Alanna slipped her hand around my neck and deepened the kiss. I shuddered.
Not from cold.
From shame.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Alice
I glanced between the two cells. The hollowed faces and despair in their eyes matched my own.
I wished I had the ability to comfort them. Tinker Bell would have known what to say—would have found the right words to offer hope, even in a place like this. But nothing came to mind. My throat was too tight. My heart too heavy.
The woman sat on a small bench in her cell. The younger girl—she couldn’t have been more than three—was curled in her lap, whimpering softly. The other two leaned against their mother’s arms, their small bodies trembling.
Children. Innocent children, locked in a dungeon.
Shuffling feet from the opposite cell caught my attention. One of the massive men gripped the bars—Flint maybe. Or Steel. I couldn’t tell them apart.
“Where’s Hatter?” His voice was hoarse as if just speaking hurt.
My chest tightened. “Alanna took him.”
I couldn't meet Flint's eyes. What did they expect me to say? That I'd saved him? That I'd fought back? I'd done nothing. I'd hung in chains while Darius gave up everything for me.
He leaned his forehead against the bars, his massive shoulders sagging. “Not good. The bitch has always panted after him, always trying to break him, trying to get him to love her.”
Love. The word made my heart hurt. Alanna didn’t know what love was. She only knew possession. Control. Obsession.
“She’ll never break him,” I said. “He’s stronger than that.”
Flint—or Steel—gave me a look I couldn’t quite read. Pity maybe. Or doubt. I knew that look. The coven had perfected it.Poor Alice. Weak Alice. Can't even save the man who sacrificed everything for her.
The woman finally spoke, her voice soft and trembling. “That would never happen. Rabbit says Hatter detests the queen. Has since the day he got here.”
I turned toward her. “Who are you?”
The children pressed closer to her, staring at me with wide, haunting eyes.
I studied her face more carefully. Blonde hair. Fearful eyes. The same nervous energy I’d seen in someone else.
She swallowed hard, her arms tightening around her children. “I’m Bunny. Rabbit’s wife.”
Rabbit’s wife. The traitor’s wife.
I glanced at the children then back at her. “Why are you here?”
Two tears streaked down her dusty cheeks. The younger girl looked up at her mother, confused and frightened.
“To control Rabbit.” Bunny's voice broke. “A few months ago, Alanna took us from our home in the middle of the night. She told him if he refused to be her spy, she’d kill all of us.” More tears streamed down her face. “But she’s treacherous. Obsessed with Hatter. Rabbit had no choice but to lead her to the grotto. Ifhe didn't deliver Hatter and the time-stopping witch, she'd make sure our children died in the Shadowsteel mines."
She pressed a kiss to her younger daughter's head, her whole body shaking.
“I’m so sorry. He had to choose between his family and his friends. A choice no one ever wants to make.”
My anger toward Rabbit flickered, then dimmed.
What would I have done in the same place? Betray Darius or my friends? Darius was my mate. I could never betray him. But if it meant watching innocent children suffer…
