Page 48 of Knot My Wonderland: Part Two
"Yet here we are," Vee said, a rare smile touching his lips. "With the first true hope of defeating the Queen that we've had in centuries."
A comfortable silence fell between us as we waited for Alice to come back and see how she took the news after some time to think.
Chapter
Nineteen
ALICE
Iwandered deeper into the forest, needing distance to process everything. The revelation about five mates wasn't entirely surprising—I'd felt the connections growing stronger each day—but having it confirmed so explicitly made it real in a way I hadn't been prepared for.
The pattern beneath my skin pulsed gently, responding to my emotional turmoil with soothing waves of silver and gold. Unlike the chaotic flashes I'd experienced after first bonding with the Tweedles, these pulses felt deliberate, comforting. The ancient consciousness wasn't just witnessing my confusion; it was offering reassurance.
I found myself in a small clearing where crystal flowers grew in spiraling patterns, their petals shifting through colors that didn't exist on Earth. Settling onto a fallen log, I let my fingers trail through the silver grass, watching how it rippled like water at my touch.
"Five mates," I whispered to the crystal flowers, testing how the words felt on my tongue. Not wrong, exactly, butoverwhelming in their implications. "Heart, Chi, Vee, Dee... and Seth."
The pattern pulsed warmly at each name, confirming what I already knew in my bones. These weren't random connections—they were meant to be. But knowing something intellectually and accepting it emotionally were entirely different things.
A soft rustling made me look up, expecting to see one of them following to check on me. Instead, a figure stepped from between the trees that made my breath catch—Seth, but not quite as I remembered him. His form seemed more solid here, less wreathed in shadows, though darkness still clung to him like a second skin.
"You're not really here," I said, recognizing the quality of light around him. "This is another vision, isn't it?"
He smiled, the expression transforming his usually guarded features into something devastatingly handsome. "Perceptive as always, Alice. The pattern is showing you what you need to see."
"And I need to see you?" I asked, not moving from my spot as this vision of Seth settled beside me on the log, his shadows curling around us both like protective wings.
"You need to understand me," he corrected gently, his blue eyes holding mine with an intensity I'd rarely seen from the real Seth. "The Void bond remains incomplete because you still fear what it represents."
I sighed, watching as the pattern beneath my skin reached tentative tendrils toward his shadows, silver and gold light dancing at the edges of darkness without fully merging. "I don't fear you, Seth."
"No," he agreed, his voice carrying harmonics that reminded me this wasn't truly him but the pattern's representation. "You fear the part of yourself that resonates with me. The shadows you carry, that match my own."
I looked away, unable to deny the truth in his words. Unlike my bonds with Heart, Chi, and the Tweedles, the connection with Seth touched aspects of myself I'd never fully acknowledged—the capacity for necessary ruthlessness, the willingness to embrace darkness when light alone couldn't prevail.
"The Void isn't evil, Alice," the vision of Seth said softly, his shadows coiling more closely around us. "It's balance, without endings, beginnings lose meaning. Without darkness, light blinds rather than illuminates."
"I know that intellectually," I admitted, watching silver and gold light spiral beneath my skin in increasingly complex patterns. "But embracing it fully..."
"Requires accepting all of yourself," he finished, his blue eyes reflecting understanding rather than judgment. "The pattern chose you because you have the capacity for both creation and destruction, for love and for necessary cruelty. The Red Queen corrupted that balance, turned it into mere dominance."
His shadows reached toward my light again, and this time I didn't pull away. The pattern beneath my skin responded eagerly, silver and gold threads weaving through the darkness in configurations that felt both foreign and completely natural.
"The other bonds ground you in light," he continued, his voice carrying the weight of ancient knowledge. "Heart's passion, Chi's clarity, the Tweedles' wisdom. But sometimes light alone isn't enough. Sometimes you need to walk through darkness to reach the dawn."
I closed my eyes, feeling the truth of his words resonate through me. The temporal mirror had shown me that successful timeline—myself standing against the Queen with all five bonds complete, Seth's shadows intertwined with my light like they belonged there. Not corruption, but completion.
"What happens if I don't complete it?" I asked, opening my eyes to meet his gaze. "What happens if I never fully accept the Void bond?"
The vision of Seth's expression grew solemn, shadows deepening around us like a gathering storm. "The pattern remains unbalanced. Four bonds create a foundation, but without the fifth..." He gestured, and the crystal flowers around us began to wilt at the edges, their vibrant colors fading to gray. "Wonderland continues to fracture. The Queen's influence spreads unchecked because you lack the tools to counter her darkness with your own."
The dying flowers sent a chill through me. "And the real Seth? What does this mean for him?"
"He remains bound to you regardless," the vision replied, his blue eyes flickering with something that might have been pain. "The Void Court doesn't choose lightly, Alice. We recognize our matches across lifetimes.”
Seth's apparition leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Once the Void marks someone as its own, that connection never truly fades. It simply waits, patient as the darkness between stars."
I shivered, not from fear but from the resonance of truth in his words. The pattern beneath my skin responded to his proximity, silver and gold light reaching toward his shadows with yearning intensity.
