by Eva Chase
“Oh,” I said, a giddy flutter rising in my chest. “Well. I’m sorry about your hatlessness anyway.”
His smile curved higher, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “You could always distract me from the agony of the loss.”
I couldn’t help grinning in return. “And how would you suggest I do that?”
He didn’t bother to answer, just lowered his mouth to mine.
If Theo kissed like he was taking command, then Hatter kissed like he was dedicating himself to the cause. His breath mingled hot with mine, and his fingers eased up my side, trailing tingles of warmth in their wake. I leaned into him, my hand sliding behind his neck and then pushing at his suit jacket. He shed it as easily as he had when he’d been volunteering to dive into that chomping pit to retrieve my sword.
His body felt even hotter with only the thin layer of his dress shirt in the way. He kissed me harder as I traced my fingers over the muscles of his shoulders and down his chest. Then he palmed my breast with a quick swivel of motion that raised my nipple to a point with a spark of sensation. I gasped into his mouth.
Hatter tugged the wide neckline of the dress down over my shoulder and dislodged my bra at the same time. His hand slid under the fabric to cup me skin to skin. With one flick of his skilful thumb, my whole body was quivering with desire.
“Perhaps best if we merely rearrange clothes rather than removing them,” he murmured. “Seeing as our situation here may turn out to be precarious.” He hesitated, his hand stilling. “Unless—if this isn’t how—if you’d rather wait—”
For what? A bed we might never actually make it back to if this adventure took a turn for the even worse—a bed where we’d been just as easily interrupted anyway? The others were out around the camp keeping an eye on things, and it’d sounded like they’d be gone a while. And right now I wanted this man with all the determination and tenderness he was capable of more than I’d ever wanted anyone.
“Fuck no,” I said.
Hatter beamed at me, so brilliant in his delight that I had to catch the knot of his tie and pull him into another kiss.
He tipped me over on the blanket, one of his knees settling between my legs. As we kissed and caressed, my hands yanking his shirt from his slacks and traveling up over the bare skin beneath, I couldn’t help arching toward him. My core ached for attention. My thigh brushed the bulge beneath his fly, and his breath stuttered before he re-captured my mouth.
That contact appeared to be all the cue he’d needed. Hatter reached down to draw the skirt of my dress up, his fingers tracing an electric path across my skin to the hem of my panties. His thumb grazed over the fabric in a teasing circle and then pressed down right on the spot where I needed it most.
My hips bucked up with the bolt of pleasure. I sucked back a cry. If Theo and Chess were close enough to pick up a holler, I didn’t want to test the limits of their hearing.
I felt more than saw Hatter’s smile. He worked my panties down just a couple inches and cupped me completely, his mouth marking a scorching path across my jaw and down the side of my neck at the same time. Another gasp escaped me as he dipped two fingers into the slick needy center of me. With a few swift strokes, he found the perfect point of pleasure. I bit my lip against a moan, bucking into his touch.
There are many uses a nimble set of fingers can be put to, he’d told me once. No fucking kidding.
I reached for his slacks, but Hatter nudged my hand to the side. “Not yet,” he said by my ear, his voice rough but steady. “I want to watch you find your bliss, and then I want to hear you, and then I want to feel you.”
My mind was already too hazed with the bliss he was generating to totally make sense of that, but as his fingers pulsed inside me and his thumb whirled over my clit, I was in full agreement with whatever he wanted to do with me.
His mouth came back to mine, our tongues twining together until my breath broke into panting. Hatter gazed at my face with so much hunger that his expression as much as the deft twist of his fingers tipped me over the edge. My eyes rolled back with the wave of pleasure that radiated through me. In an instant, my limbs turned into ecstatic jelly.
“Beautiful,” Hatter said in a ragged voice that turned me on even more. He brushed his lips against mine once more and dipped his head to my chest. As he caught one nipple in his mouth through the dress’s delicate fabric, a fresh knot of need formed down below, as quickly as the last one had shattered.
