by C. J. Archer
"Back!" Gus shouted even as he was dragged through the doorway.
"Gus!" Seth tried to grab him but he too was hauled out. He managed a lethal strike on his attacker before a blade sliced his sword arm.
Eva cried out as she too was taken. Markell dragged Alice back along the tunnel but the way was blocked by advancing soldiers.
They were trapped. The maid was loyal to Quellery, the man who paid her, not to a miserable band of rebels. Alice's heart dropped like a stone.
"Come out, Miss Alice, or your friends will be executed." Lord Quellery's sneering voice made her want to throw up again.
Markell adjusted his grip on his sword and assessed the situation. But Alice knew it was hopeless. Too many soldiers blocked the way they'd come, and one by one, soldiers pressed through the door ahead.
"Come, Markell," Alice said quietly. "We have to surrender."
"We can't," he said, voice like broken glass. "They'll take you to the queen, and she'll have you executed."
"At least I'll have a chance to defend myself, and hopefully some of the renegade cells have made their way to the castle since hearing of my return. If we die here…" There was no point in finishing the sentence.
Markell touched the back of her neck and pressed his forehead to hers. "I love you, Alice. Never forget that."
Her throat clogged with tears and she had trouble breathing, let alone speaking, but she had to say it. Had to tell him. "I love you too."
Soldiers wrenched them apart and shoved them into the daylight. Quellery stood before them, flanked by several men. Gus, Seth, Eva, David and the other renegades knelt on the grassy bank of the moat, their hands tied behind their backs. They were alive, at least. That was something.
"Don't hurt them," she pleaded. "Let them go home. They can do nothing to you from there."
Quellery didn't bother answering her. His eyes disappeared among the folds of fat as he squinted at Markell.
"You traitor!" Markell shouted.
"I believe you are the traitor, Ironside, not me."
"You lied to us! You betrayed us, betrayed the rightful queen of Wonderland."
"You're a naive fool if you think it matters who sits on the throne. What matters is harnessing that power. If you'd only agreed to my proposal, Alice, I would have made Wonderland the most important kingdom in all the realms. But you're as stupid as he is. You think love is more important than power and wealth. Love fades, girl. It withers and dies just like every other pretty flower."
"I've changed my mind," Alice blurted out. "I'll marry you, my lord. Please, let everyone go and I will do as you ask."
Quellery snorted. "It's too late. I've already sent word to the queen."
"You're spineless, Quellery," Seth snarled. "This isn't right and you know it!"
Quellery flicked a hand toward Seth as if brushing off a fly. "Take them away."
"Where are you taking us?" Alice cried.
"The queen still wants you to face trial. The people will stand for nothing else."
The people could still rise up and start a revolution.
But it would be almost impossible for them to win against not only Wonderland's army, but Quellery's private one too. Not to mention the blood that would be shed.
Alice appealed to Markell but he merely stood with his head bowed, a broken man. Her heart ached for him, for them all. Yet while they lived, there was hope. Always hope.
Markell must have sensed her gaze. He looked up and began to struggle against the soldiers that held him, but he could do nothing with his hands bound. "You murdered Blaine," he snapped at Quellery.
"Sanctimonious fool," Quellery sneered.
Markell gave an almighty roar and wrenched free of the two soldiers holding him. He surged toward Quellery, rage and hatred twisting his handsome features into something unrecognizable.
A group of soldiers stepped in front of their master and blocked Markell. One drew his knife.
"No!" Alice cried, pulling free of her captor. She ran at Markell and the soldiers, screaming for them to stop.
One man went to grab her but she dodged him, only to lose her footing on the damp grass and fall over the edge into the moat. Water enveloped her, filled her ears, her nose, her mouth. She spat it out and kicked, searching for the bottom. But it was too deep. She flailed her arms, trying to reach the surface, but…where was it? Up or down? She couldn't make out the sky through the water, only darkness and a heavy weight squeezing her from all sides, smothering her.
