“Sounded like what?”
“Like you,” she said softly.
“Me?” I laughed, tossing my hat into the air and catching it on one finger, spinning it. A voice calling her here—howconvenient. How perfectly staged. “If that’s true, what did it say?”
She tilted her head and stared at me, unflinching. “Find me.”
My smile sharpened. “Exactly what the queen would do.” I gestured to the twins. “Bring her to the Warren.”
She twisted her arms and dug her heels into the ground. “Let me go!”
But the twins easily lifted her into the air and forced her to walk on her tippy toes.
“So you can run back and tell the queen?” I gestured with my arm. “I’m afraid we’re all quite fond of our heads.” I swept into a mocking bow. “The tables have turned. You’re our prisoner.”
Alice twisted, still trying to escape the twins’ ironclad grip. “Why? I haven’t done anything wrong. I just fell through a mirror.”
Just another of the queen’s tricks. Send a pretty face to lure me back, make me her mate, and steal my hat. Never. Not ever.
Chester’s grin widened. “Yet.” He circled around them slowly. “The day is young. And I have a feeling you’ve done plenty wrong already.”
Footsteps. Multiple sets, heavy and deliberate, crunching through the underbrush.
The queen’s guards.
My sword was at Alice’s throat before she could draw breath. “Make a sound,” I whispered, “and you’re dead.”
I gestured sharply. The twins dragged Alice back into the trees, Chester and me following.
The forest shifted. Darkness pooled around our feet, climbed our legs, wrapped around us like living smoke. Cool. Familiar. It slid over my skin like a greeting from an old friend. Alice’s eyes went wide, but the twins’ grip kept her still and my blade at her throat kept her silent.
The soldiers marched past—three feet away, maybe less. So close I could smell the leather of their uniforms, hear their breathing.
One stopped. Looked right at us.
My heart slammed against my ribs. No. Not now. Not when we were this close.
Alice went rigid between Flint and Steel.
He frowned, squinting at the exact spot where we stood. Then shook his head and moved on.
The shadows held us until the footsteps faded.
I lowered my sword slowly, listening. Nothing but wind through the trees.
Five miles to the Warren. Five miles dragging a prisoner who’d fight every step, leaving a trail the queen’s soldiers could follow straight to us.
I looked at Alice, then at Chester and the twins. “We need to move. Fast.”
I vanished and reappeared fifty yards ahead, testing the path. Clear. But when I looked back, the twins were still struggling with Alice, moving at a crawl.
Alice kicked their shins and dug her heels into the ground. Flint’s face flushed red, almost purple, nostrils flaring.
Damn it. I could run the five miles to the Warren in minutes alone, but not with them. I flashed back to them instead.
Chester flickered ahead through the trees, scouting. “Guards are moving through the forest. If she continues to cry out, they’ll hear.”
I flashed Alice a merciless look. “Bind her.”
