I tittered weakly, my body aching from the effort of just remaining upright. I wanted to curl up next to him on the floor and nap, but there were still guards everywhere in this castle. Who knew how they would react when the found out what we’d done to their leader?
“If we can get to the portal, we can do whatever we want,” I replied.
He sat up, grimacing, his eyes narrowed in to slits as he swallowed back whatever was hurting him. Deep purple bruises marred the skin all around his neck from the Queen’s throttling, but otherwise he seemed okay. I felt like I’d gone twenty punishing rounds with a nearly unbeatable opponent, and he looked just as battered as I felt.
He turned and sniffed at the crumpled, unmoving shape of the Queen, her hideous face hidden by mounds of fabric. “She’s dead,” he said, and it wasn’t a question. Since my full range of senses had returned to me when the power of the amulet was broken, I’d been able to tell the moment the Queen’s grasping energy was ripped from her body.
Grayson rose to stand on his long, shaky legs, testing them out for few seconds before he leaned down to offer a hand to help me up. I took it gratefully, but it wasn’t as hard to stand as I thought it would be. We wrapped our arms around each other and hobbled from the throne room. No one was in the corridor, which was good. I didn’t even have the first idea where to go to get out of here. Hopefully, Grayson did.
“I knew you would be the one to save us all,” a sweet voice said from behind us, echoing up to the high ceiling.
We spun around, nearly losing our collective balance, my boots screeching on the floor. It felt like all the energy had been squeezed from my limbs, but that power at my core engaged on its own, spreading strength into my embattled muscles so I was able to step in front of Grayson and hold my hands up steadily to protect us both. I loved the steady feeling of my magic rising up when I called it. Not having the use of it had been horrible, like losing a limb. Slightly behind me, Grayson growled deep in his chest and shot steam out of his nostrils, his spicy scent battering my nose, but he didn’t shift.
It was the same woman I’d seen in my cell, the one who’d brought me the mirror that had caused so much trouble. She stood in the middle of the throne room, her dainty feet right next to the dead Queen She was dressed in a sparkling, baby blue dress cinched tightly at her waist and her golden hair was loose on her shoulders. Her blue eyes were lighter than Grayson’s, and her smile revealed teeth that weren’t pointy at the ends. Now that I had access to the full range of my powers, I could sense the goodness in her. It vibrated in the air around her and put a sparkle in her rounded cheeks. But that still didn’t explain why she was here or why she’d given me that terrible gift in the dungeon.
“How did you know what I was going to do?” I asked, letting my hands drop to my sides.
“The mirror I gave you was a test,” she said simply, shrugging her narrow shoulders. “The dark magic inside of it could have freed you from the dungeon, but if you had used it to escape, that would have meant that you weren’t the one to save this kingdom from the darkness that had overtaken it.”
I pressed my face into a deep frown, not understanding any of it. I had too many questions racing inside my head, but I had to start somewhere, so I picked the one that seemed the most important. “Who are you?”
Her smile widened as the light in her eyes imbued her face with delicate beauty. There was nothing delicate about her, however. Her power was incredible. I could feel that too. “I am the White Queen. And this is my kingdom.”
I shot a glance over at Grayson, who’d shuffled up beside me again. His face was tense with the confusion darkening his eyes. His lips pressed into a narrow pink line. He didn’t meet my gaze, choosing instead to keep his eyes on the woman in front of us. He wasn’t breathing smoke anymore and had cut out the growling.
I looked at the White Queen again. “I don’t understand. I thought she was in charge of this realm.” I pointed at the dead Queen on the floor.
The blonde Queen didn’t even turn her head to look. “The Dark Queen came to my kingdom many years ago, disguised as a humble traveler. We welcomed her, as we welcomed anyone who visited Wonderland with good intentions. But, unbeknownst to me, she carried with her the Amulet of Darkness. She began to use her evil charm to steal the magic from the beings in this realm. Once she had amassed enough power to challenge me, I had no choice but to flee to the other side of the kingdom, seeking shelter in the woods with the faeries I found there. The Dark Queen took control of the portal as well, only opening it to bring creatures that would help her to hold onto the power she was hoarding. But each time she opened it, I was able to use what dwindling power I possessed to bring help from the outside.”