No hands reached for her. No one dove in to rescue her.
The weight grew heavier. It crushed her chest and throat, squeezing until she thought her ribs would crack. Every piece of her craved air but Alice kept her lips shut.
But with every labored thud of her heart, the darkness grew deeper, her limbs heavier.
Then everything went black.
Chapter 11
Seth
Seth fought to breathe, to stay focused and watch as Alice's lifeless body was pulled from the moat. Two soldiers had finally dived into the water and rescued her, despite not being ordered to do so.
Quellery watched from the bank, his nostrils flared, his hands at his back. He did not chastise the two soldiers but Seth wouldn't want to be in their shoes later. Quellery hadn't wanted her to live. Seth felt sick.
Alice lay on the ground, a wet bundle of awkwardly placed limbs and mass of hair. Her chest didn't move.
"She's not breathing!" Markell cried. "You murderer, Quellery!"
"She fell in," Quellery said with a shrug. "It was nothing to do with me. You all saw."
Eva ran to the body, almost tripping into the moat herself in her haste. Soldiers trailed after her, but none stopped her. She wasn't deemed a threat.
She crouched and bent Alice's head to the side, brushing damp hair off her face. Water drained from Alice's mouth then Eva centered her head again and tilted it back. She pinched Alice's nose and breathed into her mouth.
"What's she doing?" asked Lady Oxana. Seth hadn't noticed her arrival.
Nobody answered, but Seth knew. Lincoln had taught him the technique of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as part of their training. Seth had never used it, and had even doubted it would work, but he had faith in Eva's abilities. She was the closest thing to a doctor they had, and if she thought it would work, then it was worth trying. Seth only hoped Quellery wouldn't force the soldiers to stop her.
"She's not breathing," Markell said again as he strained against the men holding him. He looked like a man whose world had fallen apart.
Eva placed her hands over Alice's chest and pushed down hard several times. This hadn't been part of Seth's training in resuscitating drowning victims. What was she doing?
"This is absurd," Quellery spat. "She's dead. Take the prisoners away."
Eva, once again breathing into Alice's mouth, put up her hand to keep the soldiers at bay. They hovered nearby, fascinated yet unsure.
"Stay away from her," Markell growled at them. "Or the queen will be told how her prisoner could have been saved but wasn't. She wouldn't like it if her revenge ended here and not in the courtroom as she planned."
Quellery's neck jiggled with his indignation. He did not give orders again, however, and he too stood by and watched Eva.
Suddenly Alice drew in a breath and coughed up water.
"Alice!" Markell struggled but the soldiers held him. "Alice, are you all right?"
Alice did not get up. She lay on her back and stared at the sky, but her chest rose and fell with her breaths. She lived. Seth had never seen anything like it. She'd stopped breathing for more than a minute. She should be dead. Eva had done that. She'd performed a miracle.
Seth couldn't stop his tears.
Eva spoke quietly to Alice as some of the soldiers crowded closer. Even Quellery and Lady Oxana moved in.
Lady Oxana patted her heart. "That is a relief. Imagine if the queen found out you didn't give orders to—"
"Quiet, Oxana," Quellery growl
ed. "Go inside. You there, help the princess."
"Gently," Eva said. "Her heart has suffered a trauma and will be fragile."
One of the soldiers who wore a brass pin on his chest ordered his men to help Alice to the supply cart.
"Alice?" Markell asked as the two men walked slowly away with her between them.
She smiled weakly at him. "I'm all right. Just tired."
"You'll feel that way for a day or two," Eva told her. "You must rest now."
"She can rest on the journey," Quellery said.
Markell closed his eyes and swallowed hard. Seth wanted to clap him on the back and give him a strong brandy. He huffed out a laugh, surprised at his reaction when he thought he'd lost Alice. While it upset him, he wasn't as devastated as Markell looked. Seth had never truly loved her then, although he didn't really know why. She was a wonderful girl.
