Cheshire began to howl and writhe against the Spades that held him. “Dinah, no! I’m your father. I saved you. I helped you win a war. I gave you a crown!”
Dinah continued. “I disavow you from the council, and from the court. You are no longer a representative in our relations with the Yurkei. You have no power in any decision made for the good of Wonderland, now and forever. You are declared an enemy of Wonderland.”
Cheshire’s face distorted as it became racked with wretched sobs. “Please! Dinah, have mercy on me.”
“You will have mercy, though not in the way you desire it. You deserve the Black Towers, to have your body and soul tortured for the rest of your days. You deserve the same fate to which you and the King of Hearts sent Faina Baker—a living hell!”
“You killed her daughter! You are not innocent like you believe.” He let out a shriek of frustration.
Dinah closed her eyes for a moment. He was right. The truth of his words nestled in her heart. “Be thankful that I will not throw you in the Black Towers, for I do not trust the Black Towers to hold your deviousness, and they will not stand much longer. You are a poisonous snake in the grass, and if you are exiled, the day will come when I will find an army at my doorstep. You are the most dangerous creature in Wonderland.”
Cheshire’s legs lifted off the ground as he kicked and struggled. His deceitful words turned quickly into pleas. “Please, Dinah, for your mother. For your kingdom. We are family.”
Dinah turned away from him, tying her cloak around her neck with a firm twist and pulling the hood over her crown. She turned and faced Cheshire again.
“Look now, and have your peace. Your daughter wears a crown, and will to the end of her days. Your grandchildren and those after them will bear the crown as well. Die knowing that your child will never again be manipulated or used, not by you or anyone else. Look upon my face. It is done. You killed my brother, and gods know how many other countless innocents who stood in your way over the years.”
“Hundreds,” hissed Cheshire. “Thousands.”
Dinah bent and picked up Cheshire’s dagger, the hilt inlaid with purple amethysts, the twin to her own. “I will keep this close to me always as a reminder of where I come from, and of the man that I never desire to be.”
His face turned red now, full of anger. “You will never be rid of me. I have hundreds of people loyal to me, and they will not stop with my death. You will never be safe. Never!”
Now it was Dinah’s turn to smile. “You have killed everyone who knew your secrets. There is no one left.”
Cheshire’s head dropped. He was defeated.
When he looked up again, a single tear trailed down his cheek. “Then I will rest in the knowledge that inside of you lies a part of me. A fury combined with a curious and deceptive mind, and every day you will wake with the yearning to release it.”
Dinah turned away from him now, hiding her face from those around her as her mouth trembled. The room waited in silence. After a few moments, she inhaled and released a deep breath, letting her shoulders drop.
“Good-bye, Cheshire.”
He began to scream as she walked toward the door, carefully avoiding the black roots that were twisting slightly nearer to her feet with each step. She paused at the opening and looked back. All she could see in the darkness now were his pointed white teeth, twisted up in a grin.
Sir Gorrann’s voice rose over the clamor. “Orders, Your Majesty?”
Dinah paused, but only for a moment.
“Off with his head.”
Eighteen
Weeks passed before Dinah felt Cheshire’s haunting presence leave her. His body had been buried in the tunnels underneath the palace, his head taken to the Western Slope to be thrown into the sea. If there was anyone who could figure out how to come back from the dead, it would be Cheshire, and Dinah wasn’t taking any chances.
The council had been reconfigured. There was no adviser to the queen, no head of the council. She would be influenced by no single person, rather by a multitude of wise men and, for the first time in history, wise women. This was for the best. Unlike the king before her, Dinah’s decisions would be her own.
Dinah’s mind wandered as she made her way to the new Spade barracks, Ki-ershan ever at her back. Things were moving quickly in Wonderland, and though Dinah dreamed of a time where she could hide in her room and cry over Cheshire’s betrayal and the betrayal of her own heart, she couldn’t. Not now. Not ever. She had taken Cheshire’s head, and yet she was curiously free of guilt. She would miss his sharp mind, but every child in Wonderland was safer without his convincing tongue twisting lies in her ear. Of this she was certain.
The new Spade barracks were being built on the western side of the palace, though they would be much smaller than the first ones. Now that the Spades could marry, they would need less housing, as most would take wives and houses in Wonderland proper. Sir Gorrann happily oversaw the construction, and under his rule, the Spades were beginning to show a bit of pride and decorum. They were still a disgusting and vile group, but the changes were evident—no Spade had killed another in weeks. This was a very encouraging sign. Dinah found Sir Gorrann perched on a stump among towering piles of white logs. One hand held a hammer, the other a cherry tart. He stood and bowed awkwardly.
“My queen.”
She sat down beside him. “How are things progressing?”
He turned to survey the construction. The new barracks were to be white, inlaid with black stones carved into the Spade symbol. They would be very similar to the barracks for the Heart Cards.
“Slowly, as always, but it looks to be quite a good place for a man to spend the rest of his days.”
Dinah rested her hand against his shoulder. “Tell me, Sir Gorrann, have you reconsidered marrying again? I hear that the girls in Wonderland proper can barely keep up with proposals from the Spades.”
He smiled grimly. “No. As yeh know, there is only Amabel. She will be the keeper of my heart until my last breath.”
“Which I hope won’t be soon. We have much to do.”
He let out a groan. “So yeh keep reminding me. I will barely finish these barracks before yeh have me starting on the new prison. Yer a slave driver, yeh are! Emptying the Black Towers is going to be a massive task. It’s going to take us years, yeh know.”
“So I’ve heard. Nonetheless, we must start soon.” The Black Towers. Dinah rubbed her forehead. She had quickly passed a new law that forbade strapping prisoners against the walls of the towers, but there was still so much legislating to be done. The Clubs had aggressively pressed back against building a new prison system, but relented when Dinah involved them in the planning and construction of the building.