“What is this?”
“Cider. Take it upstairs, and get ready for your party. A few friends will be arriving in an hour. I’ll have March bring you a dress you might like in a few minutes. If you hate it, he can bring you others.”
I leapt up from my chair. “An hour?! Why didn’t you say so?! I have no idea how to apply fae cosmetics!”
I darted out of the kitchen, not even stopping to shoot back some sass when Henri burst into laughter.
Chapter 19
“Alice?” Dee’s voice came through the door. “Are you ready? Everyone’s waiting.”
I glanced in the mirror, almost unable to believe that the girl staring back at me was the same one who’d worked for Xavier Doru just days ago. So much had changed.
Back then, I wouldn’t have been attending a party for fun, but to off a mark. I’d still be counting down the days until I earned my freedom. I’d be hiding my wings with straps, instead of exposing them in all their glimmering, gold-tinted glory. And I wouldn’t have met the pixies, or Hatter . . . Three people who had weaseled their way into my heart surprisingly quickly.
And still, something was missing.
I leaned closer to the mirror, trying to suss out what I needed to add to my outfit.
Dee knocked again, this time faster, making me grin. Such an impatient thing.
“I’ll be right there,” I called.
“Okay, but hurry up! You’re missing out.”
A faint flutter of her wings told me she’d left, and I applied a coat of lip rouge before looking in the mirror again.
There. Perfect. Much more powerful looking—not at all nervous,I lied internally, and without giving myself another moment to debate, left the room.
My breath was tight in my chest as I descended the stairs to the faint sounds of music and fae. I was excited to have a party thrown in my honor, but nerves riddled me more than I cared to consider. A party felt like an enormous step, like ingraining myself into society.
Even though I didn’t plan on sticking around, I wanted to impress the fae. To assure them I could rid them of the Red Queen.
In a few days, my mission had transformed from a purely personal vendetta into something else, something more. I couldn’t deny that I liked the idea of being able to make a positive difference in others’ lives for once.
After all, I’d killed many. And even though they were routinely the worst kind of people, I’d never had any proof that I’d left things better.
I had a lot to make up for. Changing thousands of lives in one fell swoop would be a good start.
But first, to meet a few of Henri’s friends.
I stopped in front of the bright green door that separated the great room from the hallway. Music poured through the wood, chords of harp and piano and some unnameable string instruments wiggled into my ears, easing my nerves.
Although I couldn’t name the song, somehow, I knew I’d heard it before. And that, once upon a time, I’d liked it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Hatter had chosen to play it for me because he remembered that I liked it. He was that kind of guy.
My hand had landed on the doorknob, but it opened from the inside. My heart skipped a beat as I locked eyes with Hatter’s twinkling emerald ones.
“I was about to come get you.” He winked, and my stomach erupted in a swarm of butterflies. “Thought maybe you’d changed your mind, and wanted to hermit up in your room again.”
“Why would I do that?” I retorted, completely aware that, back in the human world, that was exactly what I would’ve done if I wasn’t paid to go to a party.
“Because you’re scared?” A hint of teasing in his voice made all this—the nerves, the attraction, the expectations—easier.
“I’ll show you scared.” I strode forward, making it three steps before my feet stopped working.
I’d expected the constant fixtures in Henri’s home—the pixies, Dormouse, Tim, March Hare, and maybe ten more fae max, but at least fifty people filled the room, all of them smiling at me.