My eyes widened as I thought of stepping through the portal in that colorless realm, aimed for home and landing here instead. “You called me here.”
She nodded once, her light eyes sparkling with barely contained mischief. “Yes.” She glanced at Grayson. “When the Dark Queen opened the portal to invite you into the kingdom, I called Alicia at the same time.”
“I could have been killed because of you,” I said, but without much venom.
“And many have perished here,” the White Queen said sadly. “I had to do whatever I could to save my kingdom. I’ve waited so long for the prophecy to come true, the one foretold by travelers who visited many decades ago.”
“What prophecy?” Grayson asked, his deep voice grumbling in his bruised throat.
The White Queen never took her crystal blue eyes away from me as she spoke, her smile continuing its work of calming the anxious energy inside of me. “That a white witch would come to us and defeat the Dark Queen, restoring peace to the kingdom once more.”
“How did you know who or what I was?” I asked. I hadn’t been able to tell a damned thing about her when I saw her crouched outside of that dungeon window, mostly because the air in the realm had been squeezed of all magical energy. “My senses were completely blocked. I didn’t even know he was a shifter until he told me so.” I hooked a thumb in Grayson’s direction. It was hard to believe that’d been the case. I couldn’t stop feeling the truth of his shifter nature now that I had my senses restored.
“This is my realm,” the true Queen replied simply as she arched a single blonde eyebrow. “Its energy is my energy. None of that changed when the Dark Queen stole what did not belong to her. Every time she opened the portal, I could feel it here.” She laid a delicate hand against her breast. “It was a great rending, as though my heart was being pulled from my chest. At that moment, I could lead a person into the portal as well, especially if I was in the forest clearing with those faeries who had managed to retain some of their powers.”
“Madden?” I asked. “And Trystan?”
She nodded once, her eyes sparkling. “They were a great help to me.” She giggled and it was the most whimsical sound I’d ever heard. “Even Blossom was of some assistance.”
Grayson made a gruff noise, a bit of smoke escaping his flared nostrils. I knew exactly how he felt about those faeries. I wasn’t pleased at how little they’d told me considering how much they actually knew, but I let that thought go. It’d all worked itself out in the end, even if we had nearly been destroyed in the process.
“I still don’t understand how you found me,” I said. “I was in another realm and headed home.”
The sweet expression on her face didn’t change, though her eyes sharpened, becoming much more serious. “Think of it as casting a great net. All portals are linked and they are powered by the same deep well of magic. You can go through one portal and get to many different worlds, depending on your intention.”
I nodded impatiently. I already knew all of that from a concise explanation in the front of the Terra Magicarum. It was a shame to have lost such a brilliant resource.
The Queen went on, unperturbed by my obvious irritation. “The Dark Queen did not open the portal often, as she understood its true power and how it sent shockwa
ves through the kingdom that allowed certain beings to practice their magic for a short while. Whenever she unsealed the portal, I had to move quickly, casting my net in hopes of bringing in someone who could help to break the curse that had been troubling my kingdom for many long years.”
“So, it was luck that landed me here?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Mostly, but you were also following a trail of sorts. It led through here, which made it easier to pull you into this realm. You were already looking for us, you see. You just had not realized it yet.”
I frowned again, more deeply than before. It would be great if the woman would stop speaking in riddles. I just wanted clear answers and to get back to the portal, so I could return home.
“And then I heard that the Dark Queen was holding a white witch in the dungeon,” the White Queen said, her face radiant with the power of her excitement at the telling of this tale. “I came as quickly as I could. As soon as I saw you, I knew that you would be the one to save us from this great darkness.”