The soldiers formed into two rows behind the cart, their prisoners in the middle of the columns. It was an identical procession as the one that had taken them to the queen's castle, except that Markell was now a prisoner too, and their captors wore green livery not crimson.
They walked until late in the day when they stopped by the river and made camp. The soldiers put up tents and lit fires, silently and methodically going about their business. The prisoners were taken into the forest to relieve themselves then tied back to back in pairs to stop them running off. It was damned uncomfortable. The only saving grace was being bound to Eva. Seth wasn't sure if she liked it as much, however. She didn't speak to him. She must still be upset by Alice's near drowning.
"You were marvelous," he told her. "You saved Alice's life even though it meant putting your own in danger."
"She's my friend," she said simply.
"You were extremely brave. I know about mouth-to-mouth, but why were you pressing her heart like that?"
"It's called cardiac massage. It's a new technique developed by a German doctor. He spoke at a lecture I recently attended about re-starting an arrested heart by compressing the chest. It was theory only, though. He'd never performed it in real life."
"Looks like it works excellently."
Eva blew out a shaky breath. She must have doubted it would work too, and the shock of what she'd done—of what she'd averted—was beginning to sink in. Seth wished he could hug her but the damned bonds kept them close yet apart at the same time. He'd have to try a different way to cheer her up. He wished he knew how to do that when he was feeling somewhat shaky himself.
"You'll have to write an article for one of those medical journals when you get back," Seth said. "You'll be the toast of the profession. There'll be no trying to fool everyone into thinking you're training for nursing when they hear what you did."
"I'm a student, Seth. No one will believe me. And what should I tell them? That I used the technique on an exiled princess, but you can't question her because she lives in another realm?"
"You're right. You'll just have to settle for telling Lincoln, Charlie and the others when you get back." He moved and winced as the wound on his arm rubbed against the fabric of his sleeve. It wasn't deep, and he'd forgotten it was there until now.
"You're hurt," Eva said, trying, and failing, to twist so she could inspect his injury. "The wound should be cleaned and dressed." She called over one of the soldiers.
"Worried about your husband?" Seth teased.
"You can stop the ruse now. She's not here." Neither Lady Oxana nor Lord Quellery had joined them, and Seth hoped that was the last they'd see of the pair.
"Pity," he said with a theatrical sigh. "I enjoyed kissing you."
She went quite still and he wished he could see her face. She always looked so pretty when she blushed, and he wanted to tell her so, but the soldier stood over them, scowling. Nothing put a dampener on romantic notions than being tied up and at the mercy of an armed man.
"My friend is injured," Eva said to the soldier. "I'd like to inspect his wound."
"I cannot release you," he said.
"Please. It might fester and—"
"No."
"Damn you!"
The soldier took a step toward her and bared his teeth in a growl.
"Don't touch her!" Seth snapped. "It doesn't matter, Eva. The wound isn't deep."
"It should still be seen to," Eva muttered as the soldier walked off.
"Why me?" Seth asked her.
"What do you mean?"
"Why do you want to check my wound?"
"Professional concern."
"Others are also injured. Markell has a cut on his hand, and Gus's face is more messed up than usual."
"I haven't got anything for bruising," she said. "Only cuts. And I didn't know Markell was injured. He didn't complain about it."
"Nor did I."
She snorted softly.
"I didn't."
"You breathed in sharply just now when you moved your arm."
"It wasn't a sharp breath of pain, I was simply enjoying the fresh air out here in the forest. I like the smell of trees, don't you?"
"The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks."
He grinned, despite himself. "I do love a woman who can misquote Shakespeare to me."
Silence as thick as a London fog enveloped them.
"Can we talk about that kiss we shared earlier?" he asked.
"No."
"It was a nice kiss," he went on, wanting to ward off the silence. "But certainly not my best effort. In the interests of proving to you that I am a great kisser, I'd like to try again."
