The reminder of that intimate moment, when his birthmark touched mine, sparks uncomfortable heat in my abdomen. “This entire quest has been a seduction, Morpheus. It’s time to come clean.”
He lifts the end of his red necktie and scrutinizes it, then scrubs at an invisible smudge. “There’s nothing clean about betrayal, luv. And that’s where the story begins, as you well know. Queen Red’s court mutinied against her, her own husband joined the traitors in order to marry her stepsister, and it upended the balance of the realm. But you will restore the equilibrium.” He tucks the necktie back into place.
“Because I’m her heir,” I murmur, nearly choking on the words.
The proud smile on his face is luminous. “Figured it out, did you?”
I suppress the ache in my throat. “It was never about me fixing things. My family wasn’t cursed by Alice’s messes. We’re not cursed at all. We’re half-breeds.”
He splays out his wings and arms. “Isn’t it glorious?”
“You brought me here … set the scenes to fit the Alice story. Everything’s been a game. Everyone’s been playing a part. That’s why most of them were different from the characters in the book. Everyone helped you … they were your accomplices.”
“Yes. Characters playing the parts written for them in a book from the human realm. Some, anyway. Others played along unwittingly.”
“The octobenus.”
Morpheus nods. “Despicable. Murdered his best friend to appease a wave of gluttony. He deserved what he got. And the card guards? They are always expendable. Now, quench my curiosity, little plum.” He gestures to the chair behind me. “Make yourself comfortable, and enlighten me on how you came to be a netherling princess.”
I refuse to sit. A bitter taste burns my tongue. “A masquerade.”
He frowns. “Pardon?”
I twist one of the teddy bear’s ears. Filthy toes rooted into the carpet for support, I unleash the theory that came to me when I saw Sister One’s chessboard. “The website. It said some netherlings take on the appearance of existing mortals. After Queen Red was exiled, she snuck through the Red castle’s portal into the human realm.”
“Pray tell, how did she manage that?” His voice is teasing, meant to goad me.
“She shares my magic … she found a way to distract the card guards. She coaxed the ribbon off Grenadine’s hand by animating it—the ribbon that held a reminder of Alice’s whereabouts. Then Red stepped into the mortal realm as the child. She grew up as Alice, fell in love with a mortal man as Alice, married and had children as Alice. Half-magical, half-human children, and heirs to her lost throne. The netherling characteristics only pass to the females, because Wonderland is ruled by queens.” I’m hugging the bear now, so tightly I can feel Chessie’s essence clawing for escape … begging to be free. Or maybe it’s my own.
“Tell me more. You hold a captive audience.” Morpheus’s voice has changed, the teasing edge replaced by something ravenous and exposed.
I can’t bring myself to watch his enthralled features, so I look at the fire’s flames instead. “Red came back to Wonderland, a few months before the real Alice died. Somehow they traded places again. That’s why the older Alice in the picture had no birthmark, when the younger one did. That’s why she remembered nothing of her mortal life. It was stolen from her. She had no childhood, just like you said.” My chest constricts with sadness almost as potent as when I cried out my wish. “Poor Alice.”
“Yes. Poor, dear little Alice.”
I search his expression. His reverence seems sincere.
A pained, poignant tenderness warms his eyes. “I tried to return her home, in her old age. I thought I was doing right by her, letting her die among her own. I stole into the Liddell house late one night, hoping to convince Red it was the right thing to do … hoping that with her family asleep in other rooms, we could make the switch undetected. Red was compliant, said she was tired of being old and feeble.” A soft smile lifts one side of his mouth. “I tucked Alice into the bed where she would awaken among those who should’ve been her family all along. They were strangers to her, so I tried to prepare her, but her mind was too far gone to grasp it all. I held her hand until she nodded off, then left with Red for Wonderland. Upon our arrival at the rabbit hole’s opening, the wretch changed her mind and turned on me, refusing to leave her family behind. She intended to murder Alice, then drag all the Liddells to Wonderland. To use her lineage to win back the throne she’d lost.”