Before she soared off, March grabbed her by a wing. “Oh no you don’t. You snuck out of preparing for this, and made your sister and me do all the work. You’re on clean-up duty with the mice.”
“There’s not a bigger person on clean-up duty with me? This will take all night!” Dee wailed.
While March Hare and Dee continued arguing, I decided to leave them to their own devices, and made my way to bed. As the door to the great room swung closed behind me, Hatter opened it once more.
“You’re skipping out on clean-up too?” I teased.
“Absolutely,” he said. “March gets paid for running the household and making sure people are in line. I get paid to make art and hats. That allows me time to ensure everything in rebel-land falls into place.”
“And here I was under the impression that March was your right-hand man.”
“Who says a housekeeper can’t be a right-hand man?” Henri arched his eyebrows at me. “March is indispensable. A tidy home makes a tidy mind, and all that.”
My thoughts flitted back to the disorderly easels that normally dotted the great room, all in various stages of completeness. The rest of the house, however, was always spick and span—March’s work. It was a relief to realize that Hatter needed help keeping the ship running, that he wasn’t totally perfect.
“Is there an official time we’ll begin the mission tomorrow?” I waited at the top of the stairs, so we could walk side-by-side.
“I’m waking up early to prepare, although most people won’t be here until late morning. We’re supposed to strike early in the afternoon. The herd migrates through various areas of the city. We’ll be timing the attack to their movements, so it’ll be easier for us to retreat when guards storm the streets. When they find no one, hopefully the Red Queen will make an appearance to find the culprit. I believe she will. She values her herd greatly.”
Our footsteps sounded loud in the empty hallway, striking the wood and emitting a dozen creaks as we walked.
“They migrate to catch criminals, right? Because they can sense if someone is not loyal to the queen? So the routes must change to keep people on their toes.”
“They can sense wavering loyalty or a criminal’s guilt only if the subject in question was enchanted by the mist the Red Queen’s witches unleashed on the land. None of the rebels are enchanted, thank the aether. And yes, the herd migrates, and those migrations rotate daily. Herald was able to get this week’s rotations. We know they’ll be near the main market after noon. ”
We reached my room and came to a stop. All the sounds of the hallway vanished. I was instantly aware of the sound of my breathing, and the heat coming off Hatter in the drafty old house.
I twisted to face him, and the air between us grew thick. It would be easy enough to continue talking about the mission, easy enough to brush off our simmering attraction, but I had a feeling that neither of us wanted to.
But then, whatdidwe want to do?
After I killed the Red Queen and found Elise, I planned on going home, and Hatter was very much a part of the Wonderland Court. People loved him here, and he loved his homeland. I couldn’t see him coming back to the human realm with me. Nor was I sure that I wanted to be the reason he left Faerie.
After all, just because I wasn’t staying didn’t mean I wanted Wonderland in chaos. This place was in my blood, and I wanted the fae here to live full, rich lives. Hatter had already proven that he was a leader among the fae. I had faith that he could give that to them.
Henri gulped, the nerves showing on his face. “I hope you had a fun party.”
“The best.” I resisted the urge to reach out and caress his face.
“Good, then I guess this is goodnight.”
Hatter made to turn, but unable to stop myself, I reached out for him, my hand landing on his rock-hard bicep.
My mouth went dry, and I gulped to wet it. “Henri?”
His cheeks darkened. “Yes?”
My toes curled in my shoes at his husky tone. “I want to thank you for everything. For bringing me here, for telling me the truth, and for resisting my desire to go after the queen right away—even if I was snotty about it.”
He let out a thin laugh, which made me smile.
“And especially for your friendship. I haven’t had many friends my life, and if I were to remain here,” I paused because his face fell so drastically that it almost ripped out my heart, “I know we would be close.”
“I’m happy to hear you say that,” he replied, although his tone was more wistful than happy.
My insides churned with emotions. With sadness, lust, fear of doing what I wanted, and most of all the fear of regret.
I leaned forward and planted my lips on his cheek. Inches away, his lips called me, tempted me like no other lips had. But this was as far as I could go.
