Page 106 of Locked in Wonderland

Perhaps that was just my imagination.

They might have gagged me, but at least I wasn’t on my knees drinking from a bowl.

While I wrestled with humiliation, the trial continued without me. Victor had disappeared, replaced by yet another witness. I didn’t even recognize this one.

I stopped paying attention. What was the point when I’d lost the ability to protest?

The courtroom door clicked open again, and a man stepped inside. My fingers uncurled from my palms, and my shoulders dropped a few inches.

Nico.

Finally.

Chapter Thirty-three

Nico didn’t look my way. It was like the slave auction all over again. He’d come to my rescue then, so there was no reason to believe he wouldn’t do it again.

Right?

Except the Harts hadn’t been there that day. Did that change things? Would he turn the other cheek because of them? The questions kept piling up, and I had no answers. Only a deep-seated hope that his turning up had to mean something.

There were no shadows in the courtroom to stop me from studying his face for clues. It didn’t matter, his expression carefully neutral. If he cared I was here, he wasn’t showing it.

Nico took a seat behind Kellan. His glance at the man on the floor conveyed neither surprise nor disgust. How many ‘pets’ had Kellan owned? And assuming they were many, what happened to them once he grew tired of them?

I ignored the proceedings as the lawyer continued questioning yet another witness I didn’t recognize. My one and only focus became catching Nico’s eye. I stared at him so intently that my eyes began to water.

It made no difference. He was still enough that he could have been a statue in the gallery. He was certainly handsome enough. I thought back to all the mornings when we’d fucked, Nico’s libido—and stamina—a force to be reckoned with. He always looked at me then.

The witness’s dismissal didn’t shift my gaze from Nico. Look at me, damn it. Why are you here if you’re not even going to look at me?

“That was my last witness,” the lawyer announced to the judge.

That should have been a relief. Instead, all I could think was, what now?

Maybe Nico wasn’t worried because this really was just a game. A show, as I’d assumed earlier. Wonderland’s version of a prank. Perhaps he was here to take me home once they’d finished making a laughingstock out of me.

I just had to see the rest of it through.

The judge cleared his throat. “I think, given the overwhelming amount of evidence we’ve heard today against Mr. Carroll, that there’s really only one verdict I can give.”

“Guilty,” someone in the audience shouted. Possibly the same someone who’d shouted it earlier. There was no laughter this time, everyone more interested in listening to the judge.

“I don’t think there’s any point in going through the charges one by one,” he continued. “That would be a waste of everyone’s time. I dare say we could find a few where there’s a modicum of doubt.”

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, like all of them. They might have stripped me of the power of speech, but they hadn’t taken away the use of my eyeballs. Not yet, anyway. Although it was probably best not to tempt fate.

“For that reason,” the judge announced. “I find the defendant guilty of most of the charges.”

A cheer erupted from the audience.

Bloodthirsty fuckers, aren’t you?

The judge inclined his head toward Queenie and Henry. “As always, I defer to you for sentencing.”

“Well, I think it’s obvious,” Henry said, pausing for dramatic effect. “The question isn’t whether Mr. Carroll belongs in the gallery. The question is how many years he should remain there.”

Breathing became even harder as the words sank in.