“How many times has this happened?” I asked. When the White Queen furrowed her golden eyebrows, and titled her equally golden head in confusion, I restated the question, making sure to clarify my meaning. “How many times have you called a white witch into this realm? How many have died when facing such a dark power, especially with no access to their own magic?” I knew I sounded angry, but I really wasn’t. I probably should be, but my complete exhaustion made it difficult to access the boiling hot nest of my fury and left me with a cool rationality instead. I just didn’t have the energy to be confrontational. But I wanted answers to my questions. After all that I’d been forced to endure against my will, the Queen at least owed me that much.
That question knocked the serene grin off her majesty’s pretty face, but nothing appeared able to dim the sparkle in her eyes. “I won’t apologize for doing whatever it took to save my kingdom.”
Grayson breathed another puff of smoke, a deep grumbling moving through his chest. He sounded ready to shift and go after her. I put a hand on his arm, hoping to calm him and repeated my question slowly.
“How many times has it happened?” When the White Queen didn’t answer right away, I added. “Or was I the first?”
She shook her blonde head, eyes widening a bit with a sudden surge of sadness that welled up from deep inside her to vibrate in the air. It pulled at my heart too—that sadness.
“No,” she replied, her tone reverent. “There have been many white witches who have come to this realm. All have failed. The Dark Queen was not easy to defeat. I, myself, was unable to do it.”
I thought about what she said, turning the ring on my finger. My stomach sank as the realization seized me.
“My mother was here. I found her ring in the dungeon.” I lifted my hand to show her what I was talking about—the shifting colors of the opal sparkling with their own fluorescent light. “Was she one of the white witches you brought here? Did the Dark Queen kill her?” I had to bite my lip to keep the questions from continuing, rapid fire. There was so much I wanted to know, but I had to give this woman a chance to answer one question before moving on to another.
The White Queen’s kind face hardened a little, her rounded chin jutting out and her jaw tightening. As her eyes settled on the ring, it was clear that she recognized it. “That is the path you were following when I brought you here. Your mother’s footsteps led you to this realm.”
That was hardly an answer. I knew from having found the ring that my mother was here. She treasured it, and wouldn’t have left it behind if she had a choice. “Did you test her the way you tested me?” I asked. “Did she fail that test?”
The Queen’s light eyes darkened, becoming a deep, stormy blue. Her energy had shifted, but I found it impossible to read. She was very powerful and could block me quite easily, though I was no pushover when it came to practicing magic.
“No,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. “She refused the power. Instead, she abandoned this great realm to save a man she loved.”
I pressed my face into an even deeper scowl, my thoughts buzzing inside my head so rapidly it was hard to hang on to just one. My mother and father had been in great danger here. Something had separated them, and Mom had chosen to save Dad. She’d never have turned her back on those in need. That wasn’t who she was. Remembering my parents and who they were was what had given me the strength to fight the blackness that had infected the good power inside of me, allowing me to save Grayson and the rest of Wonderland.
“You brought them here without their permission, putting them in the middle of some struggle between good and evil that they didn’t even have any part in. And they were without their magic,” I said, spitting the words in a low, dangerous tone. “Instead of just coming right out and telling them what was going on the minute they landed here, you chose to give them some cryptic test with a damned mirror?” Heat had crept into my words at the end, despite my exhaustion.
The White Queen watched me, her blue eyes impenetrable, but the storm in them had passed. She made no move to respond to anything I’d just said.
“I want to know what happened to my parents after my mother refused the power of the dark mirror. Did she escape?”
The Queen nodded reluctantly. “She escaped the dungeon and saved her lover from the Dark Queen.”
My heart unclenched a little more and my knees felt suddenly weak, as though I could faint at any second. I remained standing by the sheer force of my will. In the time I’d spent exploring different realms, this was the first bit of solid news I’d received about my parents. They’d been here. This woman had seen them. All I needed to know was where they’d gone after escaping the castle. Could they still be here in this realm, trapped by the sealed portal?
