The Wonder (Queen of Hearts Saga #2)(44)
He paused and scratched at his beard as he stared at Dinah, framed by the bright stars. “Though it pains me to tell yeh… truth be told, after a while, things changed. Dinah, I’ve grown a bit fond of yeh, and I’ll fight beside yeh, whatever yeh decide.” He looked gently into her eyes, his face etched with the love of a doting father.
“Yeh remind me of her, my Ioney, if she had been given the chance to live. Yer fierce and strong, full of rash emotion. Hear me that my loyalty is to yeh, and yeh alone. If yeh ask me to kill him—” he gestured his head toward the forest below, to Cheshire, “I will. Though, keep in mind, he might get me first. Cheshire is already four steps ahead of wherever you think you are. He knows what you will be thinking a month from now. Listen to me, girl, don’t ever underestimate that man. And don’t blindly trust him. Ever.”
Dinah pulled her knees into her chest and shivered as she stared at the white-washed valley that stretched out toward the east. “That man—you mean my father?” Sir Gorrann did not reply, but instead made quick work of building a small fire against the night chill from a dried bird’s nest. His skill was remarkable, and soon warm flames crackled and hissed as they sat together in silence.
Finally, Dinah spoke, her voice breaking with emotional exhaustion. “What does he want me to do?”
Sir Gorrann shifted in his seat and withdrew a pipe. “Isn’t it obvious? He wants yeh to take what’s yers. The crown. Yer mother’s throne at Wonderland Palace. He wants yeh to rule.”
“And what do you want?”
Sir Gorrann blew a stream of smoke into the air, the tail end smelling of horses and sweet leaves. “I want yeh to do what yeh believe is right. I long for the King to be brought to justice, but I’ll bring him justice one way or another, now or twenty years from now, either at yer side or by some other means. I’ll not make yeh carry my burden.”
Dinah frowned. “Justice.” She laughed wildly. “Do I not long for that as well? The King killed my brother. Cheshire saved my life.”
“That he did. And from the sounds of it, more than once. But yeh don’t owe him anything. Yeh do not want to owe a man like that. Do yeh understand? Yeh don’t.” The Spade was getting upset. Dinah shushed him with a glance. He took a breath. “Do yeh believe him? About him being yer father?”
Dinah shut her eyes. That was the question, wasn’t it? She didn’t want to believe him. She wanted everything to go back to how it was long before—when she was a child in her mother’s arms, when Charles was still alive, when the King of Hearts was still her father and she could look on him with pride, even when she trembled with fear at his fury. Back to a time when Wardley was near, an apple in one hand and reins in another. Dinah considered carefully before she spoke.
“I don’t want to believe him, and yet, when he said these… things, I could feel that pieces of my life that were scattered about were clicking into place. Everything fits together now, in a way it didn’t before.” She shook her head. “It’s gruesome, but there was a conclusion, a finality about it. It makes sense—why I don’t look anything like my father—er, the King—or Charles. Why the King hated me my entire life, why he beat my mother, why he so frequently escaped to go to war. Why he never wanted me to share his throne.” She let out a low scream before beating one clenched fist against her chest. “Gods, I am such a FOOL!”
No sooner had her voice echoed over the rocks than a loud clamor of high screams echoed back. Both Dinah and Sir Gorrann froze in place. The screams grew louder, until Dinah realized that what she was hearing was a growing cacophony of high-pitched bird calls. It was growing louder, a terrible sound. Crawling on her hands and knees, Dinah cautiously peeked her face over the edge of the stone circle and immediately felt her stomach drop. What she had guessed to be nothing but white-washed stone below was actually birds, hundreds of thousands of white cranes nesting fifty feet below the edge of the cliff. Their rising sound was deafening, and Dinah felt her pulse quicken. The birds could kill them both. With newfound understanding, she glanced back at the religious markings on the ground, the dark brown spots that stained the stone in certain places. She closed her eyes and saw a prisoner, tied down to the stone, left for the birds. A sacrifice. Oh gods.
Sir Gorrann looked over the edge with a grimace. “These cranes are holy to our hosts. The Yurkei worship them. They are at once gods and a food source, equal parts in the chain of life.” His eyes too lingered on the brown stains on the rock face. “We shouldn’t stay here long.”
Dinah watched the cranes in silence, her black eyes wide with fascination and fear. The birds eventually calmed down, their wings tucking back, settling into their one massive nest. Dinah thought she spotted the carcass of a horse. It was still moving slightly. Their cries faded, and Dinah spoke quietly. “Cheshire wants me to reclaim my throne. He thinks I am a conqueror. A conqueror without an army.”
“The Yurkei will fight for you.”
“Fight for me,” she laughed out loud. “They hate me. The Yurkei will fight for Mundoo. They have no interest in fighting for me. Have you seen their faces when I walk by?” She saw them then, their glowing blue eyes following her every move, their brows knotted in fury. “And there aren’t very many of them, not compared to the Cards.”
“Have you ever seen the Yurkei fight?” replied Sir Gorrann. “One Yurkei can best four Cards.” He shook his head. “They move with an unnatural swiftness. It’s unnerving.”