Page 100 of Knot My Wonderland: Part Two
"Which the Queen lacks entirely," Dee confirmed, his temporal devices humming softly. "Her blood magic is visibly corrupted. When people see the difference between her power and yours, many will recognize the truth instinctively."
I took a deep breath, drawing strength from the bond that now flowed through me in perfect harmony. "Then we have our plan. Would it be better to be late morning so there is more traffic in the market?”
"I think mid-morning would be optimal," Seth agreed, his shadows rippling as he considered the timing. "The market reaches peak activity around then—traders from all territoriesconverge, maximum witnesses for both the declaration and whatever follows."
Heart's golden patterns pulsed with strategic calculation. "That gives us time for final preparations and allows people to spread word of your appearance throughout the afternoon. By evening, all of Wonderland will know the truth."
"Assuming the Queen doesn't move to complete another nexus point before then," Chi said, his tail flicking with nervous energy. "She's been accelerating her timeline."
Through our void bond, I felt Seth's dark certainty. "She won't risk missing the opportunity to reclaim you publicly. Her madness demands an audience for her triumph—she'll come to the market rather than hide in her palace."
I nodded, feeling the truth of that through our connections. The Queen's obsession with me had always carried a theatrical quality—she wouldn't be satisfied with a private victory when she could stage a public spectacle of reclaiming her "stolen daughter."
I just hoped everything went okay. I didn’t want anyone to die…but the feeling of dread was in my stomach but I kept it to myself. I was just nervous. I had to believe this would work. I just had too…or I may end up going crazy with worry.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
ALICE
The others had left to make plans while I was left with Seth, to have the bond settle and we had gone over what I would be saying speech wise. We had been working for a couple hours before I yawned.
"How does it feel?" Seth asked quietly, his shadows dancing around us in the now-empty workshop.
I considered the question, taking inventory of the new sensations flowing through the void bond. "Heavy, but not overwhelming," I said finally.
Seth's blue eyes studied my face with ancient patience. "The void bond settles differently than the others. It doesn't add to your pattern—it defines the spaces between the light, gives structure to what was already there."
Through our connection, I felt his centuries of loneliness, the aching emptiness that had driven him to the shadows long before he'd become the Spade King. But now that void was filled with me, with our connection, and the relief radiating from him was almost overwhelming.
"Does it always feel like this?" I asked, reaching out to touch the shadows that still danced around his fingers. "So... immediate?"
Seth's lips curved in a small smile. "The intensity will settle, but the depth remains. Void bonds are permanent in ways even mating marks can't match. The shadows have claimed you as their own."
I nodded, feeling the truth of his words through our connection. Seth's darkness was something else entirely—a foundation upon which everything else could safely rest.
"I was afraid of it," I admitted softly. "When we first met. The darkness felt like it might consume me."
"And now?" Seth asked, his voice carefully neutral though I felt his tension through our bond.
"Now it feels like coming home," I said simply a smile coming to my face as I looked him in the eyes him was almost painfully intense.
"I can feel all of you," I whispered, reaching out to touch the shadows that danced around his fingertips. "Your pain, your... longing."
Seth's expression softened, vulnerability showing through cracks in his carefully maintained control. "The void bond hides nothing. Unlike Heart's protective warmth or Chi's playful evasions, my darkness has nowhere to conceal truth."
I stepped closer, letting the shadows wrap around my wrist like living smoke. Through our connection, I felt his fierce joy at this simple acceptance of his magic, a joy tinged with disbelief that I could embrace the darkness so willingly.
"Is this why you stayed away?" I asked, understanding dawning as I felt the depth of his hunger through our bond. "You knew what would happen when we completed the connection."
"I knew I wouldn't be able to let you go," Seth admitted, his voice rough with centuries of suppressed need. "The void bonddoesn't allow for half-measures or polite distance. It demands everything."
His shadows coiled tighter around my wrist, possessive and protective in equal measure. Through our connection, I felt the weight of his restraint over the months we'd known each other—the careful control that had kept him from claiming me before I was ready.
"I don't want you to let me go," I said simply, watching as his blue eyes darkened with renewed hunger. "I want to belong to you the way I belong to Heart, Chi , Vee and Dee."
"You do," he murmured, his voice carrying harmonics of shadow that made the bond between us pulse with dark satisfaction. "More than you realize. The void has accepted you completely—you're as much a creature of shadow now as of light."