“Where are they now?” I asked in a trembling voice. I couldn’t believe how close I was. I sent out my feelers, searching for them, screaming their names with every bit of magical ability I possessed. A rush of sensation snapped over my body in response to that call, but no answer came from them.
“I cannot say where they traveled,” the White Queen replied, regretfully. “Only that they were very powerful and found their way to the portal. When the Dark Queen opened it, they escaped this realm, leaving the rest of us to darkness.”
The relief flooded me. They hadn’t been killed here. I still didn’t understand why my mother would have left her precious ring behind, but it was heartening to have found a small piece of her. I now believed more strongly than ever that they were out there somewhere, unable to return home for whatever reason, and waiting for me to find them.
“I need to know where they went next,” I said, fixing her with an even stare. “Can you feel anything at all?”
She cocked her blonde head, her blue eyes widening so I could see the good shining at her core. As selfish has she had been dragging unsuspecting witches into the mess in this realm, it had all only been done to save the creatures under her rule. She hadn’t done any of it with malice.
“Travelers leave footsteps wherever they go,” she said, and gave me her radiant grin once more, her rosy cheeks glowing with healthy color. “You just have to look hard for them.”
I frowned. What the hell did that mean?
“But take care when you go traveling in search of something.” The Queen lifted her thin eyebrows. “You just might find it in the most unexpected places.”
I didn’t quite know how to respond to that. The exhaustion was creeping under my skin again and loosening my muscles. The thoughts in my head were caught in a permanent tangle at the news that my parents had lived through the encounter with the Dark Queen and left this realm together. I needed to get to them, to follow the trail that the White Queen mentioned, but how was I to do it without the Terra Magicarum?
The White Queen smiled at me. “I have something that belongs to you, Alicia.” She produced my ratty old knapsack, seemingly from thin air.
I crossed the room to t
ake it, grinning at the weight of the solid heft of it. I could feel the guidebook inside of it, along with my jars of potions and salves. It meant I wouldn’t need to figure out some way to find future worlds in order to follow my parents’ trail. The opal ring on my finger was even more radiant now that possession of my magic had come back to me.
“Thank you,” I said, and swung the knapsack onto my back where it belonged.
“You are free to remain in this kingdom for as long as you like.” She reached to take my hands. Her skin was cool and soft, the same as the power running through her. It entered me the moment we touched. I saw many things then as I looked her in the face—the rise and fall of her kingdom, the Dark Witch striking her down so she was forced to escape to the forest, Madden’s small grin as he welcomed her into the leafy clearing, my mother crouched against the wall in her dungeon cell, her pinched face determined, my parents fleeing through the woods as they made for the portal on the other side of the kingdom. The history of the realm lived inside of this woman. She hadn’t had a moment’s peace since the Dark Queen had taken control of her kingdom. Setting things right had been akin to restoring her own sanity. I could appreciate that. I opened myself up to her, letting her know I had no hard feelings.
“I do need to rest,” I admitted, smiling when she did. “And then I need to follow those footsteps you were talking about.”
“I have more rooms than you could possibly imagine in this castle.” She squeezed my fingers, her smile widening as that mischievous light returned to her large eyes. “But it’s been ages since they’ve been properly cleaned, so please disregard the mess.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that.
CHAPTER 20
~
I SLEPT LIKE THE DEAD in a dark guestroom with Grayson curled up in a nest of blankets on the floor next to my bed. He’d refused to sleep in his own room, not quite trusting the White Queen’s intentions. He grumbled loudly that he’d had enough of supernaturals and their bullshit to last him clear through the rest of his life, though I seemed to be the one exception to that. I didn’t mind keeping him close. We’d been through hell together over the last few days. He was the one person in this realm that I trusted unquestioningly, and I knew he felt the same about me. There was comfort in that.
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