Queen of Hearts: The Crown (Queen of Hearts Saga #1)(31)

The Club gave a loud guffaw. “You must be new. Did Erinsten send you?”

Wardley raised his lip in a sneer. “Does Erinsten do anything?”

The man gave a laugh and stroked his long mustache. “This is most certainly true. He does not. Well, he should have told you that there is no Women’s Tower. All prisoners are housed according to their crime, not their sex. This is the murderers’ hive.”

The Club began to circle Dinah. “Are you a murderer, my little blackberry tart? Who did you kill? Your lover? Your children?” He pushed her hood back and ran a hand down her thick black braid. “Shiny hair for such a commoner. Were you a whore perhaps? One of the King’s whores?”

Wardley pressed a finger against his forehead and rubbed, as if he was remembering something. “Erinsten said that she is to be housed with a Feena Boker, yes, I think that’s the name. Or Fina?”

The man stepped back from Dinah with caution. “Faina Baker?”

Wardley snapped his fingers. “Oh yes, that’s it, Faina.”

“Faina Baker is in here for high treason. She is in the top cell of the Seventh Tower.” He peered at Dinah. “That makes you worse than any man in this tower. I’ll keep my distance.” He leaned forward and trailed his fingers down Dinah’s cheek. “What they do in that tower is worse than death, worse than any torture we do here. I pity you, my pretty.”

Wardley gave Dinah a yank and they started to make their way back down the spiral.

“I wouldn’t go that way if I were you. We just gutted a man down there, and you don’t want to get blood all over your boots. Take the Iron Web. You better get used to it. Clubs use the web, otherwise we never see the sun.”

Yoous picked at his teeth with his huge black fingers. Wardley let out a grunt and began walking back up the spiral, dragging Dinah behind him.

“You’re going the wrong way. Oh gods, here; take this door.” He walked between two cells, and a short and narrow hallway opened up before them. It led to a thin metal door.

“No locks?” asked Wardley in disbelief.

Yoous gave a laugh. “You think a prisoner would try to escape the Black Towers? Knowing that there is more torture to come when they get caught? No, no one tries to escape. Besides, they would just escape to the Iron Web, where there are always dozens of Cards going about their day. That or fall to their death. They have no dream of escape. Their minds are worn down by the towers themselves.” He ran his hand across the wall, black and thick, and covered with a sticky sap. “Do you know the legend of the Black Towers, son?”

Wardley did, and so did Dinah, but he just shook his head. Yoous took a seat on a decrepit bench, his legs spread wide in Dinah’s direction. She looked away.

“They say the towers were here before any of us, before Wonderland proper, even before the Yurkei tribes arrived. They were always here, huge black roots, twisted into a spiral, exactly seven of them. When the Yurkei came upon this land, they worshipped the towers and built their homes around them. Time marched on, and the towers grew thicker and thicker, until they were a massive black tree, stronger than steel, immune to fire and axe. We carve the doors out where there are gaps in the roots. The Yurkei called them ‘Meis’ Yur,’ meaning ‘The Old Root.’ They worshipped them, but when the first Wonderlanders arrived, they saw the truth—that the Black Towers were evil. There was a sinister presence about them—they made you sick, made you crazy, made you crave touching their sap.

“You know the rest. Eventually Wonderlanders pushed the Yurkei back into the mountains where they belonged and built Wonderland Palace and its townships. The Black Towers stand as a warning to Wonderlanders—break the law, and enter the Towers. Centuries came and went, and the first set of Club Cards built the Iron Web.”

“But if the wood cannot be penetrated—” Wardley began.

“Aye. It cannot be. The iron walkways are completely self-suspended. They were designed by Jackrey, the best architect that Wonderland has ever seen. All the walkways are connected, but none actually touch the towers. It’s how the Clubs get from one tower to the next, from top to bottom. Unless we are inside, in which case, we are probably there for other—” He looked at Dinah. She kept her eyes on the floor. “—Purposes.”

“And you never worry about someone escaping?”

Yoous stood and stretched. “You feel good since you’ve been here boy?”

Wardley gave a defeated shrug. “I guess not, no. I feel. . . .” Dinah could see him searching for the word. He cleared his throat, “unsteady.”

“That’s the towers. It’s inside her roots, some sort of drug that clouds the senses and confuses the mind. Most of the prisoners here are insane, but they didn’t come in that way. The roots make sure of it.” He rose. “I shouldn’t speak anymore. This prisoner needs reminding about manners.”

He began unlocking Quizzer’s cell door. The tiny man gave a howl and scuttled to the back of the cell, his fingers clawing his black cell wall. It dripped with slimy black moisture. “Give me the tree for the Queen, give her to me!” he howled.

Yoous slapped him down to the floor with little effort. “I’m thinking a finger or two will remind you not to touch other prisoners.”

Dinah gave a shudder and without thinking, turned into Wardley’s shoulder. He was smarter, and shoved her away.