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I felt Chess’s strong hands grasp my wrists, holding me down as Hatter spread the paste on my ravaged arm.
I whimpered as it stung like nettles before it finally began to soothe the pain. Then Chess held down my ankles while Hatter spread more of the paste along the length of my calf and my thigh.
As the blisters began to fade, I felt eternally grateful for my companions, my fucked-up knights in leopard print armor who’d come to my rescue.
I’d given them my body...
Now it was time to give them my soul.
My heart ached as I realized the lengths they were willing to go to fight for me when nobody in my life back home would’ve done anything close.
Reaching my arms up towards my wicked boys of Wonderland, I cupped Hatter’s jaw in one hand while caressing Chess’s tousled dark hair with the other.
I’d fallen through the rabbit hole, only to realize I was falling for them both.
"Thank you," I whispered, meeting Hatter’s wild eyes for the first time since the danger had passed. "I owe you my life."
“You owe me nothing,” he replied, a hint of a smile playing on his lips as he helped me sit up.
“Alright, well, I’ve got your back.”
Hatter snickered softly.
Seductively.
Hungrily.
“Is that so? I’d rather have you onyours.”
My stomach coiled and my core ached with need for him, for Chess, for both of them filling me at once, but not when I was covered in botanical paste and blood from the Red Queen’s soldiers.
“I know that’s what you’d like,” Chess murmured, his velvety voice cutting through my thoughts. “Channel that desire, Alice. Use that energy, that fire to make it through the rest of the maze, and claim the Vorpal Sword. I assure you,” he said, his breath warm on my ear as he and Hatter both pulled me to my feet, “the weapon isn’t the only prize you’ll claim when all’s said and done.”
* * *
ChapterTen
ALICE
We finally reached the end of the maze, and I scrunched my forehead as a peculiar sight unfolded before Hatter, Chess, and me.
The walls of hedges parted to reveal a giant chessboard stretched out in all directions. Its black and red squares gleamed like polished onyx and marble. The pieces were human-sized, grotesque, twisted versions of familiar chess piece shapes.
But the creepiest thing of all was that they were alive.
Their stone eyes were cold and calculating as they plotted their next moves. Suddenly one of the red pieces advanced. Within seconds, a black piece shaped like a horse lunged forward with a jousting spear and attacked.
The piece exploded in a spray of red. All that was left was a pile of red gravel and a cloud of red dust. From where I was standing, it looked a lot like blood.
"Curiouser and curiouser," Chess murmured as my gaze darted from one piece to another. I looked up to find him stroking his chin in thought.
Even Hatter seemed confused, and this entire thing was his creation.
“If they can do that to each other, how the hell arewesupposed to get across?" I hissed at him.
“Well now, that is the question, isn’t it?” Hatter replied, his black eye gleaming with danger while his blue eye sparkled with amusement. "The board is both a puzzle and a death trap. One wrong move, and you’ll be at the mercy of these fearsome creatures."
Not wanting to end up as a pile of meat chunks and pink mist, I turned on my heel and folded my botanical salve-caked arms across my chest. The blisters had mostly disappeared, and the salve was dry and starting to crack on my skin.
