Girlish excitement rose inside me. I hadn’t had a birthday party since I was five—and I’d only recently been reminded of that one.
“Of course,” he said. “We couldn’t let your day go unnoticed.”
“But . . . what about the mission?” My goal sprang back into my mind, alongside the guilt that I’d momentarily forgotten about it.
Hatter shrugged. “Half the day is lost, so we’ll get to it tomorrow. Besides preparations are already underway for a party. Of course, you can call it off, but I hope that you won’t. So many people want to celebrate you.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. Assassinating the Red Queen and finding Elise were my top priorities. Should I be partying?
As if sensing my indecision, Henri spoke again. “I don’t know about you, but my muscles and bones need time to recover after aether travel. And speaking of aether, you’ll need to practice with yours before we take on the queen’s herd. Perhaps take the afternoon to practice, and tonight we’ll feast?”
I tilted my head, and tellingly, my neck popped.
I could use a break after all that travel. I’ve been go, go, go since the night I killed the mafia alpha wolf. A rest and some time to practice aether magic without stakes would be nice.I guess I can handle a little time off.
My lips curled up as the idea that I was getting an actual birthday party set in. “Sounds like a great idea.”
As it turned out, it wasn’t just aniceidea to delay the start of our mission. If I wanted to control my aether magic when I confronted the Red Queen, a delay was necessary.
Because damn, that shit was wild.
I practiced for hours on end with variable results. About half the time, the aether did what I wanted. The rest of the time, it would cater to its own whims, or simply float out the window, away from me and dissolve into the air.
Those moments were infuriating, but Henri insisted that they were also to be expected.
“I remember you practicing with aether as a girl. You hated when it didn’t do what you wanted,” he said after stopping by my room to check on me.
“That’s not really what I want to hear right now,” I said and pushed past him to storm out of my room. I’d been there all day because the great room was being set up for my party, and Henri wanted to keep that a surprise. I’d honor his wish, but in that moment, I really needed a change of scene.
I huffed as I made my way down the dark hallways, very aware that his footsteps followed. When I got to the kitchen, I grabbed an apple, took a savage bite, and collapsed into a chair.
Hatter entered the room behind me, an amused smirk on his face. “You know, fifty percent isn’t too bad. When you were younger, the aether only did as you wished maybe twenty percent of the time.” He moved to the counter and began preparing a drink.
I gaped. “Twenty percent?! That’s a terrible average!”
“Yeah, so half the time is a major improvement. And now that I think about it, your mother had seemed pretty impressed by your achievements. She said you were more advanced than her at the same age. I think you’re being too hard on yourself.”
My mother . . .
“When we were in the Enchanted Forest, you introduced me to the caterpillar as Alice White.”
Surprise flitted across Henri’s face at the abrupt change of topic, but he rolled with it. “I did. Because I knew he’d recognize and respect the royal name.”
“So it was my mother’s familial name?”I felt dumb asking because I should probably remember this, but I didn’t. Not yet, anyhow.
He nodded.
I leaned back, mulling that over. “What was my father’s house name?”
“Torna. You have family on his side in the Riverland Court. As your mother was the higher ranked royal, you and Elise took her name when you were born.”
I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised that Queenly, the last name I’d known my whole life, was a lie. My parents had probably made it up when they handed me over to Xavier as another means of protection. But now that I knew the truth . . .
“That’s what I’m going by from now on, Alice White.”
Henri’s lips quirked up, and he handed me a mug. “Good choice, the name suits you.”
I looked in the cup. The concoction smelled sweet and alcoholic—a welcome distraction at this point.
