“I can’t, Danika.” He shook his head. “Take her back. Take her home.”
“You know that’s not how it works. She’s here. For three days. Try, Hatter.” Her blue eyes filled with tears. “You must try.”
He sighed. Couldn’t Danika see it was hopeless? And now she brought him the granddaughter of the woman who’d betrayed him and expected him to what-- trust the same blood didn’t run through her veins?
“Heal her feet. They... bleed.”
“Oh, Hatter,” Danika sighed. “Open your eyes, boy, see what I can, before it’s too late.”
He ran his hand through his wavy hair. “Wonderland’s not accepted her.”
She frowned. “She’s only just gotten here. Give her time.”
He curled his lips, always so positive Danika was. Every time it was the same thing. Next time. The next one. He was sick of it.
“No promises.”
Chapter 5
They walked again. Thankfully Alice’s feet were fine. Which was amazing. One second she wanted to cry from the stinging pain, and then, the next second, the ball of firelight ran across her feet and she’d been healed. Not only that, but she now had on a pair of glittering silver flats.
Hatter had stared at her, towering over her, and she’d sensed a difference in him. Not kindness. Hell no, nothing that drastic. But much less hostility, which, she supposed, was better than nothing.
“I’m...” he cleared his throat and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “The Hatter.”
Alice lifted her brow. “I pretty much figured that out.”
“Right,” he sighed and glanced to the side.
She rolled her eyes and huffed. “I’m Alice. Alice Hu.”
His jaw went rigid, but even so, her heart skipped a beat at the pure beauty and masculinity of his face. He was so much more than she remembered. Didn’t mean she’d forgiven him for what he’d done earlier. Not by a long shot.
But she hated silence. “So is this a dream, or what?” At this point, she was 99.9999 percent certain this wasn’t a dream, but she wanted to talk. Even if that meant talking with the most sexily infuriating man she’d ever met in her life.
“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream,” he said, words laced with a bitter sadness that made her heart tremble.
“Sure.” She was confused. Was he agreeing with her or not? Why did she suddenly want to wrap him in her arms? The haunting sorrow in his gaze touched something in her heart.
She set her jaw and tapped her hand against her thigh. The man was ridiculous, spoke in riddles, and yet-- her stomach did a somersault-- she couldn’t stop the mental pictures of him nude with her sprawled on top of him.
She groaned. He was mean. She didn’t like him. He’d freakin’ made her walk through a forest without shoes on. Her tender feet had gotten bruised and bloody and it was so easy to give into the hate, but then he’d saved her from that damn snake and nothing made sense anymore. Since the moment they’d left the mushroom glade, he’d been acting different. Not exactly kind, but not so angry and cold, either.
Stems of grass brushed against her ankles like the softest satin. Stars gleamed brighter than any diamond in the navy blue sky. Wind, pregnant with the fragrance of flowers, sifted gentle fingers through her hair.
“I’d swear I was drunk as a skunk right now, except for the fact that I don’t feel in the least bit tipsy. I just cannot accept I’m in Wonderland, though. This is ridiculous.”
A loud snore, like the braying of a donkey, startled her. She yelped and Hatter pointed to a shadowy lump beside them. A huge skunk lay sprawled on its back, a glass bottle by its head. Its bushy black and white tail twitched back and forth, tiny feet jerking like a dog’s when asleep.
“Is that a-”
“Words have power.” His eyes narrowed and he was looking at her different now, not shocked or amazed exactly, but different. He turned. Alice hadn’t been aware he’d been standing so close until suddenly it seemed as if he took up all her space. She licked her lips, skin tingling with a rush of blood. He looked like he wanted to say more.
“Alice-” His Adam’s apple bobbed, as if he were working up the courage to say more.
The hot shiver of the Hatter’s sherry-tinted breath fanned her face. She squirmed. She wanted to touch him, touch herself. Anything, just to end the madness of lust spreading through her veins like a sickness.
Then his gaze grew hooded and he turned back around. She sucked in a shaky breath, knees suddenly weak. What was going on? Hadn’t she just been pissed at him?
“What the hell happened back there? Did I make that thing come?” she asked his back.
He stopped and she caught back up to him. He looked down at her. “You tell me.”