by A. K. Koonce
“Then I meant you look sexy with your lips all swollen from my kiss. Is that better?” The smirk he passes me is the last thing I see before he walks away.
I don’t feel any better. But I don’t feel any worse either.
I exhale the pent-up breath, and just before I turn away, someone else walks in.
Will this day never end?
Konstance stands before me and, in her satin flats, she and I are the same height. And she’s also wearing white. The exact same white in the exact same wedding dress.
Oh my fucking twin obsession.
“Hi,” she smiles a tight-lipped smile. She’s completely ready, looking glamorous and perfect while I stand in my jammies, and all I’ve done today is watch my friend beat the shit out of her fiancé because he fucked her sister-in-law.
Me.
This wedding’s going to be a mess.
This life is going to be a mess.
“Try on the dress; I wanted to make sure we looked perfect today. I thought it’d be a good bonding experience for us to match.”
“You picked out our matching dresses? I’m twenty years old, and you bought me a matching dress?”
“Yes, of course. I thought it’d be fun. Something that’d make Constantine happy.”
“Yeah.” I nod to her, repressing my urge to scream and rip the sweet white dress into a thousand tiny shreds of virginal confetti.
“Okay.” Her smile falters just a bit like she’s exceeded her friendliness limit for the day. “I’ll see you out there.” She smooths the front of the white gown, and I glare at the fabric as she walks away.
“We have to hurry. You only have an hour to get ready,” Cat says from somewhere behind me.
One hour.
That’s plenty of time to make a wedding dress meant for a false Alice.
And that’s exactly what I’ll do.
Twenty-Nine
Madison
Okay, I was wrong. One hour is not enough time to make a wedding dress. Not even false Alice would wear the atrocity I came up with. I glare at the tattered tulle that I’ve cut the dress into that’s far too high for a formal gown.
I peer down at my blonde locks that Cat’s curled in the time that it’s taken me to rip the dress into shreds that’s supposed to resemble some kind of dress. I think about the easy way Lighton washes away my red hair so easily. He just skims it with his fingertips.
I trail my palm along the messy fabric.
He takes my red hair and makes it blonde. It’s simple. It’s just a change of colors.
It seems easy. Effortless.
And so it is.
An ink spot bleeds into the center of the gown. It grows larger and larger until the black chases out the white, and all that’s left is a dark, mourning style dress in my hands.
With its messy tulle and tight bodice, it reminds me of the eighties in a way. Meh, I love the eighties. Who doesn’t love the eighties? This is a hundred times better than matching a woman who already has a twin. She doesn’t need another for tweedle-fuck’s sake.
The dress does have a little bit of a funeral vibe but in a good way.
My positivity is unstoppable this morning.
Give me a break, I need irrational positivity.
Cat bites back her smile when I pull on the dress.
“There are sex bruises on your hips,” she mutters.
“Shut up, Cat.” I smirk back at her, and she comes closer to help me zip up the back of the short dress.
Brody slips in through the cream-colored tent door, and he eyes my black dress with an arched eyebrow. “Konstance has asked again if Alice is ready. Should I tell her you need another minute? Or sixty?”
Cat shoves him and his remark back out of the tent. She stops in her tracks the moment she pushes him away, and then she pulls him right back. He stumbles. His confusion only grows when she steals the black top hat from his head and shoves him right back out.
Delicately she traces the red silk around the base of it before slipping it in place on my head.
I can’t help the smile on my face.
I knew I was the Mad Hattress.
Or possibly an eighties rock legend.
Definitely the Hattress, though.
In another five minutes, she pins my hair in big curls that hide my parting gift from Alixx.
Then silence settles in.
“I think you’re ready.” Her voice is quiet like she doesn’t want to say it, and I don’t really want her to say it either. “You know you don’t have—”
“Ready?” Konstance’s voice cuts in, and then it shrieks into a terrible sound of anger. “What are you wearing? That is not our dress. What happened to our dress?” She searches the small tent frantically, but I rush past her.
Today is my wedding day. It’s my day. It’s the fairy tale I’ve never dreamed of, and it’s going to be beautiful.
The wind catches my long blonde hair, and I smooth it down on the one side that matters, and I don’t stop running until I see him.
A long stripe of bright red silk lines the grass. It travels past the hundreds of chairs and their seated guests, and there at the end of the aisle, at the edge of the cliff is the very first person I saw when I entered this realm.
The ocean breeze lifts his pale locks. Numbers in slashing lines of crimson cut across his jawline. Numbers 4884. My numbers.
Kais St. Croix is waiting for me, perfect and handsome like he just stepped out of the crisp ocean breeze itself. And he’s standing next to the man I intend to marry.
I take a single step, but then Konstance brushes past me. When she starts to walk the aisle, violins strum to life in a swaying, pure melody. Constantine’s eyes shine with affection as he watches his sister walk toward him. I linger there, watching the two of them, my gaze searching the hundreds of people until I spot a man watching me intently.
Alixx leans against the side of the castle, a good distance away from everyone else including his bride. The shadows of his dark wings hide his deviously handsome features, the scar cutting across his cheek, and the heated look in his gaze as he watches me, standing here like I might run away from Wanderlust and never look back.
