Page 105 of Knot My Wonderland: Part Two
Alice took my arm with a laugh that carried only the slightest tremor of nerves. "Lead the way."
As we walked through the corridors toward the exit, I couldn't help but notice how she'd changed since coming back into this world.
The bonds had given her power, yes, but more than that—they'd given her purpose. She moved now with the confidence of someone who knew exactly who she was and what she was fighting for.
"Varik," she said quietly as we neared the main entrance, "if something happens to me today?—"
"Nothing will happen to you," I interrupted firmly, my mechanical eye whirring as it focused on her face. "I won't allow it."
She squeezed my arm gently. "But if it does... Thank you. For everything. For believing in me when I didn't believe in myself."
My throat tightened unexpectedly, memories of another woman who had once called me family flickering through my mind, the flickering of madness was on my mind as I tried to keep myself from crying, “Sweet Alice.”
"You've always been special," I said, swallowing hard against the unexpected emotion. "From the moment you stumbled into Wonderland, asking questions no one else dared to ask."
We paused at the entrance, the pre-dawn light casting long shadows across the courtyard where the others waited. Heart's golden patterns were visible even at this distance, pulsing with protective energy as he conferred with Chi. Vee and Dee both talking quietly to one another. Seth stood slightly apart, his shadows dancing around him with restless anticipation.
"They love you, you know," I murmured, nodding toward her bonded ones. "Not just because of the pattern or what you represent. They love you for who you are."
Alice's silver-gold patterns brightened beneath her skin at my words. "I know," she whispered. "I can feel it through the bonds."
"Good." I straightened my coat one final time, checking that all my inventions I had on me were there, “Now make sure you fight for them and come back in one piece.” I moved forward to give her a kiss on the forehead, a feeling of fatherly affection going through me as I watched her give me a smile and make her way over to the four men she was bonded with.
Chapter
Forty-Two
ALICE
Iwas on the outskirts of the market, we were preparing to go in but wanted more people to still arrive. I took deep breath as I stood next Vee and Dee. The others were talking and preparing with the other resistance members.
"Are you nervous?" Vee asked, his silver eyes tracking the ebb and flow of market-goers through the busy square ahead of us.
I nodded, my fingers absently tracing the protective bracer Varik had secured around my wrist. "Terrified, actually. But also... ready."
Dee's temporal devices hummed softly as he calculated probabilities. "Your chances of success have never been higher. The completed bond network provides stability that even the Queen's blood magic cannot match."
Through our silver connection, I felt their synchronized certainty—not blind optimism, but the cold precision of mathematical calculation. The Tweedles didn't deal in hope or faith; they dealt in probabilities and patterns. And right now, those patterns favored us.
"I just don't want to fail you all after everything you've done for me," I finished quietly, watching Heart's golden patterns pulse in the distance as he spoke with resistance fighters.
"Impossible," Vee said with characteristic directness. "You've already exceeded every probability matrix we calculated when you first arrived in Wonderland."
Dee nodded, adjusting one of his temporal devices. "The girl who stumbled through the rabbit hole could never have imagined completing five simultaneous magical bonds or challenging a corrupted queen. Yet here you are."
Their matter-of-fact confidence helped steady my nerves, though the pattern beneath my skin continued pulsing with anxious energy. The dress Seth had crafted responded to my emotions, its silver-blue fabric shifting subtly darker as my apprehension grew. I took a deep breath trying to calm myself down but my body seemed to be a mess of anxiety.
I felt movement as Vee and Dee both moved closer to me, their warmth of their bodies helping calm my facing heart. I felt Vee take my chin between his fingers so I would look up at him.
""Alice," Vee said, his silver eyes unusually gentle as they met mine, "you've already won in ways the Queen can't comprehend. The bond network is complete. Wonderland itself has chosen you."
"And you've chosen us," Dee added, his voice softening as he placed his hand over mine, where it rested on the protective bracer. "Not out of necessity or desperation, but genuine connection."
Their proximity calmed the frantic pattern beneath my skin, silver energy flowing between us in harmonious waves. Unlike Heart's passionate warmth or Seth's consuming darkness, the Tweedles' bond felt like cool logic—a mathematical certainty that steadied my racing thoughts.
"What if I freeze?" I whispered, voicing my deepest fear. "What if I stand before all those people and can't find the words?"
Vee's lips curved in a rare smile.