He worked over one breast and then the other until I was whimpering, my fingers tangled in his hair. Tugging my dress higher, he eased his way down. His lips grazed my sternum, my belly, the dip just beneath. Then he swept his tongue across my clit, and a fresh rush of pleasure raced through me.
All I could do was clutch on to his hair, trying not to pull too hard, as his mouth provoked a whole new range of sensations from my sex. Lips and tongue and teeth as skillful as his fingers had been, and oh God that surge of bliss was building all over again, so swiftly I could hardly breathe.
He’d said he wanted to hear me. I let more of the whimpers I’d been trying to contain slip out, followed by a moan as he gently nipped my clit. “Hatter,” I mumbled. “So fucking good.” And then something inarticulate that hopefully got the idea across all the same as his tongue curved right up into my slit. My body shuddered with the force of my second orgasm.
I still hadn’t gotten what I wanted most, though. Hatter raised his body so he could kiss my collarbone, my neck, before making his way back to my mouth, and I found the wherewithal through my jellified state to grasp the zipper of his slacks. This time he didn’t stop me. My fingers grazed his straining erection through the silky material of his boxers—question finally answered!—and he groaned with a shaky inhalation.
Together, we tugged his slacks down, and he yanked my panties completely off. I raised my hips, and he bowed his head over me as he slid inside. I was so wet and ready his cock practically glided through me, hard and hot and exactly what I’d been waiting for.
The deeper sense of bodily connection brought a rush of emotion into my chest. I hugged him tightly where I’d slipped my arms back up under his shirt and lifted my head. Hatter met me for the kiss I’d been seeking, drawing it out as he started to move inside me.
After all that build-up, I’d expected our final coming together to be frantic. Hatter rocked into me, sinking a little deeper still with each pump of his hips, intense but deliberately drawing every ounce of pleasure he could out of our joining. It was the most delicious torture. My body quivered with the heady sensation expanding from my core. I wanted him to hurry up already, and I wanted this never to end.
I raised my legs to brace against his thighs, letting him plunge so far his body brushed my clit. I gasped, and the control Hatter had been holding onto broke. He thrust into me harder, faster. “Lyssa,” he muttered into my hair, gripping my hip and urging me higher to meet him. “Fuck. You drive me mad, but in the best possible way.”
A giggle slipped out of me. “You make me pretty bonkers too,” I managed to say before I was whimpering again, rocking into his thrusts, chasing one more ecstatic release. His cock pressed against that sweet spot inside me as it filled me in a way his fingers hadn’t managed. The bliss of it swelled from my core through my entire body. Then it hit me like a tidal wave, crashing through my body.
I clenched around him, and Hatter made a strangled sound of pleasure. His hips jerked faster. As I clung to him, he came in a searing liquid gush inside me.
We stayed like that for a moment, him braced over me, our bodies joined, both our chests heaving. Then he eased himself down beside me, rolling me to face him. With his hand on my cheek, he kissed me as thoroughly as he’d just made love to me.
“We should probably finish getting the camp set up,” he said under his breath when he drew back. “But… maybe not quite yet?”
“Definitely not quite yet.” I squirmed closer to him and tucked my head against his chest. The citrusy smoky smell of him fi
lled my nose, and a pang formed in my chest.
All of this was only temporary, only until I could find my way back to the Otherland. I didn’t belong here in Wonderland. I didn’t want to abandon my life back home. But in that moment all I wanted was to pretend this brief bliss could last forever.
Chapter Twelve
Theo
Lyssa was already starting to bloom into her role. I could see it in her posture, in the ease with which she pulled the woven metal vest back on after she’d eaten a brief breakfast. She didn’t even know what she was meant for yet, and still she was moving toward it at full speed.
The observation sat strangely in my stomach, admiration and irritation mingling together. The former she’d earned; the latter had nothing, really, to do with her. Maybe when we were back in the city, where I had my office and my materials at my fingertips, all my people to call on, it would fade completely.