Was this another bad decision? Was accepting Kais’s offer to be Alice a mistake? What about befriending Lighton when we both knew we were better off alone? What about seeking out the one man everyone shuns? What about lying to all of these people just to save them?
None of that felt like a mistake. It didn’t feel bad when I was doing it. It’s a hard line to walk between doing good and bad when there’s so much bad to dive into.
But I never dived into any of this. I was pulled in.
I could have been honest and walked away at any time.
I’m not Alice, or the Hatter, or that Sick Girl. I’m Madison Torrent. My future is whatever I make it.
And if I’m Queen, I’ll be able to make it exactly what we all need it to be.
In the small crowd of people, my eyes meet Lighton’s warm honey gaze for a single second before pulling toward the man waiting for me at the center of the aisle. I lift my head and take a single step onto that beautiful red fabric.
The smallest, politest voice I’ve ever heard cuts through the enchanting notes of the violins. “Excuse me? I’m terribly sorry to interrupt this lovely wedding, but I seem to be lost.”
A woman in a billowing blue dress and golden blonde hair looks up at me with big eyes the color of the sea.
And I know exactly who she is just by the innocent look in her eyes.
Alice Liddell just fucked up all of our plans. As well as my life.
The End.
A Note from the Author
The Villainous Wonderland Series is a reverse harem series. Madison will get her harem of villains. I wanted to restate that in case anyone was worried because I know these characters are incredibly imperfect and it will take them a minute to get their shit together for this harem;)
Thank you so much for reading! Book two, Wit
hin the Wonder is now on preorder. Turn the page for an exclusive sneak peek at Within the Wonder!
Within the Wonder
There’s a single silent moment in the middle of my interrupted wedding where I’m looking at the beautiful young girl and she’s looking at me. The heavy attention of the crowd is on the two of us, and I really wish I could say it’s like looking in a mirror. Except she’s graceful and innocent, and I’m in a tattered black wedding gown with the memory of my future brother-in-law’s hands on my body, so fresh in my mind I can almost still feel his touch along my skin.
Definitely not like looking into a mirror. Not at all.
I look like the cheap knock off to her name brand Alice apparel line.
Or maybe I’m the only one picking apart our differences under such harsh lighting.
The sun is warm across my skin, making me realize how fair both of our complexions are. Identical really. My fake blonde hair is identical. That. That is where our Alice similarities stop.
My willowy limbs seem long and awkward compared to her petite stature. I suppose the purse of my lips is probably the opposite of the aloof fucking smile she’s giving me too.
Who in the wonder fucking hell smiles about being lost?
She’s just crazy enough to fit right in here.
And I don’t belong.
A crashing sound brings me out of my isolated thoughts. A flood of scattered movement crashes over the silence in a matter of seconds. Flashes of black blur through the crowd. Wooden chairs bang to the ground, women scream, and the pounding of footsteps erupt all around me as the attendees flee from the mysterious shadows bleeding through the picturesque white wedding.
A gasp tears from my throat as I’m thrown down to my hands and knees. Strong hands grip my wrists and haul me up against an even stronger body.
When I careen my neck back to get a glimpse of my attacker, a dark smoky figure is all he’s made of. A blurring, wafting faceless being. The smoke man’s fingers digging into my skin feel real even if his appearance seems like it could drift away in the wind at any moment. The veil of inky color shrouding him is hard to look at. It’s a terrifying image of a man that brings fear pounding through my heart like never before.
And he’s not alone.
Another drift of smoke grips New Alice, her hands forced back until that proper posture of hers is arched unnaturally, and a scream crawls up her throat. It’s all a haze of movement and attacks and pain that spreads through me from where their hands touch mine.
The attackers scorching touch continues to burn into mine until a painful scream tears up my throat. I’m made of thrashing violence, kicking and screaming and fighting against the faceless man. Only to be forced harder upright against him as he starts to drag me away.
A crackle of sparking magic shimmers through the air. Menacing sparkling danger is in big emerald eyes as Alixx now stands in front of me with pure excitement in his gaze.
And then, for the very first time, I believe all the sinister whispers the villagers utter behind Alixx Stone’s back.
They say he’s a murderer. An assassin. A man to be fucking feared.
In this moment, he proves that.
He pulls two short blades from somewhere in his smooth black suit, and the sharp metal edges shine in the morning sunlight. He slashes back and forth through the air just inches from my face in rhythm with a melody only he seems to hear. It’s an art form. A bloody, disfiguring art form he seems to take immense pleasure from. With one more downward slash of his blade, Alixx sinks his knife into something solid, pulling it down with so much force I hear bone crack and blood gush A gasping, empty breath crawls across my neck.
The mysterious smoke clears, and a thick warmth trickles down my spine, soaking into my dress as a heavy body slouches into me before slapping to the ground with a disgusting thud. A sound shudders from my lungs, but it feels lost, and I watch, stunned in place as Alixx rolls his tongue slowly across his lower lip, flicking over a droplet of blood before turning swiftly to the next shadow man.
A real body lies at my feet. Dead. Because of the one man I love to hate.
And hate to love.
