Sir Gorrann walked up beside her and Dinah heard the crunch of his heavy boots echoing over the cavernous drop. “I never lied to yeh. Yeh never really asked about Cheshire. Did he hire me to find yeh? Indeed. And did I? Yes. I saved yer life, girl, and I would save it again. When Cheshire came to me, he dangled a promise: if I was to find yeh, I would get to see for myself that the King was brought to justice, hopefully by yer hand. Not only that, but I would see him stripped of all power and pride. That is what I long for—for him to suffer as I have suffered. That’s what I long for—justice at last for the King of Hearts, justice for Amabel and Ioney—this is something I have longed for for many years. Only his wayward daughter could give it to me.”
He paused and scratched at his beard as he stared at Dinah, framed by the bright stars. “Though it pains me to tell yeh… truth be told, after a while, things changed. Dinah, I’ve grown a bit fond of yeh, and I’ll fight beside yeh, whatever yeh decide.” He looked gently into her eyes, his face etched with the love of a doting father.
“Yeh remind me of her, my Ioney, if she had been given the chance to live. Yer fierce and strong, full of rash emotion. Hear me that my loyalty is to yeh, and yeh alone. If yeh ask me to kill him—” he gestured his head toward the forest below, to Cheshire, “I will. Though, keep in mind, he might get me first. Cheshire is already four steps ahead of wherever you think you are. He knows what you will be thinking a month from now. Listen to me, girl, don’t ever underestimate that man. And don’t blindly trust him. Ever.”
Dinah pulled her knees into her chest and shivered as she stared at the white-washed valley that stretched out toward the east. “That man—you mean my father?” Sir Gorrann did not reply, but instead made quick work of building a small fire against the night chill from a dried bird’s nest. His skill was remarkable, and soon warm flames crackled and hissed as they sat together in silence.
Finally, Dinah spoke, her voice breaking with emotional exhaustion. “What does he want me to do?”
Sir Gorrann shifted in his seat and withdrew a pipe. “Isn’t it obvious? He wants yeh to take what’s yers. The crown. Yer mother’s throne at Wonderland Palace. He wants yeh to rule.”
“And what do you want?”
Sir Gorrann blew a stream of smoke into the air, the tail end smelling of horses and sweet leaves. “I want yeh to do what yeh believe is right. I long for the King to be brought to justice, but I’ll bring him justice one way or another, now or twenty years from now, either at yer side or by some other means. I’ll not make yeh carry my burden.”
Dinah frowned. “Justice.” She laughed wildly. “Do I not long for that as well? The King killed my brother. Cheshire saved my life.”
“That he did. And from the sounds of it, more than once. But yeh don’t owe him anything. Yeh do not want to owe a man like that. Do yeh understand? Yeh don’t.” The Spade was getting upset. Dinah shushed him with a glance. He took a breath. “Do yeh believe him? About him being yer father?”
Dinah shut her eyes. That was the question, wasn’t it? She didn’t want to believe him. She wanted everything to go back to how it was long before—when she was a child in her mother’s arms, when Charles was still alive, when the King of Hearts was still her father and she could look on him with pride, even when she trembled with fear at his fury. Back to a time when Wardley was near, an apple in one hand and reins in another. Dinah considered carefully before she spoke.
“I don’t want to believe him, and yet, when he said these… things, I could feel that pieces of my life that were scattered about were clicking into place. Everything fits together now, in a way it didn’t before.” She shook her head. “It’s gruesome, but there was a conclusion, a finality about it. It makes sense—why I don’t look anything like my father—er, the King—or Charles. Why the King hated me my entire life, why he beat my mother, why he so frequently escaped to go to war. Why he never wanted me to share his throne.” She let out a low scream before beating one clenched fist against her chest. “Gods, I am such a FOOL!”
No sooner had her voice echoed over the rocks than a loud clamor of high screams echoed back. Both Dinah and Sir Gorrann froze in place. The screams grew louder, until Dinah realized that what she was hearing was a growing cacophony of high-pitched bird calls. It was growing louder, a terrible sound. Crawling on her hands and knees, Dinah cautiously peeked her face over the edge of the stone circle and immediately felt her stomach drop. What she had guessed to be nothing but white-washed stone below was actually birds, hundreds of thousands of white cranes nesting fifty feet below the edge of the cliff. Their rising sound was deafening, and Dinah felt her pulse quicken. The birds could kill them both. With newfound understanding, she glanced back at the religious markings on the ground, the dark brown spots that stained the stone in certain places. She closed her eyes and saw a prisoner, tied down to the stone, left for the birds. A sacrifice. Oh gods.