Page 170 of Happily Ever Witch
As much as she hated all four of them, Esmeralda hated Snow White the most. That psycho had forced Trevelyan into sex and she deserved to die for it. Granted,allthese rotten people deserved to die, but Snow White’s death was an absolute necessity.
“The dragon exploded Hatty’s pocket watch.” The Queen of Clubs continued, her beautiful face pulled taut with panic. “I can’t fix it withoutallof my magic and Bad magic is blocked until the eighth square.”
“Well, whose fault is that?” Esmeralda retorted, planting a hand on her hip.
“Yours! All of this is because ofyouand you’re going to fix it! Then, I am going to kill you, become empress, and forceWonderland under control. Withmein charge, none of this madness will ever happen again.”
“Wonderland needs madness.” Esmeralda said honestly. “It can’t survive, if you take that away.” Anyone could see that the kingdom thrived on breaking the rules. …Just like her.
The Queen of Clubs didn’t want to hear that truth. “Wonderland will do what it’s told and so will you! Save my True Love.Now.”
“I recognize this witch.” Grimhilde spared Esmeralda a quick, repressive frown. Her pointy hat and refined bearing made her the very picture of a successful, modern evildoer. “Didn’t we expel you from the Cauldron Society?”
“Several times.”
“You’re the one who lied about being a level six on the official application.” Grimhilde recalled with a disapprovingtsk. “As if we wouldn’t see throughthatfoolishness. You couldn’t even hex yourself a proper familiar. The society-approved cobra turned into some wretchedly huggable hedgehog.”
The hedgehog’s name was Milo and he granted good fortune to whoever petted him. He now lived in the Enchanted Forest, with Scarlett’s grandmother. She rented him out for extra cuddles whenever some villain needed luck on a crime-spree. He was the most popular resident in town.
Esmeralda didn’t bother to tell Grimhilde any of that. The Cauldron Society didn’t matter to her, one little bit. Her attention stayed on the Queen of Clubs. “I’m not saving your True Love. Not when you tried to kill mine.”
Esmeralda planned to return that favor by killing Snow White.
That loony bitch was presently looking for Marrok under the edge of a club-shape mirror. It didn’t seem to be a converted rabbit hole, like the looking glass in the Heart Palace. This was just a typical magic mirror. So, there was no way Marrok could possibly be hiding inside or behind it. That didn’t stop Snow White from checking for him though.
Fucking stalker.
It bugged the crap out of Esmeralda that the woman was still walking around free. She wanted Snow White dead. The only question was: what spells could she possibly use to make that happen? It wasn’t like she had a lot to choose from. The ginger-mutant enchantment wasn’t going to work, because none of these people counted as food, and the damn frog spell was always a failure.
Believe.
The word seemed to whisper in her head. Trevelyan wanted her to trust her magic. To just let it free. That had worked to get her out of the Heart Palace, but her Good magic was in charge now and it seemed to be over-compensating, after years of getting shoved down. Every spell she cast was turning out cheery, twinkling, and disgustingly cute.
How could she inflict damage with cuteness?
Believe.
Her eyes narrowed, shoving aside her doubts. By being a wicked witch. That’s how.
Ofcourse, she could use Goodness in a villainous way. She’d defeated the brilligs, and gotten into the Club castle, and taken out those playing card guards with Good magic. She’dkilled like ten people today! She didn’t need Bad magic to be Bad. She was Esmeralda of the Green Dragons.
Wickedness was a goddamn part of her.
“You have no idea what’s even happening here, you stupid little pawn!” The Queen of Clubs ranted, in full drama-mode. “The game is over and you’velost.” She gestured towards the window and the Chess Tower beyond. “The white queen has won!”
Esmeralda frowned at the giant board, trying to make sense of it. She didn’t know the rules of chess, but she felt like Wonderland didn’t either. It would never choose an empress on the outcome of such a regimented game. That wasn’t what it was testing today.
“I am going to rip out your heart and claim my spell.” The Queen of Clubs continued venomously. “But first I need your repulsive magic to keep my husband alive until the eighth square.”
Pawn… Game… White Queen… Eighth Square… Thoughts whirled in Esmeralda’s head, fitting together into a pattern. Suddenly, the Cheshire Carpet’s nonsensical words made a lot more sense.
You can win in eight moves, if you play your queen right.
If you get all the way across the board, you’re double queen.
The Heart Queen should always be red.
Trevelyan said there were sixty-four spaces on the board, eight in either direction. That eighth square was where a new queen was crowned, if you could reach your opponent’s side.And this was Tove, the extra day randomly squeezed into a week. The special date when an empress was crowned.
