Page 24 of Happily Ever Witch
Even the March Hare and Caterpillar seemed pleased with the taste of the scones. They were stealing extras off the tray and hiding them in their waistcoats for later. Lily made a face. For people so free withhermoney, they sure were stingy with their own.
The hag stepped back and watched them all eat, with a contented smile on her mole-y face. Great chef or not, she wasn’t going to work out as a waitress. An old crone was not at all the kind of public-facing figure the castle needed. If she stayed, she would be confined to back-of-house duties, where no one could see how hideous she was. The Tea-Partiers hadn’t said anything about her appearance yet, but it was only a matter of time before they started making jabs about how ugly Lily’s staff was and how she needed to hire models to…
Her thoughts drifted off, as a strange sensation began swelling inside of her.
Painful. Burning. Terrifying. Air ripped straight from her lungs. Blood congealing in her veins. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. The half-eaten apple scone fell from her hand and hit the table, as she reached up to claw at her throat. It did no good. Panic set in, even as some small part of her brain continued to process what was happening.
Poison.
Beside her, the March Hare and the Caterpillar had both turned purplish-red, their own necks swelling up like inner tubes. The March Hare hit the ground, struggling for oxygen. The Caterpillar succumbed almost instantly, his dozens of legs sticking straight up in the air.
They’d just been murdered. All three of them.
Lily was still enough of a sheriff to solve this case. Her gaze cut over to the crone. “Poisoned apples…” Her mouth moved, even though her windpipe was too swollen for any sound to come out.
“Poisoned apples.” The old woman agreed, understanding Lily’s words. Her face was already changing, becoming more beautiful than the first snowfall. “Old family recipe.”
In that moment, Lily knew what this was about. She helplessly gripped the tiara on her head, trying to keep it in place. If it came off, she’d know she was really and truly dead. If you were the rightful queen, your tiara could only be removed when you died. The blackened sapphire in the center was shaped like a spade. She felt it under her palm. Just as she could feel the crown becoming looser on her skull, as her life ebbed away.
The old woman moved closer, only she wasn’t old, at all. Or maybe she wasveryold. It was impossible to be sure. Magic kept her ageless. Diamonds glinted in her own tiara and, at the center, an onyx club gleamed.
“I told you they were wishing scones.” Maryanna, the Queen of Clubs, smiled. “And my family is about to haveallour dreams come true. I’ll make sure of it.” She lifted one lovely shoulder in a graceful shrug. “It’s what a mother does.”
Lily’s eyes became sightless, no longer seeing the woman. Her chest stilled, her body shutting down. The very last thing she experienced was the Queen of Clubs’ elegant hands pulling the tiara free from her corpse.
But by then, her mind was already in a faraway land.
Chapter Six
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The Heart Castle
Esmeralda could do better.
She waspositiveabout that. Trevelyan was a deranged maniac, who her family hated and the rest of the world feared. He was never going to be the True Love she’d dreamed of or even a pleasant partner to spend her life with. He was sarcastic, and dangerous, and only cared about himself. He could turn people into puddles of skin with the power of his mind.
But when the White Rabbit had threatened him, her magic had blasted the little rodent without Esmeralda even having to consider it.
“This is the first time I’ve everaccidentlyoverthrown a kingdom.” Trevelyan mused, helping to search Alice’s royal office. “Usually it takes more than an afternoon to usurp an entire land. You should feel proud, darling.”
“We don’t know thateveryonein the Heart Kingdom was affected by my magic.” Esmeralda muttered, although it sure as hell seemed that way, judging from the view out the windows.
For miles around them, there seemed to be nothing but very angry swine and no people. Shecompletelyhadn’t intended to make the spell that strong. Her powers were frigging impossible to deal with and Wonderland seemed to be making them worse.
Trevelyan gave a skeptical sound. “It affected everyone. …Unless some of them were pigs to begin with.”
“Hogs.”
“What?”
“They’re hogs, not pigs. Technically.” Still not frogs, like she’d intended when she cast the damn spell. But at least it wasn’t logs. Baby steps.
He squinted at her. “Of all the enchantments you could’ve used, why did you choose hogs?”
