Unhinged (Splintered, #2)(80)
“No. Your power is poison.” My pride raises its head again. “Just so you know, there’s something you’ll never persuade me to do.”
He studies me, smug. “What’s that?”
“Love you.”
Morpheus’s jewels turn pale blue, the color of anguish, and I revel in the knowledge that I cut him.
“Never say never,” he murmurs.
I match his stare, eyes stinging as if venom seeps through my irises.
He looks away first, steps over to the ladder, and dives, graceful black wings spread wide. He lands lightly in the middle of the floor. He waves to his moths, reuniting his hat, then kneels to hoist Jeb onto his shoulder around his left wing.
I leap to my feet and scramble back to the railing. “Put him down!” I screech.
“He’s not safe here,” Morpheus answers, gathering Jeb’s shirt and boots with his free hand. “We must find a mirror and get him to the train. You wish to try to haul him out to the car yourself?”
I swallow a rebuttal. As arrogant as he is, he’s right: I need his help to find the train.
“The keys,” he presses.
Frowning, I chuck them toward him. Chessie zooms up and catches them in midair.
Ivory stands—all lace and elegance. She moves behind me, her wings low like a feather cape.
Morpheus looks over my shoulder at her. “Go back through the rabbit hole and protect your castle. Warn Sister One that her twin has crossed over to the human realm. She’ll need to keep a close watch on the dark side of the cemetery. Alyssa and I will follow soon. We’ve little time to waste.”
“Right,” I say. “Now that you’ve managed to lure one of the creepiest and most venomous netherlings into a world of helpless humans, we don’t have much time, do we?”
Morpheus resituates Jeb on his shoulder. “We’re not at a complete disadvantage, Alyssa. Sister Two has a weakness, as we all do. She has a blind spot. Once she’s cornered her prey, she notices nothing else around her. So, since there are two of us, we can work as a team to defeat her and send her back to Wonderland.”
“Right,” I answer. “And then you’ll be the big hero again. For cleaning up a mess that you caused to begin with.”
Morpheus doesn’t answer. He strides out the door. Chessie looks up at us once, then follows.
“Perhaps you were a little harsh with him,” Ivory says.
Hands clenched at my sides, I face her. “Jeb is the target of a black-widow woman big enough to eat a horse, and now he’s catatonic and can’t even defend himself. Not to mention all the humans who almost went up in flames today, all because of Morpheus’s stupid plan.”
“He never expected Sister Two to become involved. And he had nothing to do with the events at your school. The bugs caught wind of Queen Red’s alliance with the flower fae. They feared she would lead her army into your world after she destroyed all of Wonderland, where they would feed on insects and humans alike. They released the wraiths in an effort to protect their home from Wonderland invaders.”
“Technicalities,” I answer. Her calm rationalizations are only making me angrier. “Doesn’t it ever bother you? How he always gets by on those? He couldn’t use his magic because of the glamour, so he had you and Hattington and the nurse do all his dirty work. Which meant that each time he told me he wasn’t doing those things, he was able to lie to my face—guilt free, in true Wonderland form.”
“He wasn’t guilt free. He has been in torment. It was not his original plan to use your mortal knight.”
“Right. I’m sure it was to sacrifice his own life for all of Wonderland, because he’s an old-school martyr like that.”
She frowns, her pale pink lips shimmering like flower petals in the sunlight. “That was his plan.”
I want to laugh, but the sincerity within her frosted eyes stops me. One thing I’ve learned about Ivory, she’s always honest when confronted. “All right. Convince me.”
“A week before Morpheus started visiting your dreams again, he came to my castle and told me of Red’s ultimatum. He asked me to use my crown-magic to look into your future, to assure that if he did as she asked and gave himself up to Red, she would be satiated and you and Wonderland would be safe forever. What I saw … it changed everything for him.”
She holds out her palm, and a bubble appears. It’s the size of a softball, only luminous and clear. “Vow to me you’ll never tell anyone what I’m about to show you.”
I stand mute, staring at the bubble as a blurry image begins to form inside.
“Vow it,” Ivory presses.
I make the pledge. Two life-magic vows in one day. I’m becoming a pro at netherling negotiations without even trying.
Still holding the bubble, she bends down beside my mosaics and scrapes off a small residue of gray powder left from Chessie’s sparkle cloud of earlier. She swipes it over the crystallized bubble, which animates a scene that’s startlingly familiar. Not only can I see it, but I can hear, smell, feel, and taste it.
I’m crowned and seated on a throne at the head of a table, hosting a feast with mallet in hand, prepared to strike the main course dead. The scent of clover wine, moonbeam cookies, and baked fruit wafts from sparkling platters and crystal glasses.
Gathered around are a mishmash of creatures, some clothed, others naked, all more bestial than humanoid. They are my subjects, and my heart brims with affection for them—for their weirdness, for their madness, for their loyalty.