An image came to mind, from the night he’d shown me the castle, hundreds of guards standing at the ready. I hadn’t noticed any symbols then, but it had been dark.
“And Hearts?”
“Hearts are a small, elite order,” Hatter whispered. “They only guard the queen.”
Special ops. Got it.
“So these are Spades. What does that mean?”
“They’re better trained than Clubs. More powerful. Some are shifter-fae and have excellent senses, too,” Dum interjected. “It’s best if we just lie low until they pass. Less of a chance anyone will hear or see us.”
Hatter nodded and repositioned himself so that his back was against the log we’d been peering over. “Everyone, come close. If this is a normal-sized battalion, this could take hours, and we don’t want anyone to freeze when the temperature drops. We’ll use Alice’s cloak for a blanket. Alice, you can use one of my shirts to cover your hair.”
Dee and Dum didn’t need any convincing. They gleefully zoomed over to Hatter, and sat on his lap.
“Alice?” Henri gestured to the spot next to him. “I know you’re not exactly cuddly, but the further north we go, the colder it will get at night. Body heat will help us all.”
Hell’s balls.
Tonight was already chilly, and it wasn’t even full dark. Why did I have to be a weak-skinned Cali girl?
“Come on, Alice,” Dee smiled to expose her fangs. “We won’t bite . . . hard.”
I snorted, grateful for her humor, which lessened my tension. “Try to bite me, and I’ll knock your block off, pixie.”
I plopped down next to Hatter, and tried to ignore the butterflies swarming in my stomach as he threw the cloak over us.
Chapter 14
I woke to bright sunlight searing my eyes, and Hatter’s arm draped over my shoulders. Beneath the cloak, his body was pressed tightly against mine. In the night our fingers had found each other’s and intertwined, making my nerves tingle and my heart race.
“Have a nice sleep, Alice?”
I glanced around Hatter to find the pixies sitting by a pile of freshly picked berries, and smiling at me suggestively.Dee lifted her fist, and Dum joined her in a fist bump. They both squealed as they blew it up.
I should never have taught them that,I thought rolling my eyes.
I tried to wriggle out from Hatter’s arm without waking him, and after succeeding, crawled toward the pixies. “What are we still doing here? We were supposed to leave as soon as the Spade Battalion passed!”
Dee shrugged. “We’ve been walking for forever, so everyone just crashed.” Her eyes darted over to Hatter, who was still snoozing with his head resting on the log. “Plus, you two looked so cute—”
“Oh, stop it!” I swatted at her. “We have to get moving!”
I crawled back to Hatter and crouched. Feeling hypocritical, since I despised being woken up more than anything, I shook him.
“Hey, wake up. We have to go.”
His eyes fluttered open, and when he caught sight of me, his lips softened into a sleepy smile that clenched my heart. However, the moment fizzled as quickly as it came when a bird called out.
“What the—” Henri’s head swiveled to take in his surroundings. “Oh no! We lost a day!”
“I know,” I frowned. “The twins have been awake for who-knows-how long, watching us slumber.”
“Sorry. But you two looked so tired!” Dum’s lips lifted into a mischievous grin. “And cute.”
“All right, let’s move.” I sprang up from my squat and began gathering my things while Hatter and the pixies squabbled over timelines.
“I know my opinion will probably be shot down, because apparently Dum and I don’t make good choices.” Dee shot me an annoyed look as we began trekking through the woods again. “But we’ll have to stock up on food in the next town.”
