The Wonder (Queen of Hearts Saga #2)(56)
Dinah watched with caution as Morte drank mightily from one of the clear pools. There were no roaming bubbles so far, but she could see the blighted ponds rippling in the distance, a sea of foamy pink bubbles against the green moss.
“I hate this place.” Sir Gorrann rode up beside her, his mare panting with exhaustion. He looked over at Morte. “Gods, he’s fast. Cyndy here was galloping her fastest, and we were still at least a half mile behind you.”
Dinah smiled and rested her hand on Morte’s chest. He shot her an annoyed look and stepped away. “He wasn’t even truly running. When the King chased us, he was running so fast I could barely make out the landscape.”
“Mmmm. He’s an incredible monster, isn’t he?” They both glanced over at Morte as he happily stomped a toad to death.
Dinah trained her eyes on the ever-shifting ponds. “Tell me, Sir Gorrann, what do you think of the Spades’ demands? This is why you agreed to find me, right? Why you said you would work with Cheshire? This was your agenda. You wanted to make sure that I survived and made it to the right people so that I could advance the cause of the Spades. Is that correct?”
He looked out into the distance. “Yeh would be correct. I never hid that I had an agenda, not from yeh. If I can’t bring back Ioney and my Amabel, at least I can better the lives of those men that I would call brothers. But I will fight for yeh, Dinah. I believe that yeh will be a great queen, and I will fight even if yeh don’t agree to the Spades’ demands. They are fair demands. There was nothing that seemed… in excess.” He paused and took a sip of water from one of the clear ponds. “Of course,” he continued as he wiped his mouth, “If yeh don’t accept the Spades’ demands, yeh will not have an army. Yeh will have a thousand Yurkei warriors, three hundred Rogue Cards—who are useless if yeh ask me—and the King will wipe all of yeh from Wonderland like the dirt under his feet.”
“Can we win?” Dinah asked.
Sir Gorrann watched with a wary eye as two champagne bubbles began drifting toward them, so light and friendly on the wind. “Perhaps. But we will surely not win without the Spades. Mundoo was counting on them joining us when he marched north. Without them, we haven’t a prayer. The Cards don’t fear the Yurkei near as much as they should, but they will fear a line of Spades.”
“Then it is done.” Dinah watched a pretty pink bubble burst across a low rock. Within seconds, the moss covering its surface shriveled and turned white. “And when you are allowed to marry, will you marry again, Sir Gorrann?”
He looked out at the low valley, now filled with several hundred floating pink bubbles, all very slowly making their way toward them. “For many of us, there is only one person who can fill the spaces of our heart.”
Dinah thought of Wardley, the way his breath had washed across her face, the way the scar on his shoulder had stretched when he raised his arms to wash his body. She loved every part of him. For her, there was no other. “Yes.”
His gold eyes rested on her face, the crinkles in his eyes showing the first signs of a smile. She snapped her fingers for Morte, who didn’t come, so she began walking quickly toward him.
“Thank you for your input, Sir Gorrann. I think we should head back to camp.”
He watched a shimmering bubble that rolled slowly toward his feet. “Couldn’t agree more. I hate this wretched place.”
Dinah looked out over the landscape, so enchanting, a world of soft pink bubbles and warm light. She shrugged. “It feels like love.”
“And that’s why it’ll kill yeh,” replied Sir Gorrann, nudging her toward Morte.
Chapter Sixteen
When she wasn’t meeting with the council, Dinah continued to train with Bah-kan and Sir Gorrann, but now Wardley brought his own special expertise into the bouts. Crowds of Spades and Yurkei swarmed their training circle to watch the epic battles of sword and strength, blatantly ignoring Starey Belft’s shouted orders that they should return to their own sparring circles. Dinah was usually the first one out of the ring, followed by Sir Gorrann, and then Wardley. Bah-kan was unstoppable, with the exception of one warm afternoon when his sword swung a little too close to Dinah’s neck. Silver flashed in the sunlight, followed by a loud metallic thump and Bah-kan looked down in amazement at the dagger lodged deeply in his breastplate, just above his heart. He leveled his furious gaze upon Cheshire, who was perched calmly on a horse a hundred yards away, his purple cloak billowing out behind him.
“Bah-kan.” He shook his head sadly. “Remember who you spar with, sir, and slow your blade.” Then he turned and rode calmly away, leaving the crowd stunned and impressed.
Bah-kan yanked the blade out of his chest with a scowl. “He’s overly protective of you,” he snapped in Yurkei. Dinah allowed herself to boast, if even for just a minute.
“He’s my father.” And he is dangerous from even a distance.
She instantly regretted saying it out loud and soon retired to her tent, her mind sloshing with conflicting emotion. Preparations for war continued at a frantic pace, and most nights Dinah fell into bed exhausted to the core. Her body ached, her mind was spent, and she wished she had insisted on bringing the heavenly grass mattress from Hu-Yuhar instead of this makeshift cot. Usually, a deep sleep took her immediately, but not this night, just a few days before their departure for the palace. Fall asleep! she commanded herself. You have much to do tomorrow; SLEEP! The more aggravated she became the less likely sleep was, and she found herself tossing needlessly on her cot. Something was keeping her awake. There was a voice trailing on the edge of the warm wind. Come to me. Dinah tossed and turned. Sleep was a white rabbit on quick feet, and no matter how much she tried, she could not follow it into the blissful dark.