The name pierced my racing heart.
I jumped up from the couch too fast, my hands shaking, black dots swimming across my eyes. “He’s coming here now?”
“Any minute.” My dress had rumpled up around my thighs. Darius stepped closer and helped pull the fabric down. His fingers brushed over my skin and I shivered.
I looked around frantically. Two bedrooms. No balcony. No fire escape. We were trapped. “How are we going to get out of here?”
My chest tightened. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
Another memory surfaced. Marsha’s vines. Phantom thorns dragged across my arms, my legs, my ribs, wrapping around me, squeezing tighter and tighter until I couldn’t breathe.
My hands shook. My legs went weak. The room started to spin.
“Alice.” Darius gripped my shoulders. “Look at me.”
I couldn’t. All I could see was the dungeon. The vines. The blood.
“Vines,” I gasped. “The cathedral. They were everywhere—wrapped around the building, then around me.” A shudder ripped through me. “They almost killed me.”
“Alice.” He lowered his head and brushed his lips over mine. The memory faded. The fear dissolved. All that mattered was his kiss—warm, steady, grounding me.
He pulled back slowly, his forehead resting against mine. “Breathe. I’m not going to let them take you.”
I forced air into my lungs. In. Out. In. Out.
His breath mingled with mine. He smelled like pine and something darker. Something that made me want to lean in instead of pull away.
“I can’t end up in that dungeon,” I whispered as I wrapped my fingers in his shirt. Joy survived because of her shadows. She could fight back. But me? My magic would probably kill me before the queen ever got the chance.
“You won’t.” His silver eyes locked onto mine. “I promise.”
Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.
I forced myself to breathe. To think. And when I looked at him again, I caught something unexpected—a glint of mischief behind the silver.
“You have a plan, don’t you?” I narrowed my eyes. “How are we getting out of here?”
He released me and crossed to the window, throwing it open. Cold night air rushed in.
I peered over the ledge. At least four floors below. We’d break our necks. Or least I would. “What are you doing?”
He winked. “We’re going to fly.”
“Fly? But I can’t?—”
He rolled his shoulders. And then?—
Wings.
Golden wings unfurled from his back, catching the moonlight like burnished metal. They stretched wide, magnificent and terrifying, filling the small room.
I stumbled backward, my breath caught in my throat.
A golden demon. The Mad Hatter was a golden demon.
“But Ari can fly,” I stammered.
Darius smiled—a dangerous, reckless smile. “Ari’s fast. But I’m a Runner. In the air or on the ground, nothing in this dimension can catch me.”