I certainly hoped so. It didn’t befit the man I was meant to be at all.
The twins shuffled around the fire pit, dousing the flames and packing up the few dishes we’d used. Hatter and Doria were folding up the cabins. Chess stood poised at the edge of the hilltop, gazing toward the square of daylight we’d recently left as he kept watch for the enemy who might emerge at any moment.
I stood up and turned toward Lyssa. “I think we’ve found enough. With the Knave potentially so close at our heels, we should head back to the city now.”
We’d have to deal with the Knave and his remaining guard along the way, if the jabberwock hadn’t fatally wounded them in the skirmish. We couldn’t let him go back and inform the Queen of the company Lyssa had been keeping. But I didn’t think that idea would go over well with our Otherlander. Better for her conscience that I arranged it more as if by chance than as a straightforward plan to end a man’s life.
Perhaps I could send the twins off on a little side mission when we had a better idea of the commander of the guards’ location. He hadn’t appeared overnight. I wasn’t going to assume anything from that fact, though. He might have only temporarily lost our trail, or he might be hanging back on purpose, wary of our now much greater numbers, waiting for an ideal opportunity to achieve an advantage.
Lyssa frowned, blinking at my suggestion. “Head back? But there’s got to be at least one more thing. Mirabel said, ‘The sword, the scepter, and the shield.’ I guess this must be the ‘shield’.” She tapped the vest. “So the scepter is still out there. Something is at that hill Aunt Alicia drew. I’m sure of it. What if we need it if we’re going to stop the Queen?”
That something was what had sent her grand-aunt running, no doubt. I wasn’t sure Lyssa finding it would do more good than harm. And the thought of the Knave getting his hands—or his sword—on her made every part of me tense.
I tipped my head toward the sword she’d leaned against her bag. “I expect a sword will be a lot more useful for that purpose,” I said honestly.
“We don’t know what magic the scepter might have in it, though. We’re already out here. The hill can’t be that much farther.”
True. I didn’t think it would take us more than the day to reach the spot we’d seen from afar. Nevertheless…
“We’ve already escaped death by a hair multiple times since we arrived here,” I said. “Sometimes only through luck. I’d rather we return in one piece with what we’ve gotten so far than die trying for more. You’ve done enough, Lyssa. You’ve done more than most people would have believed was possible.”
I let all the warmth I felt for her flow into my voice, but the praise didn’t soften her expression the way I’d managed in times past. She’d believed in me above anyone else in Wonderland back then.
She was learning to believe in herself here in our land. I wished I could have been nothing but pleased to see it.
“It doesn’t feel like enough,” she said, and hesitated. Her jaw set. “If anyone wants to head back now, that’s all right. I don’t want anyone risking their lives just because I said so. But I’m going to that hill. If there’s something there, I’m going to find it.”
More protests swelled in my throat. My concern about the dangers ahead was perfectly real. And also, she wasn’t ready for the full truth of these artifacts yet. I needed more time to ease her into it. But I couldn’t tell her that.
What else could I say that she would listen to? I could push on the idea of the Queen beginning her executions, but I’d told Lyssa before we should have at least a week.
The longer we argued without my convincing her, the more my authority diminished in the eyes of everyone watching us. My whole body balked at the thought of backing down, but looking at the determination in her face, I suspected that was the stronger move.
I certainly wasn’t leaving her to fend for herself against whatever other horrors the Checkerboard Plains might offer up.
I let out a chuckle, forcing my lips to form a wry smile that I hoped didn’t betray the tension inside me. “I should know better than to underestimate you,” I said, as if it were only her willingness I’d been concerned about. “If you’re ready to adventure onward, then let’s see where the Plains take us next.”
No one else offered any argument. Doria scooped up one of the lanterns and set off in the lead as soon as we’d packed up. Hatter hurried after her with a wary scan over the landscape. Chess grabbed the other lantern and meandered a little apart from our procession to cast the light over a wider span. Lyssa jogged to catch up with Hatter and his daughter, the ruby-set sword swaying awkwardly in her grasp.
