Air slipped down my throat like normal.
My throat no longer ached, and my lungs no longer burned.
The people exploded into more applause, and they bowed to the queens, and they raised glasses to one another. Meanwhile, we still stood there in front of the long table, watching, unsure of what to do next.
Finally, the White Queen urged everyone to stop clapping, and she cleared her throat.
“Tonight is not entirely a celebration of victory.” Her voice was soft but firm, and it carried through the entire floor without effort. “It is more arecognitionfor our brave Hands.” Her eyes were on us, and she brought her hands together over her chest. “You have already learned, my little tickers, that unwinning doesn’t necessarily require less effort or precision than winning, that perhaps it requiresmore.”She smiled like a mother looking lovingly at her child, and goose bumps erupted all over my arms. “Two trials stand behind us now—and another two are coming soon. Today, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we undo.” She grabbed a crystal glass from the table in front of her and raised it. “To the Hands.”
Every guest on the floor raised their own glasses, too, and called in unison, “To the Hands!”
I was most definitely going to be sick before this night was over.
31
Elida sat us down. Our table was behind us, just as long as that of the queens on the opposite side of the perfectly square floor that was now somehowupin the sky, almost halfway up the tower of the Great Clock. The sky was getting lighter and lighter as the sun slowly revealed itself in the west, about to unset again for…how many days now?
I couldn’t think straight enough to count because the guests sat down, and we did, too, all around the table—and we werein the air.The entire square piece of floor had somehow risen in the air, and we were high enough that we couldn’t even see the palace from here, only the edge of the fences that surrounded the Labyrinth.
It was madness, just like everything else in this place. Madness, yet I couldn’t stop looking, couldn’t stop searching with my eyes, couldn’t focus on a single thing for the life of me.
I was scared of heights, always had been. Jinx used to love to climb the oaks near the lake and go all the way to the top, but I preferred the middle. It was much more comfortablethat way—butthiswas higher than any tree we’d ever climbed.
Others sat beside me. Black dots were in my vision no matter how hard I blinked. I could have sworn that there was music being played somewhere close by, too, and the table in front of us wasn’t covered by the white and red tablecloth completely, I realized. Instead, the cloth seemed to be glued to the edges only, for whatever reason. The wooden top was engraved with these strange lines all over instead.
Roses, red and white. Candles, red and white, burning in silver and golden holders. Glasses, empty, two in front of each of us.
Then a shadow fell over my side.
“Move.”
March’s voice—but he wasn’t talking to me. He was talking to Cook who’d been sitting on my right.
If Cook said something, I didn’t hear it, but Ifeltit when March took his place, sat down at my side, and pulled his chair in closer until his elbows rested on the edge of the table.
March.He was near me. He was here.
All the others were here, too, and I was okay.
I could breathe. I was sitting.
March is right here.
A long, loud breath slipped out of me.
“Do that again.”
His voice was barely a whisper and it traveled into my ears, bypassed all other voices and sounds with ease.
A hand on my thigh—my very naked thigh because of that slit of the dress.
Sparetime save me, I didn’t mind it one bit. In fact, I put all my focus on the warmth slowly slipping under my skin, imagined it melting away the fear…
“Do it. Breathe deeply, then let go slowly,” March saidagain, and I did. No need to think or wonder—I just breathed until I was no longer shaking.
Then his hand was gone, under the table, back on his own lap. The cold found me right away, but I was more in control already. I held onto the edges of my scarf and pulled it closer, covered my shoulders with it all the way. It was chilly outside, though heat seemed to be coming from below us—from the very tiles.
I blinked and nothing disrupted my vision anymore.
