“I shouldn’t have worried. Using the tunnels, you made your way to the Black Towers and discovered the truth about Vittiore, even if you didn’t put it together right away, for by then Faina Baker had gone mad. The king was hungry for a shift in power, and once he learned of your excursion to the Black Towers, he decided to behead Faina. It was a message for you, but its true purpose was to remind Vittiore of what would happen if she ever rebelled against him. It was unthinkably cruel, but it was a well-instructed lesson to both of you to stay out of his way.
“By then a sort of madness had overtaken the king, and he began muttering dark, violent things. I worried for your safety. I pressed the king to reveal his plans to me, but he refused. Even his most trusted advisers remained in the dark.”
Dinah’s hands were gripping the tablecloth, her nails tearing through the thin fabric. Her world was collapsing, inside and outside. Her watery eyes made the stars look like they were falling. She stopped breathing. She stared at Cheshire as he continued, but all she saw was Charles.
Cheshire blew on the steaming mug.
“On the night of your brother’s murder, I was out meeting with some colleagues who lived in the court just outside the palace—Lords Delmont and Sander, I’m sure you know them.”
Dinah nodded impatiently.
“I returned late, much past the midnight hour. The king burst into my chamber, unannounced and covered with blood. He was hysterical. I calmed him down but could not hide my horror when he told me that he had just thrown Charles from a window and murdered Lucy and Quintrell. He said that he was going to frame you, so that you might never ascend to the throne. Instead, it would be off with your head, or you would be thrown into the Black Towers for the remainder of your life. As he rocked himself by the window, muttering of justice and how your mother’s bastard would be tried for her crimes, I knew that every moment of my life had boiled down to this one. How could I help save my daughter without revealing the truth to the king?
“I told the king to change, bathe, and gather his Cards to help apprehend you. I ran—how I ran—first to the kitchens and then to the weapons room. I knew you would never survive without food in the wild. You were raised in a palace that gave you everything you ever needed. After I packed your bag, I ran to your room, where I knocked Harris and Emily unconscious. For a few seconds, I watched you sleeping—my daughter, the pride of my heart, with a face like her mother’s and a fierce intelligence not unlike my own. I had never seen you so close, so perfect, the blood of my veins sleeping before me. I vowed I would do whatever it took to help you survive. Then you awoke . . . and tried to kill me.”
He gave a chuckle, and Dinah remembered the horror of waking up to the dark shrouded figure in her room. Cheshire took a sip of the tea. “Ah, perfect. A lovely Scarlet Cloud.
“Though you did not follow my exact directions, you did escape, and in what grand fashion! You left behind a bloody mess, you stole your father’s Hornhoov and then outran him and his army in a chase that the peasants will be talking about a hundred years from now!” He clapped his hands with glee. “I couldn’t have planned it better myself. After you left, the king quickly declared you a traitor to the realm and placed the crown on Vittiore’s head. The coronation was the biggest that Wonderland had ever seen, and I believe she was glad to receive the crown. The king left immediately after to resume the hunt for you, and it was the opportunity I had been waiting for. A chance to find you, to make sure that you were surviving in the Twisted Wood.
“Whispered sources told me of a Spade tracker that had a long-standing grudge against the king, and I sought him out. I made a deal with your Sir Gorrann. He would track you down—with the king in tow—but would find you beforehand and take you deep into the Yurkei Mountains, where you would be safe from the king. He tracked you a little too fast but as you can see, he kept you safe, fed, and began training you to fight.”
Cheshire rubbed the front of his neck where Dinah had poked him with the dagger. A smile played across his face. “I joined the king on this mission to hunt you down, and as soon as I knew that you were safely in Sir Gorrann’s care, I quietly took my leave from the king’s side and followed an alternate path up to Hu-Yuhar, but not before I convinced him to abandon his chase and return to Wonderland Palace.” He absentmindedly fingered his sparkling brooch.
“I saw you in the darkness that night, standing still in the black dress I had packed for you. I was proud that you had used it so well, and so furious that you would put yourself at that much risk, all for a chance at revenge. Please forgive me for my delay.” He gestured to the elaborate table. “One would not call me a light packer. But, finally, here we are, father and daughter, reunited at last, without secrets or lies between us. I have longed for this moment.
“Tea, my daughter?”
He handed the cup to her. Dinah took it with trembling fingers.
Dinah’s voice caught in her throat. She wanted to throw herself at him, to take his life, to beat him, to embrace him, to weep and laugh, all at once. She felt nauseated and dizzy, confused and elated. It was too much. She could barely strangle out a single bitter sentence as she set the cup down. “Why are you here?”
His fingers stopped moving against his cup and he cautiously stood and walked slowly over to Dinah. Kneeling before her, he bowed his jet-black head in the moonlight and then looked up at her, his white smile stretching wide over his thin face.
“Why? Because you are my daughter, the pride and purpose of my life, and I have come to aid you as you reclaim the throne in Wonderland. Why? Because you are the true heir of Queen Davianna, and your claim to the throne is stronger than Vittiore’s, who is a pauper, related to no one. I will help you take your vengeance against the king, with a mighty army of the Yurkei behind you. Why? Because you were born to wear the crown, and I will not see Davianna’s daughter slowly waste away in the Yurkei Mountains. Dinah, you must conquer.”
Without warning, he pressed his lips to her hand, and Dinah felt a wave of revulsion wash over her. She yanked her hand back as if she had been burned. Tea sloshed over the table.
Cheshire stood and walked to the end of the table, where he gently picked up a covered silver cake platter. He set it in front of Dinah’s chair. “A gift for my daughter.”
“I don’t want to see it.”
“You must.”
Shaking, Dinah lifted the lid. Underneath it was her princess crown—the gold and ruby crown, a ring of hearts that blazed like fire. The crown she had left behind. Cheshire picked up the crown and lowered it onto her head. She had forgotten how solid it was, how its points dug into her skull, and the flush of happiness she felt when it rested heavily on her temples. The lanterns in the trees flickered, and she heard the rustling of a crane’s wings overhead. She looked down at Cheshire, now kneeling in front of her. His black eyes met hers, a mirror image. Her enemy, her father?
His voice boomed through the trees. “Rise, Dinah, and become the Queen of Hearts. It is time to embrace your fate.”
The night held its breath. Dinah looked at him, his black eyes glittering in the starlight. The Scarlet Cloud rose out of her teacup, blurring her vision red.
Embrace your fate.
She ran.
Ten