Page 109 of Knot My Wonderland: Part Two
The Queen's expression shifted, false maternal concern melting away to reveal the madness beneath. "Then you've chosen to be an obstacle rather than an asset." Her crimson eyes blazed brighter as blood magic swirled around her like a living storm. "How disappointing."
She raised both hands, and the blood knights moved forward in perfect synchronization, their corrupted armor clanking against the cobblestones. The massive construct behind her let out another shriek that shattered several market stall windows.
"The ruins," Heart murmured urgently beside me. "We need to draw her away from the remaining civilians."
I nodded, backing toward the market's edge while keeping my eyes locked on the Queen. "You want me so badly? Thencome and take me." I turned and ran, trusting my mates to follow as planned. I can only hope this confrontation with the Queen would end in her death…and not my own.
Chapter
Forty-Three
ALICE
Isprinted through the thinning crowds, my silver-blue dress streaming behind me as I led the Queen away from the marketplace. Heart ran beside me, his golden patterns blazing beneath his skin like warning beacons. Chi bounded ahead, silver energy rippling as he cleared our path with feline grace. The Tweedles moved with perfect synchronization on our flanks, while Seth's shadows raced alongside us, occasionally merging with darkness to scout ahead.
Behind us, the Queen's laughter echoed like breaking glass, unnaturally loud as it bounced between buildings. The ground trembled with the heavy footfalls of her blood construct, its multiple limbs scraping against stone as it pursued us with single-minded determination.
"She's following," Chi called back, his tail lashing with tension. "Blood knights flanking her, trying to cut off side streets."
"Let them try," Seth's voice emerged a feral look in his eyes, “Varik and Martha are going to distract and remove the blood knights from her so it will just be her to fight.”
I could hear explosions echoing behind us as Varik's contraptions engaged the blood knights, mechanical whirs mixing with Martha's shouted incantations. The Queen's shriek of rage told me their plan was working—her forces were being systematically separated from her.
The old ruins came into view ahead, crumbling stone arches and broken columns scattered across an open field beyond the market district. Seth had chosen well—no civilians, plenty of space to maneuver, and the magically neutral ground would prevent environmental interference.
I skidded to a stop in the center of the ruins, spinning to face our pursuer as my mates formed a protective circle around me. The Queen emerged from between two collapsed walls, her blood construct writhing behind her like a nightmare given form. Without her knights, she looked smaller somehow, though no less dangerous.
"Running, Alice?" she taunted, crimson magic crackling betweenher fingers. "How ungrateful. I've gone through so much trouble to arrange this reunion."
The blood construct beside her let out a keening wail that made the ancient stones around us crack. Its multiple eyes fixed on me with hunger that felt physical, pressing against my mind like claws. Through our bonds, I felt my mates' magic flaring in response—golden warmth, silver precision, synchronized calculation, and void darkness all weaving together in defensive patterns.
"This ends today," I declared, the pattern beneath my skin blazing so brightly it was visible even through Seth's dress. "No more corruption. No more poison spreading through Wonderland."
The Queen's smile was all teeth and madness. "Oh, my dear child. You still don't understand what you're facing." Her crimson eyes narrowed as she studied the pattern glowingbeneath my skin. "You've completed the bond network. How... unexpected." She tilted her head, assessing me with clinical detachment. "The void bond should have consumed you. The Spade King's shadows are not known for their restraint."
Seth's darkness coiled protectively around my ankles. "Perhaps you never understood the true nature of void magic," he replied, his voice carrying harmonics that made the ancient stones vibrate. "Balance, not consumption."
The Queen laughed, the sound like shattering crystal. "Balance? There is no balance in power, only dominance." She raised her hands, and the blood construct behind her shuddered, its many mouths opening in silent screams as it began to change shape. "Let me show you what true dominance looks like."
The construct's form collapsed inward before exploding outwardin a wave of crimson mist. As it reformed, I realized with horror what was happening—the Queen wasn't commanding the construct anymore. She was merging with it.
Her elegant form disappeared into the writhing mass of blood magic and shadow, the construct's multiple limbs and eyes rearranging themselves around her like a grotesque cocoon. When the transformation finished, what stood before us was neither woman nor beast, but something far worse—a perfect fusion of the Queen's consciousness with pure corrupted power.
She towered above us now, twelve feet tall with a crown of twisted horns and eyes that leaked crimson tears down a face that still held traces of her former beauty. Her gown had become living armor of blood and shadow, pulsing with the stolen life force of corrupted nexus points.
"This is what you refuse to become," her voice boomed, distorted through multiple mouths that opened across her transformed body. "This is true power—the future of Wonderland itself!"
Heart staggered back, horror etched across his features as he witnessed his mother's complete surrender to corruption. "What have you done?" he whispered, golden patterns dimming with grief.
"Evolved," the Queen-construct answered, her primary mouth stretching in a smile that revealed too many rows of teeth. "Just as all of Wonderland will evolve once I've finished my work."
She raised a massive clawed hand, and the ground beneath us shuddered. Crimson veins spread outward from where she stood, corruption seeping into the earth of the ruins themselves. Plants withered instantly as the corruption touched them, stone cracked and bled red fluid, and the air grew thick with the metallic tang of blood magic.
"The neutrality of this place won't save you," she laughed, the sound echoing from all her mouths at once. "Nothing remains neutral when faced with perfection."
I felt the corruption rushing toward us, a tide of crimson energy that threatened to engulf everything in its path. Without thinking, I channeled the pattern beneath my skin, pushing silver-gold light into the ground around us. Where my magic touched, the corruption halted, unable to penetrate the protective circle I'd created.
The Queen-construct hissed with displeasure, her multiple eyes narrowing. "Impressive, but futile. Your little light show can't hold back the inevitable."
