Queen of Hearts: The Crown (Queen of Hearts Saga #1)(2)
“It wouldn’t hurt so much if you didn’t yank,” Dinah retorted. Emily clucked her tongue.
After the brushing was done, the intolerable undergarments were put on and laced up into place. A white slip and white corset followed. “Why do I need all of this?” huffed Dinah as Emily labored over the laces. “I’m only fifteen.”
Emily did not answer right away and instead gave a hard yank. The corset’s whalebone ribs tightened around Dinah’s waist. “Because you don’t want your father to see you’ve been having extra tarts, do you?”
Dinah bit her lip and braced herself against the dresser. When that torture was finished, Harris led her to the center of the room where she stood like a stuffed doll—arms out, legs open, as her entourage clucked about her dresses. A plain black frock with a high white collar was decided upon, one that flared about the face. Dinah hated that dress. Dinah hated all dresses.
They dressed her in silence and finished it off with a peacock brooch. Emily rubbed rouge on her lips and cheeks to prevent Dinah from looking sickly and drew a small red heart under her right eye. What seemed to be an eternity later, Dinah shuffled down the Hallway of the Golden Birds, feeling quite like one of the bronzed birds perched on golden pedestals that surrounded her. Her silly black dress bulged at the seams. She had told Emily that she was too big for that dress, but Emily wouldn’t listen.
She’s so silly, thought Dinah. Silly and stupid.
It was a mean thought, and she instantly regretted it. Dinah’s anger could overwhelm her if she wasn’t careful. Her hair was twisted up in an insufferably tight bun, one that exaggerated Dinah’s already-large black eyes. Upon her head sat the princess crown—a thin string of red ruby hearts outlined in gold spikes. Even though it was thin, it was still heavy. It glittered in the sunlight, and it was the only thing Dinah was wearing today that she liked. On her feet twinkled a pair from the Queen’s shoe collection—molded white slippers, inlaid with tiny white diamonds. Before she died, her mother, Queen Davianna, had taken up the lady’s hobby of slippermaking. They made Dinah’s feet hurt. She hated the way the tiny stones cut into her toes and heels. She had wide feet, and the shoes pinched her soles.
Dinah looked back at Harris and Emily. He walked quickly behind her, looking a bit like a walrus. He was a cuddly and generous man, kind and fiercely intelligent. He had once been a dashing Card, or so Dinah had heard, but now he was her tutor and guardian, a portly man with white hair and a dozen varieties of checkered outfits. Without a doubt, he loved Dinah deeply—something she lacked in other areas of her life.
A little bird ran across her path and Dinah kicked it, sending it shrieking into the air.
“My child!” thundered Harris. “Do NOT let your father see that behavior, otherwise you will be sleeping in the Black Towers.”
“I doubt it,” snipped Dinah glumly. “I wish that would happen because then I would get to see inside of them.”
Harris gave Dinah a disappointed look. “Never wish yourself inside the Black Towers,” he said seriously. “You have no idea the evil that lurks there.”
He began speaking quietly to Emily. Dinah instantly regretted her words. Her father had threatened to throw Dinah in the Black Towers several times, but it never happened. Only the worst criminals in Wonderland went there. And once they went in, they never came out. Rumors swirled that the Black Towers were where the King threw those he needed silenced—Cards, merchants, and bill collectors. The Black Towers were comprised of seven connected black cones, all strung together by a twisting narrow walkway known as the Iron Web, which straddled the door to each tower and ran vertically up and down its sides. She had once heard her father call it a “wicked and colossal wonder.”
From her bedroom window, Dinah loved to watch the Club Cards scurrying up and down the spirals, like little spiders dressed in gray, holding their books or torture instruments. The Princess had never been allowed in the Black Towers, of course, but she planned to tour them someday with her best friend, Wardley. But for this, she would probably have to wait until she was Queen.
Dinah, Harris, and Emily approached the Great Hall. Two vast ivory doors loomed terrifyingly before her, elaborately carved with the history of Wonderland. Wicked trees, Yurkei tribes, and sea shells danced before her. She closed her eyes.
Perhaps, she thought, perhaps if I wish really hard, I could be anywhere but here.
Dinah longed to be outside, playing chase with the servants’ children, or peering down the pesky rabbit hole by the old oak tree. Anywhere was better than the Great Hall, knowing that her father waited beyond these inscrutable doors. Two Heart Cards, both handsome men, sharp and crisp in their red-and-white uniforms, opened the doors for them as they approached.
Dinah felt her hands begin to shake and she froze. Not now, oh gods, not now.
She felt Harris’s hand on her shoulder, and she was grateful for the calming effect it bestowed. He bent down and looked the Princess directly in the face. “Dinah, my child, the King has called you here for a very special reason. Try to be graceful, polite, and lovely. He is your father, and he rules over this kingdom. Try to remember that. Everything the King does is for Wonderland.”
Dinah’s heart was hammering wildly in her chest. Something was wrong, she could sense it. Why was she being brought here? Was this not just a boring council meeting, where she had to perch upon her tiny chair and look interested as the men of Wonderland argued and boasted of quests, Yurkei raids, and politics?