Grump cut a lock of Darius’ hair with a dagger and handed it to me. I put it in my palm and pressed my hand against Darius’ chest, right over his heart. “I love you, Darius Acosta. Take me to your heart’s desire.” My voice trembled. “Per amorem, porta aperi.”
The medallion on my wrist flared hot. The air around us shimmered.
Darius nodded, his jaw tight. His heart pounded beneath my palm.
"Amore duce, via aperta est,”I whispered.
Wind roared around us, whipping my hair into my face. The trees groaned and swayed, branches cracking under the force of something ancient stirring to life.
“I see them!” Shade shouted. “They’re coming through the eastern ridge!”
My heart pounded. Through the trees, I caught glimpses of torchlight. The thunder of horse clomps. Alanna’s army, closing in.
Darius scooped me up, cradling me close to his chest. His arms were iron bands around me.
Grump grabbed my hand one last time. His eyes—my father’s eyes—glistened with unshed tears. “Go, my daughter. Find your happiness.”
“I’ll come back for you,” I whispered. “I promise.”
“I know you will.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead—rough, quick, full of everything we didn’t have time to say. Then he looked at Darius. “Protect her, Hatter.”
“With my life,” Darius said. “Always.”
And with that, Grump, Shade, Doc, and the others disappeared into the forest, swords drawn, ready to buy us the time we needed.
Darius unfurled his golden wings. They caught the light—magnificent, powerful—and with a single thrust, we launched into the sky.
I glanced over his shoulder. Ari flew behind us, Bunny clutched in his arms, her face buried against his chest. The two harpies soared alongside, talons carefully wrapped around the twins while Caterpillar and Bunny’s children clung to their backs. Chester flickered in and out of visibility, his golden eyes the only constant.
We were really leaving.
“Alice, look.”
I followed Darius' gaze upward.
The pink clouds had parted like curtains drawn back from a window. And there, shimmering in the fading light, was a mirror—rippling, glowing, impossibly suspended in the sky.
The same mirror I had fallen through all those weeks ago.
The way home. Except it wasn't home anymore. It never had been. Darius was my home.
Below, an anguished cry rang out—a wail like a banshee. "Noooo! Darius, come back!"
I glanced down. Far below, Queen Alanna sat astride a white horse, clad in crimson armor that gleamed like fresh blood. Her army spread behind her like a dark stain on the forest floor.
She shook her fist at the sky, her face twisted with rage. "You belong to me! YOU BELONG TO ME!"
But we were already out of reach.
Darius didn't look back. His arms tightened around me.
"Hold on, Fate," he murmured against my hair. "We're almost there."
My world. New Orleans. The vampire mafia. Tinker Bell. The coven.
I wasn't sure I was ready to face them.
The mirror shimmered, rippling like the surface of a pond struck by a stone. Darius tightened his grip on me.