More shadows spread, inching up until they’re standing before Alixx and that manic smile that’s spread across his lips. They crash down on him all at once, pushing him to the ground.
The thrashing of his knives never stops. Blood pools across the deep green grass, trickling until it kisses the tips of my high heels. It’s that crawling stain of crimson seeping into my satin heels that snaps me out of the haze of numbness.
My fingers grip the closest object. I fling the chair through the smoke with so much effort, my arms shake. The smoke dissipates. It wafts up and crashes right back down on Alixx.
A splinter of wood, a jagged point from the broken chair, fists in my hand, and it’s that sharp weapon that seems to penetrate the smoke.
My arms heave up, and in one slicing motion, the wood lodges into something hard. My palms linger there against the stranger’s back. His blood runs through my fingertips, hot and slick.
Alixx shoves him off, with a firm press of his boot to the man’s chest.
There’s a pausing moment where I can’t look away from the deep crimson coating my palms.
“That color looks beautiful on you.” Alixx slams his blade down hard with a groan before pushing off another smoke man, letting him land in that pile he and I are creating of dead attackers.
Alixx halts for a single moment, his gaze catching on me with excitement burning in his eyes. His thumb skims along my chin, and amidst all the chaos, he tips my face up to his, his hand slick against my skin, brushing blood back and forth across my jaw.
“You killed him. For me,” he whispers, his shifting attention never pausing as he studies the empty emotions on my face.
I killed someone for Alixx Stone, the man who fucked me and then shoved me aside so similarly to how he’s done with these corpses.
I’m a fucking idiot.
My shoulder knocks into his, and I push past him without another glance.
What I find is complete and total destruction.
While I dwelled on the fact that I killed one man, an entire wedding of broken chairs, violins, roses, and…dead bodies litter the ground.
A mixture of blood and sweat trickle down the black tattooed lines of Kais’s jaw and throat. That blood drips from the black numbers running down the back of his hand. He doesn’t hold a single weapon. But all that quiet lethalness I knew lived inside him is now very, very apparent. Piercing blue eyes level on me as he pushes out a heavy breath, wiping his brow with that back of his numbered hand.
He’s a dangerous man. Much more dangerous than the calm façade he always feeds everyone.
And I’m just now seeing that.
“Isn’t this fun?” Alixx asks with manic amusement. “This is far better than I expected our wedding to be, wouldn’t you agree, sweet Alice?”
I can’t even find a breath to reply. And I don’t have time to.
A fierce wind of black consuming smoke sweeps me up, taking my feet from the ground and stealing the air right from my lungs. Cold, controlling wind holds me tight as I’m carried higher and higher. It’s everything I see. Everything I feel. Everything I am in this moment.
It’s just a flicker of recklessness, a short moment of time that I can’t even focus on while I try to calm the erratic beating of my heart.
It ends so fast. The smoke swept me up and spit me out faster than a scream could claw up my throat.
My knees scrape over sharp pine needles and jagged branches.
The serene sound of water trickling and falling into a depthless pool doesn’t ease the fear that’s thrashing inside me.
It’s replaced with immediate bewilderment when I look up at the now solidified smoke man who stands before me. And find Lighton’s sweet brown eyes staring down on me. His broad shoulders block out the sun, and I’m faintly aware of those strange words that he spoke to me all
that time ago circling the back of my confused mind.
Because if you’re Alice, you’ll hate me soon enough.
“What-what are we doing here, Light?” I kneel at his feet with my bloody hands trembling in my lap, and the way the sunlight overhead shadows his face sends a sinking feeling right through my stomach.
Regret is etched into those shadowed features, regret and determination.
“I’ve been ordered by Elder Liddell to bring you to your destiny.”
The quick beat of my heart pounding in my ears cuts away the soft gentle sounds of nature.
“I need Kais. I need to speak with Kais.” My jaw clenches, and I refuse to be afraid of the gentle man I thought I knew.
This is all just a misunderstanding. The shadow men who attacked me…Lighton couldn’t be one of them. How is this even possible? He doesn’t have this kind of magic.
Does he?
“Please get Kais.” My throat begs for me to release the tension I’m holding in my lungs, but I will not show a weakness. I won’t.
“You’re Alice. You belong here. You belong in Wonderland.”
This was not the plan. Why in the March-Hare-fuck didn’t he tell me about this?
I shake my head at his words, and when he reaches his hand down, I shove back from him, letting the thick brush slice along my thighs just to put space between us.
“I’m sorry. I really am. But don’t make this harder than it has to be, Madison.”
My eyes narrow on him and his fucking shit apology.
His big hands grip mine in one quick motion. The stinging pain of his shadow touch burns across my skin. It’s a gripping strength that holds me in place with so much force I immediately thrash in his hold. My flailing body doesn’t slow him down, and he lifts me from the ground, pulling me to my feet, but before he can haul me away, I lift my foot and slam my heel with all my might into his thigh.
It sinks in with grinding force.
The groan that shakes through him hums as he locks his jaw in place, clenching it so hard that I’m sure it’ll crack. But his gaze never turns hard. There’s no rage within him. It’s the sincerest appearance of guilt.