Page 36 of Maddie

Chess glanced back, smirking, his chestnut-colored brow arched. “Do you plan on giving me sweet Ever?”

“I told you,” Maddie drew her words out slowly, “for the last time, I don’t know where she is.”

“Pity then.” He jerked them forward and Maddie stumbled. “I may change my mind and take you to Mother instead.”

The blood in Maddie’s veins turned to liquid fire as she thought about Ever, what Chess would’ve done to her if the White Queen hadn’t gotten away. Would he have slit her throat then removed her head or ripped out her heart the way his mother did with her enemies? “Yes, a pity you won’t tell your mother you saw me here because then she would know you lost us.”

“What are you rambling about, Hatter?” His movements stopped.

Maddie cocked her head at Noah, giving him a silent signal to do it now. With one quick jerk, the rope was out of Chess’s hands, and they slammed it into his neck, backing him against an alabaster tree.

Chess seethed as Noah and Maddie both pulled on the rope from opposite sides to trap him against the trunk. Even with the rope binding Noah’s hands behind his back, he had enough strength so Maddie could truly yank on it. The prince bucked and writhed so hard that Maddie thought her hands may get ripped off.

“You fuckers!” Chess’s face turned bright red, spewing every curse word at them. But with each sound, she could hear him growing weaker, see it in his face. His fight lessened until his body stilled, his eyes falling shut.

Maddie released the prick from her angle and Chess slumped to the ground with athumpbefore collapsing on his side.

“Untie me,” Noah rushed the words out, already in front of her with his back turned.

It took only a moment for her to unravel the knot. Noah shoved the rope from his wrists and whirled around to untie her. Not once did she remove her gaze from Chess—she didn’t know how soon he would wake.

Maddie shimmied out of the rope, lunged for Chess, and grabbed his head before twisting it to the side with a loud snap that echoed through the forest.

“He’ll be out for a long while.” Her chest heaved as she released the prince and plucked up the rope from the ground. “Still, we should hurry.”

“Why don’t you just kill him?” Noah asked, Chess’s switchblade now in his hand.

The thought of ripping out the prince’s heart sent a thrill through her, but she had to be reasonable. For now. “We can’t yet. We don’t have Mouse, and if I killed Imogen’s son, then she would murder my sister in the worst possible way before we could get her.” Maddie lifted a finger. “However, we will revisit the matter after collecting Mouse. Now, hold up his body.”

Noah easily lifted Chess and propped him against one of the thin trees. Taking the rope, she wrapped it just below the prince’s rib cage. There was only enough to circle his body once—it would have to do, but she tied it tight enough so that he couldn’t easily shimmy out of it.

“We’ll tear off pieces from the dead man’s shirt so we can bind his wrists and gag him,” Maddie instructed after confirming the knot was tight enough.

Noah didn’t hesitate as they ripped off two long black pieces of fabric from the dead human’s T-shirt. Maddie shoved the fabric in between Chess’s teeth and wrapped it around to the back of his head while Noah bound the prince’s wrists together behind his back.

“If he withers here forever, then too bad.” She glanced up with a grin and shrugged. “He should’ve left us alone.”

“He’s a fucking arse.”

“Well, we made a great team today.” Maddie straightened out the skirt of her dress. “Now, let’s go since the bastard made us lose time.”

Without another word, they hurried through the forest to widen the gap between them and Chess. The night was at its full peak, black and silver owls hooting from the tops of trees around them. They needed to get to the safe house before morning so they could stay on track, giving Maddie enough time to make Imogen’s hat. But there was still a while before they would arrive at the hidden house. Ever had told her exactly where each safe house was located on the keyring she’d given to the Hatter. Maddie may not have been to all of them before, but Ever had shown her the ones in Ivory, long ago, when they’d both lived here.

As they pushed farther through the forest, cool gusts of air blew, and a strong scent permeated the air.

“More blood?” Noah said, his nostrils flaring as he drew in the smell.

Maddie slowed at the edge of the forest and inhaled again. Blood always tinged the air in Wonderland but it was normally a sweet odor. Ivory had never smelled like this, colder, staler. Close to four years had passed since Maddie had been here last, but not that much could change during this amount of time.

Could it?

She broke out of the forest, the city of Ivory resting before her. Tall, white structures with silver-tinted windows flooded the area. Some buildings were shaped like chess pieces, and other rectangular structures contained a single game piece in the center of their roof with spheres in the corners for decoration. A heavy quiet blanketed the city, a far cry from the peals of laughter that used to ring out through the streets. That part disturbed her most of all.

“Why’s it so quiet?” Noah’s eyes opened wide, his hand still clutching the knife.

“I don’t know, but there isn’t anything we can do about it now,” Maddie said softly, wishing she could.

Farther in the distance, the Ivory Palace sat like a gothic castle that could be read about in one of Edgar Allan Poe’s works. Only, it was a beautiful pearly white, its towers tall, multiple spires steepling the sky, the moat surrounding the grounds a sparkling silver. Sharp alabaster thorns covered the top along with ornate chess pieces circled with roses.

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