The Wonder (Queen of Hearts Saga #2)(14)
“It makes me unhappy to treat yeh so, but until you stop trying to run and listen, it’ll just be beatin’ after beatin’.” He settled down next to Dinah on a tree stump and pulled off his black gloves, flexing his hands. She laid her forehead against the ground, her hands and body curled protectively over her stomach.
“I can’t… I can’t… breathe.”
“Aye, you’ve never been hit before, have yeh? More reason that you need protection, help to survive. I can teach you many things, Princess. How to survive, how to cover a track, how to fight.”
“I know how to fight,” wheezed Dinah before she spat her blood onto the ground.
“No, yeh don’t. That handsome stable boy might have taught yeh a few things, but fighting wasn’t one of them. Neither was being quiet. Yeh’ve been leading the King right to yeh, tromping around the woods on that devil of yers….”
“Wardley?” At his mention, everything in the world seemed to stop. “What do you know about Wardley? Is he alive?”
“Ah, now yeh want to talk.” The Spade dusted off his black tunic, adorned with a glossy black Spade symbol. “Tell you what, Princess—I’ll make yeh a deal. Yeh stop trying to run, stop trying to fight me, and make sure that horse of yers doesn’t impale me on one of his bone spikes and I’ll tell yeh everything yeh want to know about Wonderland and what’s happened since yer… departure.”
Dinah blinked in the rising sun, her eyes trained on the Spade’s face. “I remember you. You left the gate open. You could have shut it, but you waited. I saw you. You paused….”
The Spade gave a quick nod. “That I did. Now, yeh charge me again and I’ll knock yeh senseless and yeh’ll get no answers about yer stable boy, yer guardian, or yer sister.”
Dinah grimaced, pushed up with her elbows, the taste of mud in her mouth. “You mistake me, sir. I have no sister. I would rejoice to hear of Vittiore’s death.”
The Spade let out a gruff laugh, like a stone scraping over the ground. “That’s the angry princess I remember! Now, be a good girl and call yer, uh, horse around. We best be on the move. If we stay here, the King’s Cards will be on us in less than an hour.”
“How do you…?”
The Spade gave a low whistle and a reddish brown mare approached on gently trotting feet. Dinah frowned. Morte would definitely not come if she whistled.
“Answer me this, traitor; why are you not with the King?”
The Spade gave a snicker as he mounted the mare. “Let’s just say that I have my own interest in helping yeh. But that’s not for yeh to worry about yet. Now, before I’ll answer any questions, I need yeh to straddle that black thundercloud and ride, unless yeh feel like yer head would be best used as a decoration for the King’s privy.”
Dinah unsteadily climbed to her feet. “How long?”
“How long fer what?”
“How long until you answer my questions?”
The Spade gave a laugh. “I’ll make yeh a deal. I’ll answer one question each time the sun sets. Now, we really must go, otherwise the Cards will be flocking this area soon. Trust me ’bout that.” He had her just where he wanted her, she was sure of it, but what else could she do? She could no more stop breathing than turn away from knowing Wardley’s fate.
“How is it that you know what they are doing if you aren’t with them?”
The Spade had already begun riding into the trees, which were looking ever more whimsical on this side of the Twisted Wood. “I know because I’m the King’s best tracker, or at least I used to be. Yeh’ve led us right to yeh, and I’m not the only one he’s using. They are tracking yeh even now, and after yer close call last night, I’m sure yeh know what that means. They will rush in like water, surrounding yeh from all sides. The darkness won’t hide yeh again, not with the trees thinning out the farther east we go.”
Dinah wiped her face on the heavy black dress. “That was you. You told us to hide.”
“Aye. And if I hadn’t, yeh would be headless right now, since yeh were determined to fight an entire army for one single moment of revenge against yer father. I hope I can teach yeh to think about the consequences of yer actions, to control that fury.”
“My father murdered my brother.”
“Not the first, I imagine, to be wronged at the hands of the King, vengeful bastard that he is, but that’s a discussion for another time. We must move, otherwise I will be forced to knock yeh unconscious and throw yeh on the back on my horse and leave yer black steed here. I won’t enjoy it, but it will surely be the easiest thing I do today. And, just for assurance that yeh won’t take off with that very fast creature of yours, I’ll be keeping both yer bag and yer sword, at least until I see fit to return them to yeh.”
Dinah felt rage rise within her. “Who are you to order me around? No one, a dirty Spade! I’ve survived alone without you just fine.”
The Spade turned his horse around and narrowed his eyes at Dinah. “Survived? Survived? What do yeh plan on doing once yer food runs out? Or when yeh need to venture away from the stream? Yeh weren’t hard to find because yeh followed the water, and the Cards caught up with yeh without much trial. I wasn’t fooled by that false trail to the Ninth Sea, but they were, so I let them dawdle around there for a few days. That steed of yers is fast, but they will catch yeh eventually, chasing until he is worn down or abandons yeh. Make no mistake, the Cards will run yeh off yer feet.” He stroked his beard. “Maybe the King will mount yer heads together. Yeh were a blade’s width away from being killed last night. Tell me, Princess, what is yer plan?”