The Mad King (The Dark Kings #1)(9)

The voice of my Alice. And yet not my Alice. The voice was frail. Bitterly weak, but full of yearning and love.

Let us always meet each other with a smile. For a smile is the beginning of love...

Then, like someone had taken a pair of cutting shears and snipped my soul string in halves, my heart suddenly seized. My vision turned black. Pain shot through every inch of me. And I roared, body trembling and in unbearable agony.

I dropped to my knees, grabbing my skull and screaming to the heavens as I felt a vital and necessary part of me wither and die.

*

Galeta

“NO!” I screamed at the vision bubble floating before me.

Jerking from my seat, gripping the edges of the table, I stared dumbfounded at the image of a sickly, skeletal woman breathing her last.

I’d just found her.

Only to see the beautiful life slip from her.

Alice couldn’t be dead.

This couldn’t be happening. Fingers and hands twitching, I spun from my spot at the table. Restless and cagey, unable to believe or accept that what I’d seen had really just happened.

“This can’t be.”

My gaze zoomed around the room as I yanked on the tips of my hair, tugging at them roughly to try to jog an idea loose. My mind churned with a million different possibilities.

What could I do? What could I do?

There was no coming back from death. Death was final.

Death was...

“Hades!”

Manic laughter spilled off my tongue even as my heart beat violently within me. The Lord of the Underworld rarely gave up his dead.

But goddess help him if he denied me this. Kingdom had no idea who I was. Who I really was. Maybe it was time to start showing them I wasn’t to be messed with. Ever. I was no longer the Blue, now I was the Pink, and I’d fight like hell to get back every single lost happily-ever-after.

“Aphrodite! Come to me!” I shouted, not giving a damn that I’d just ordered a goddess about.

The beams above my head shook, and the castle itself shuddered at the power that rolled off my tongue. In moments I felt the compression of air behind me and knew the goddess had come.

Whirling, I didn’t bother to greet her.

“Alice has died. Hades must reach into the ether and bring her back. I don’t care what you have to do, but you get her to the underworld.”

The goddess of love looked flummoxed by my ordering her about. Dressed in a gown of sheer, blinding light, she blinked prettily several times before giving herself a good shake and saying, “Alice Hu. I know who she is. But I don’t know why you think Hades would care to bring her back from her final destination to his. She means nothing to him. Not to be rude, but...”

“Can’t you see? Don’t you understand?”

She blinked, giving me wide eyes, and I blurted out the words on my tongue without thinking twice.

With a growl, I tossed up my hands. “Because if you want to save Hades and Calypso, you need to save Hatter and Alice first. Their happily-ever-after is the only way to fix everyone else’s.”

“What?” She took a step forward, clenching her fists. “But what could they possibly have to do with—”

Heart racing so fast I felt dizzy, I slashed my hand through the air, shushing her. “I know you’re a goddess and none of this matters to you, but if you want to fix your fri—”

Frowning prettily, she shook her head. “That’s where you’re wrong, Pink. I do care, deeply. I may be a goddess, but I’ve grown attached to many of your world. If you say Hatter and Alice will fix my Hades and Caly, then I’ll do whatever you need. Worry not; I will get the little mortal to the underworld one way or another. And Hatter?”

“Is about to get a visit from one very pissed-off fairy godmother.”

“We’re going to fix this.” Aphrodite tried to reassure me, but I was sick and terrified, and nothing short of the timelines reversing again could possibly ease my mind.

I nodded. “There’s no choice now. Please hurry, Goddess. Please.”

Without a word of good-bye, Aphrodite vanished, and I wilted against the edge of the table. I’d lied.

I had no idea how Alice and Hatter could possibly help save Hades and Caly, but I’d do whatever I must to ensure Kingdom’s restoration, even if it meant betraying the kindness of a goddess to get it done. One way or another, I’d just have to make sure that Hatter and Alice could do what I’d so arrogantly boasted they could.

Grabbing Danika’s hand, I gripped tight. “Damn you, Danika. Get yourself together, now! Your Alice has died, and time is not our friend.”

“But... but... she lives?” Wetness coated her eyes as large tears dripped down her cheeks. Her fingers clenched grooves into the wood grain, so hard did she claw at it.

“She lived. And now we must do whatever we can to get her back and our Hatter to the underworld.”

The first spark of life I’d seen out of the godmother finally crossed her eyes. Fury mingled with determination burned bright in her cerulean gaze.

“How?”

Tearing open a time portal, I didn’t bother answering her. Because the truth was, I had no bloody idea how to do any of it. I was just praying that by the time we arrived at Hatter’s, I’d somehow have it figured out.

“Gods help us all,” I whispered.