I faced her side of the cemetery, felt the cold chill of blades along my neck as she threatened me with her mutated hand. I stood under her trees ornamented with toys possessed by the spirits of the dead. I’ll never forget how their eyes pierced me with agony.
“When the twins stand united,” Morpheus continues, “they are the two most formidable netherlings in all the land. The only way for anyone to defeat them is to put them at odds so they aren’t working together. Since both twins hate Red for her successful escape last year, it’s doubtful she could break them apart.” He says the word doubtful quietly while tracing the glass of the aquarium. His profile is troubled as my eels follow his finger, mesmerized.
Morpheus loves his world. It’s why he’s so adamant about getting my help. I’ve seen the destruction in my dreams, and the violence in my mosaics. It would be heartbreaking for such a beautifully unique and bizarre land to succumb to Red’s schemes.
Nausea winds through me. This entire disaster is my fault. I made it possible by drying up the ocean last year, by giving the flower fae a path into the heart of Wonderland, and by freeing Red’s spirit from the cemetery so she’d have access to a new body.
I stumble toward my bed, almost tripping over my dress. Morpheus is at my side in an instant and steadies me until I’m seated next to Rabid.
Rabid drops the earbuds to the floor, scoots close, and pats my gloved hand, brittle fingers snagging on the lace. “Majesty,” he croons. “Please … no exile for Rabid of the family White. Ever your loyal subject. Stay with you always.” He reaches inside his wet waistcoat and offers a key that looks just like mine with a ruby on top.
“You’re not staying here,” I answer, wrapping his bony fingers around his key. I point to the closet behind us. “Get back inside until we can figure out a way to get you home.”
Rabid’s pink eyes lose their shimmer, as if a curtain of cotton candy has fallen across them. He tucks his key into his coat’s inner pocket and shivers. “Rabid wet be.”
Touched by his discomfort, I pick up the thimble and give it to him. “Dry yourself off and keep quiet in there.”
The light in his eyes reignites. “A prize to keep! Generous are you!” He presses the thimble into place on his antler, scoots across the bed, drops down, and shuts himself in the closet, leaving me alone with Morpheus.
“You said home.” Morpheus looks down at me, expression hopeful. “You admitted it. Wonderland is your home.”
I shake my head. “I meant his home.”
Didn’t I?
I shake the doubts from my head, suspicious again of Morpheus’s part in all of this. “You were with the flower fae in my dream when I was drowning.” I look up at him pointedly.
He steps back, scowling. “Obviously Red hadn’t yet bribed them to aid her cause. Stop finding reasons to doubt me. We need to work together.”
My fingers trace the pearls on my dress, letting the slick, cool bumps soothe me. “I don’t know how to work with you.”
“You did when we were childhood playmates,” he answers, his expression as close to humble as I’ve ever seen it.
My fists clench around the fabric of my dress. “Before I knew you were a liar. You and my mom. That’s all netherlings do. The only people I can depend on are … people. My dad, Jeb, Jenara. Humans haven’t let me down. Not like you have.”
His black eyes soften to a depth of emotion that surprises me. He actually looks wounded. “Perhaps because you hold me to a different standard. You won’t give me the benefit of the doubt, as you do them. You act as if I’ve never done right by you.”
My attention drops to my gloved hands. He trained me to know the Wonderland creatures, to understand how to survive in the nether-realm. He stood by me in the car earlier, facing down a train … and it was not the first time he looked death in the face so I wouldn’t have to.
He has moments of courage, tenderness, even selflessness. But he’ll put anyone or anything at risk in a heartbeat if it gets him something he wants. I lift my eyes to meet Morpheus’s gaze. “Earn my trust.”
“How?” he asks.
“By telling me the truth. What went on between you and my mom? Did you seduce all the Liddell women? Did you tell them the same pretty words you told me?” I curl my legs beneath my dress, feeling small and vulnerable for even asking.
Morpheus scoots aside some glass with his boot and kneels. He takes my hand in his. “I’ve known but three generations of Liddell women. Counting the ones in London, there’s been twenty or so. Most were oblivious and unreachable—they didn’t hear the nether-call. The others weren’t strong enough to face their lineage without losing their minds. As for Alison, she and I were business partners. There has never been more than that between us. There’s only one Liddell I desire, only one who earns my undying devotion.” He works a fingertip into the lace at my elbow and drags off the glove. “The one who was my truest friend … who took my place and braved the attack that was meant for me.”