Page 59 of Happily Ever Witch
The Unified Crown of Wonderland: Each tiara selects a worthy bearer. When donned by a chosen woman, the enchantment will trigger and it will become permanently affixed to her head. Those who wear the tiaras will berecognized as the queens of each Kingdom. However, when the proper spell is cast and Wonderland recognizes itstrueruler, the four tiaras will join automatically and the Empress of All Wonderland will be anointed. She will reign over all four lands and bring peace and prosperity to the entire kingdom.
So, the Queen of Clubs was after the tiara. He’d been right. (No surprise.) In fact, she wantedfourtiaras. She wanted Trevelyan to perform the “proper spell” and reunite them. She wanted to rule all of Wonderland, as an empress.
Trevelyan’s eyes narrowed, as the full ramifications of the passage hit home. No wonder the Walrus and the White Rabbit had been panicking earlier. Esmeralda was wearing the Heart tiara and it wouldn’t come off. It was enspelled right to her pretty little head. It hadchosenher.
According to the book, that meant Esmeralda was now the rightful Queen of the Heart Kingdom. As her mate, that meant Trevelyan was thekingof this accursed place.
He looked around the be-hearted hellscape and made a face. Ugh.
Luckily, Esmeralda was a quarter of the way to acquiringallof Wonderland for them. Always pleasant news, when your mate was a success in her career. True, it wasn’t much of an empire, but surely there was something lying around they could export or exploit. And being called “Emperor” had a certain cachet.Marrokwasn’t an emperor. It could only benefit the entire Green Dragon line (which was presently only Trevelyan) if they ruled over a gigantic kingdom of cowering peasants, who made them lots of gold.
It was decided.
They would take over Wonderland.
He flipped to the next page of the book, satisfied with his new plan. Kill the Queen of Clubs. Acquire the other three tiaras. Become Emperor. Build a new and better castle. Have sex with his mate on their piles of money. What could be a better happily ever after?
Chewing on his sixth ginger-mutant, he scanned more rambling about the “proper spell” that would unite the four tiaras into one big, shiny crown. Lyon N. Unicorn had apparently created this enchantment, so it shouldn’t be too hard to master, once Trevelyan had his powers back. Whatever magic was needed, he was confident that he possessed it. The Queen of Clubs had been right about that much, at least. He was a dragon! He could do anything.
The words “sealing wax” suddenly jumped out at him, from the middle of the page. Trevelyan’s stomach knotted, his assurance fading away.
Ohfuck.
A loud buzzer sounded, causing him to jolt in his pink-cushioned seat.
“You have accessed restricted materials from the royal library and damaged them.” A mechanized voice said, from somewhere overhead. “If you have the proper authorization, please say your pin number now.”
Trevelyan glanced up towards the roof, aggravated by the interruption. “Piss off.” He muttered distractedly. “It’s just frosting.”
His mind was spinning, trying to decide if he was being paranoid or if the universe was legitimately out to get him. As far as he knew, there was only one spell that mentioned “sealingwax.” This must’ve been where the enchantment originated, typo and all.
Was Snow White involved in this mess?
Another buzzer and then the automated voice returned. “That pin is not recognized. If you have forgotten your pin, please answer the following security question to retrieve it: Why is a raven like a writing desk?”
Well, that was an easy riddle to solve. “I don’t give a shit about either one of them.” See? Simple.
Another buzzer. “That answer is not recognized. Please stand by.”
Trevelyan made an irritated noise and got to his feet, preparing to go find the alarm system’s controls and rip out all its wires. As a villain, he respected general pandemonium, but he needed to focus on the damned spell. There wasn’t time for jangling Wonderland nonsense.
His mind was on the WUB Club. A shudder of distaste went through him, as he recalled Snow White. When he’d slept with her to escape prison, she’d been talking about “sealing wax.” But, not for herself. No, it was her…
The laser beam cut off Trevelyan’s thoughts. It also cut apart the chair he’d been sitting on.
He barely managed to jump out of the way before the intense red light sliced from some hidden point in the room and did its very best to kill him. The library table, where he’d been reading, split in two and collapsed inward, the edges of the wood burning from the intensity of the laser’s heat. The remainder of his delicious ginger-mutants slid to the floor.
“Son of abitch.” He shouted at the disembodied voice. “You just ruined my cookies!”
“Please stay where you are. The security team is on its way.”
Security team? That didn’t sound very promising.
Behind him, metal grates slid open, like the doors of an antique elevator. Trevelyan turned to see two clockwork men chugging out of the opening. They were shiny brass automatons, with steampunk gauges all over their chests and snazzy red bowler hats on their pressed-metal hair. One hat read “Tweedledee” and one read “Tweedledum.”
Great. What wasthismadness?
The robots’ primitive faces jerked this way and that, light-bulb-eyes scanning the room. Both of them sighted on Trevelyan at the same time and they started forward in stiff unison. They were about the size of humans, only they reminded him of wind-up toys. The automatons’ gyros and motors whirred, as they moved closer.
