Page 40 of Cheshire's Smile
I nodded, chewing on my lower lip.
Carban and Coby milled around the room while Morgana threw herself gracefully down on the couch, a nonchalant aura to her person. It was a lie. I hadn’t known the female for very long, but even I could tell being here in the palace was putting her on edge.
Words weren’t the only lies we told.
“You’re here for Hatter and Cheshire, aren’t you?” Coby eventually asked, his words low, almost hesitant. He’d stopped poking around the room and took a seat at the table.
My fingers curled and uncurled at my sides. “I need them... for something. It’s none of your concern.”
“It is our concern,” Carban snapped. He stalked across the room until he was in arms reach of me. “We can’t let you screw them over any more than you already have.”
“I’m not going to screw them over.” Exasperation filled my words. “If you would just still your hatred long enough—”
“Pet?”
My heart skipped a beat. My whole body swung around, and I almost cried in relief at seeing Cheshire there unharmed and no worse for wear than before. My hands came up to my face. I could feel my mask crumbling, and I couldn’t let them see it.
Cheshire must have sensed something was off because the next moment, I was in his arms, I buried my face in his chest. A low purr rumbled through me as his claws combed through my hair. His voice was low and comforting in my ear.
“It’s alright, love. I’ve got you.”
I knew I was messing up the character that the twins wanted to see, but I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around Cheshire’s waist and held him tight. I let the tears I’d been fighting against since seeing the twins fall.
“Shhh,” Cheshire murmured, his arms holding me tightly to him as if he couldn’t bear to release me either. “Everything will be alright.”
We were in our own little world for a moment. A world where the sickness didn’t matter, two of the fae I loved didn’t despise me, and no one wanted anything from me other than to hold me.
It wasn’t a long-lived world.
“Cheshire.” Carban’s voice crept into our world before there was a choking sound, and I knew he had stepped into Cheshire’s aura. “Cheshire? No! You have the sickness.” The anguish in Carban’s voice almost made me lift my head away from Cheshire’s chest.
“What?” Coby joined in, closing in around us. His sharp inhale was the only sign he’d smelled the sickness on Cheshire. “How did this happen?”
Cheshire shifted in my embrace, no signs of letting me go yet. “I’m not sure. I arrived at Hatter’s place shortly after I left here, and I already had it. But don’t worry, friends. You’re not in any risk of losing me just yet. It hasn’t stuck quite the way it has on others.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” Coby blew out a long breath. Then there was an awkward silence that made me want to burrow further into Cheshire’s embrace.
I knew the question was coming. I knew what they were going to ask before they asked it, and yet it didn’t make the words any easier to handle.
“Why the fuck are you touching her?” Carban questioned before hands reached between Cheshire and me, trying to pry us apart. “Let him go.”
Cheshire’s grip tightened on me, a low warning growl making Carban drop his hands. “Don’t,” was the only word Cheshire said to the twins.
I finally turned my face. My cheek pressed against Cheshire’s chest as I chanced a look at Carban.
His chest heaved, and his brows furrowed. A confused and yet angry expression covered his features. Something else slidacross his eyes, but it was gone before I could recognize it. Then his lips peeled back as he bared his teeth at me.
“Oh, I see. You’ve cast some kind of spell over him. Well, we won’t let you do this to him. Just because you’re fae now doesn’t mean you can—”
“Shut up.” Cheshire’s words were cold and hard, making Carban’s eyes widen. “Do not speak to her that way.”
“Cheshire?” Coby’s tone was a lot more wary and had lost any anger it had before. “What’s going on?”
“Yes,” Carban added on, a hiss to his words. “Why are you acting as if Alice hadn’t used us and then left us to rot this last year?”
Cheshire lifted away from me slightly, peering down into my eyes. I could see the question there. I shook my head.
“As entertaining as this melodrama is, I, for one, would like to know how we are going to keep from dying,” Morgana commented from her place on the couch, once again saving me from answering.
