The Mad King (The Dark Kings #1)(35)

I couldn’t help but sigh as I watched the two of them begin to slowly fall in love.

But then I’d gone from sighing to laughing as that rascally male had dragged his female through door after door into a land brimming with madness and chaos. It was almost as good as watching a movie on the screen.

I was enraptured by the strange tale that seemed so foreign and yet weirdly familiar all at the same time.

Now the pair had arrived at the Hatter’s cottage, inside a teapot of all things, when the miniatures suddenly faded back to their original forms, slipping to the ground in mounds of grass and snow.

Frowning, I shook my head, staring up at the real Hatter beside me. “What? Why? I was just getting into it.”

But no sooner had I asked the question than I noticed a pale sheen to his flesh that’d not been there before. His eyes looked shaded and tired; there were dark circles beneath his eyes.

It was clear he was exhausted and I felt guilty for not realizing it sooner. I wasn’t sure why he seemed not to be faring as well as all the other ghosts I’d encountered in my time here, but maybe he’d been cursed somehow.

“You’re tired,” I said quickly, and he nodded, dragging his knees to his chest to hug them tight.

“I hate to agree with you on that, but I am rather.”

I’d vowed to keep my distance from all ghosts, but I was starting to become a softie I guess. First Amara, now Hatter. I bit the corner of my lip, knowing I should leave but not really ready to yet either.

There was something about this quiet man I kind of liked.

Dark eyes hooked mine, and as if reading my thoughts, he said, “You don’t have to go yet. If you don’t want to.”

I sniffed. “I should though. Let you rest.”

But he was shaking his head. “I’ll be fine, Alice. I just need a minute is all. I have an idea. If you’d like, let us play a game.”

Lifting a brow, I gave him an incredulous look. “A game? What sort of game?”

He laughed. And the sound of it was rich and warm and hypnotizing, and my skin tingled everywhere. Feeling suddenly weird and rethinking my decision to stay, I turned my face aside for a moment, fighting back the blush threatening to work itself loose.

I’d never had this type of visceral reaction to a man before. I grabbed hold of my lower stomach.

“Twenty questions,” he said, causing me to look back at him, grateful that my skin was darker and hid the heat of the blush.

“Twenty is an awful lot. How about one honest and truthful question?”

It was his turn for his brows to twitch. “Not much of a game then. Ten.”

“Three,” I countered.

“Deal,” he said smoothly, and my mouth flopped open. I couldn’t help feeling as though he’d just gotten the upper hand somehow.

“Cheeky bastard,” I said with a grin to take the sting out of my words. “You played me.”

He shrugged one shoulder unrepentantly.

Needing to feel more in charge of this “game” than I currently did—not having a clue what exactly I’d gotten myself into here—I lifted a finger. “But I’ll answer only one question a day, so make it count, Hatter.”

The smile that’d taken hold of his face slipped for a millisecond, replaced with a sorrow so deep that I found myself automatically rubbing at my chest. How had this male died?

And who, really, was his female?

I had so many questions, and now I’d imposed a one-question-a-day limit and wanted to kick myself for it.

“Then that’s perfect, Alice,” he said steadily, never breaking eye contact with me. “So ask, ask me anything.”

Of all the questions hammering away at me, there was only one I really wanted to know. “What was her name? Her real name?”

His full bottom lip tipped up at the corner, and his eyes began to glow, and for just a moment I completely forgot how to breathe.

He was gorgeous.

Strange how the mind worked.

I knew he was broken up about his past love, but I couldn’t help but envy whoever she had really been. I didn’t know him, and it felt stupid to even think it, but deep down I felt an attachment.

Silly, I know.

And it wasn’t like I’d die if I never got to see him again, been there done that, but I really, really wanted to see him again.

He’d scared me earlier, and I’d reacted in a way I never had before. I’d flown. Literally flown away from him. Because from the moment I’d seen this strange, quirky, and beautiful male, something deep inside me had screamed an exultant “There you are.”

It still didn’t make sense to me, and it terrified me not a little, but it was honest.

He shook his head, causing the shaggy ends of his black hair to drape across his eyes, and I had to dig my fingers into my jeans to keep from reaching out to him.

“No. Not yet. It’s not time yet.”

I frowned, wanting to argue the point. Wanting to tell him that learning her true name couldn’t possibly affect anything since I was sure I didn’t know her. Ignoring my furiously beating heart, I tried to remind myself that whatever had been done to Hatter, the end result had been death. And maybe she’d had something to do with it.

Maybe she hadn’t.

But when he spoke of her, the echoing pain behind his words was palpable. So I swallowed my need to know and gave a clipped nod.