She went utterly still at his back. Perhaps he shouldn't tease her. He couldn't help it though. He liked the way she looked at him. Liked that she worried about his injuries. Liked that the kiss had rattled her enough that she was too nervous to bring it up again.
He liked a lot of things about her.
"Lady Oxana isn't here," she said again. "There's no need for more kisses between us."
"I beg to differ. What if she shows up all of a sudden and tries to lure me again? My virtue is at stake, Eva. Would you have that on your conscience when you could have saved me with a little kiss?"
"You're incorrigible," she said, a lilt of humor in her voice.
He smiled and tipped his head back so that it rested against hers. She didn't move away. He liked that about her too. He closed his eyes and stretched out his legs.
When they got back home, he was going to pursue these fledgling feelings for Eva to see where they led. If they got back home. Right now, he couldn't see a way out of his bonds, let alone a way to escape Quellery's army before they reached the queen's castle. His good mood turned sour.
"Have you noticed how like your mother she is?" Eva asked.
He opened his eyes. "Who?"
"Alice."
He looked at Alice, tied up with Markell. They were making the most of being near one another and talking quietly. Alice rested her head against Markell's back and smiled sadly at something he said. The smallest fingers on their hands linked together, declaring their feelings for each other to the world.
"Her bearing is quite regal," Eva went on. "Like your mother's. I've always thought that of them both, even though I didn't know Alice was a princess when I first met her."
"And my mother only wishes she were a princess," Seth added.
Eva laughed softly and Seth felt pleased that her melancholy had lifted. He would do anything not to sadden or worry her again.
"I suppose they're both very good at demanding attention," he said. "And telling others what to do."
That certainly explained a lot. Perhaps part of Seth had recognized that Alice was similar to his mother, and rebelled at developing any sort of romantic relationship with her.
"It's no wonder I never fell in love with her," he said.
Behind him, Eva shifted as if she were trying to see him better. "You're not?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Very. I can look at her with Markell now and not feel an ounce of jealousy.
When I first saw that she had feelings for him, I wasn't upset. I was actually pleased for her. She's a great girl and deserves a great man at her side."
"You're a great man."
He smiled. "Thank you. But I'm not Markell. I don't advise queens and princesses, nor would I want to. I prefer slaying supernatural villains and mad scientists. They're more straight forward."
"Oh," she said, sounding distant.
"They make a fine couple." He stifled a yawn. "Don't you think?"
"Yes," she whispered. "I've thought so for some time."
"Well now you know that I think so too."
She tipped her head back against his shoulder blade. He felt her body relax with her sigh. He closed his eyes and sighed too.
The prisoners somehow managed to get some sleep. Seth awoke feeling stiff in the neck and shoulders. The damned bonds tying their hands together had made it an uncomfortable night.
They set off again after dawn, walking on a track that followed the meandering river. According to the soldier guarding them, they should arrive at the castle by mid-afternoon. At least walking meant they were no longer tied up to one another.
"It's nice to be able to look at your face again when I talk to you," he told Eva.
"Yours too," she said.
"Why? You find me handsome?"
She hesitated. "Everyone finds you handsome."
"I asked if you do." He was teasing her, but he found he wanted to know the answer.
"It's a very fine face and…" She waved her hand. "Well proportioned."
"There's nothing like a well-proportioned face to set hearts fluttering."
She pressed her lips together but failed to hide her smile altogether.
"You're blushing, Eva."
"It's hot, that's all."
Why wouldn't she admit she liked flirting with him? Her blushes would indicate she liked him very much. Was she afraid of something? He'd been open with her about his past, excepting one part of it, yet she hadn't been embarrassed or shocked, so it couldn't be that. So why didn't she encourage his flirtations?
A soldier shoved Seth in the back to hurry him along. Now wasn't the time to ask intimate questions of Eva. He only hoped he got the chance one day. The closer they got to the queen's castle, the heavier the weight pressing down on him became. He focused all his attention on how to escape, putting thoughts of Eva behind him as much as he could. Now wasn't the time for distraction.