow but quickly diverted his eyes from it as the queen looked at him with panic. She clearly didn’t want to him to see it, and Gerard was no fool; whatever was in that box was important.
‘When shall we do it?’ he asked, defeated.
She pressed her lips together in a hard line. ‘The tower, this afternoon.’
He nodded stiffly.
‘I can trust
you, Gerard,’ she said, unconvincingly. ‘If there is one thing I hate, it’s traitors. I will always reward you for your loyalty.’
He bowed. ‘Majesty,’ he said and walked out of the room. He wouldn’t take what the queen said as a compliment because underlying her words was a threat. She knew he was up to something but didn’t know what. Hopefully, with her heart out of her chest, she would dismiss her suspicions about Gerard. He walked down the stone steps.
He must find Alice and tell her that he knows of her secret to force her into marrying him. He looked down and sighed. No woman refused his advances due to his status and wealth, yet she did, and it made him want her more. He hungered for her, and lust swept through him.
He smirked as a lady in waiting walked past him, modestly bowing her head to the queen’s
right-hand man.
He narrowed his eyes and turned, touching her shoulder. ‘Milady,’ he said silkily. ‘Would you be able to help me find my room? I appear to have lost my way. I don’t venture to this part of the castle often.’ He almost laughed. He had become so lazy with luring women to his chambers.
She nodded and led the way to his room. He had to quench his thirst for Alice somehow, at least until after he had ripped out the queen’s heart, which could be the worst thing he’d ever done.
♥♥♥
Gerard looked down at the crimson heart beating in his hands. Snow looked at him in shock and turned and ran down the stairs. Gerard took her heart and placed it into a special chest in which only he would have the key to open it, per the queen’s orders. He placed the chest into the vault and looked out the window. The queen was standing in the garden, looking around with flitting panic.
Snow felt the pain of her emotions leaving her. Wonderland slowly turned a light grey, leaving everything in an in-between state. However, the castle was a different story, as in its perimeters a storm was brewing. Before the love, anger, and confusion left her body, all those emotions were heightened and more painful than ever. The rain descended like thick pearls of silver, crashing onto the castle and its gardens.
Into Wonderland (Haunting Fairytales Series Book 3) Page 5