Anyone who knew anything about sword fighting could have seen that Lyssa knew nothing at all. When we’d been making our way through the gully yesterday, she’d tried wedging the weapon into her bag for a while, but the hilt had kept banging into her back, so she’d switched to carrying it by hand. The way she was holding it, an opponent could have knocked it out of her fingers in an instant. And that was when she hadn’t switched it to her weaker hand to rest her arm.
When we were back at the city and I could unearth a sword of my own, I’d have to give her a few lessons. It should actually be rather invigorating, in more than one way, watching her take to the weapon. The ten years of training under my belt might as well have some additional use.
My imagination drifted for a moment to the way I might set one hand on her hip and stand against her from behind as I guided her arm, feeling every motion of her muscles tensing and relaxing. At the thump of a stone Dum kicked, I jerked my mind back to the present.
My gaze lifted to Lyssa automatically. My feelings for her were all tangled through the rest of me, too thoroughly to be easily picked apart. By the will of the lands, I wouldn’t need to.
“Any idea what specific dangers we might be up against today, White Knight?” Dum asked where he’d fallen into step beside me.
“Of course you’d ask about that and not what wonders we might see,” Dee teased at my other side. “It’s been a wild ride, that’s for sure.”
“Thank you for coming along for it,” I said. The twins had proven themselves dependable in their different ways as they’d matured, but I hadn’t been able to warn them of all the risks we’d face on this particular journey. If I’d known the Knave would wind up chasing us, or that we’d find ourselves walking clear across the Plains…
No, they probably still would have come. I’d earned that loyalty, and they gave it happily. As if I would have turned away their pleading mother and let the Queen’s recruiter notice their fledgling abilities. With their rebellious spirits, they’d have been lucky to make it a year before they were sent off to the Oyster Cove to have their heads regrown like dim automations.
They’d always balanced each other out, Dum holding Dee back when his eagerness got away from him, Dee helping Dum loosen up. That was the kind of teamwork you couldn’t manufacture.
“You asked, we came,” Dum said, as if it really were that simple to him. He shrugged. “It hasn’t been that bad on the whole.” He paused and glanced si
deways at me. “Are you sure continuing on was the right idea?”
That argument had sown doubt in the wrong places. I gave a light laugh. “I simply thought it was a good moment to test our Otherlander’s resolve for going forward,” I said, in a low voice so Lyssa wouldn’t overhear. “If she wasn’t completely dedicated to continuing, she could falter and get the rest of us into trouble.”
“No need to worry about that one wavering, from what I can see,” Dee said. “She’s got the guts it takes to run with the Spades, no question.” He sucked a breath through his teeth with a soft whistle. “Can you imagine how much these artifacts will freak out the Queen? We’ll turn the tables on her for sure. I can’t wait.”
Dum shot him a skeptical look. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy, even with a pretty sword and all. And the Otherlander…” He studied Lyssa’s back. “She’s held her own. No one could argue that. But she’s shifting things too. She still might get us into a lot of trouble, and does she really know what she’s in for then?”
She didn’t. Which was exactly why we couldn’t drop a huge burden on her head without proper preparation.
“Can she even fight with that thing?” he added, nodding to the sword.
“We can always pass the ring and all on to someone who’s a better fighter, right?” Dee said. “Her aunt or whoever might have found it, but it belongs to Wonderland.”
It did, and it also belonged to her. The weight of the falsehoods I was juggling pressed down on me for a moment. I squared my shoulders. “Always a possibility,” I said. “We’ll see how we can best position ourselves and the things we’ve found once we return to the city.”
That answer appeared to satisfy the twins for now. As we walked on through the hazy darkness, the weight sank down to my gut.
How many doubts would they have if they realized how much of the truth I’d held back from them? Was there some way I could make it seem as if I’d only just discovered the full story too?
