Page 86 of King of Clubs

“Callister!” Ransom snarled as we made our way to the black velvet sofas. “Take Alice through here! We’ll be right behind you!”

He shoved me into Callister’s arms, then outstretched his wings to shield us both as more arrows flew in our direction. I sucked in a breath as Callister held on tight and jumped into one of the mirrors they’d set up during our fuckfest from earlier.

I braced myself for the impact of shattered glass, but our reflection swallowed us into darkness. Then I was lying on a cold stone floor, watching the battle rage from the other side of the mirror. Callister’s chest heaved against my back, panting hard as he refused to let me go. Our breath rose like smoke in the frosty air.

I watched, helpless, as Ransom roared in rage while arrows tore through his beautiful demon wings. Still, he kept them fully outstretched as Hatter ran through the mirror like it was a golden doorway to safety. Then suddenly he was with us, panting lungfuls of steam into the cold air that surrounded us.

Chess went absolutely feral, tearing into soldiers with his teeth, with his claws, shoving the pile of bodies against the doorway until it was sufficiently blocked.

“Run for it!” Ransom yelled at him. Chess shifted back into his human shape before leaping through the mirror. Ransom folded his wings and dove after him just as another handful of arrows went flying at us. The pile of corpses blocking the door was beginning to fall apart.

“What do we do?” I panicked.

“Just wait. Look.” Callister lifted an arm and pointed to a spot left of the center of the mirror. An arrow was lodged in the glass, and a spiderweb of hairline fractures was snaking across the mirror, shooting out in every direction.

I heard the sound of breaking glass before I realized that the image of Ransom’s bedroom was falling away, piece by piece. Shards of glass in every shape and size tumbled down and shattered on the black and gold tiles. The sight of the mutilated bodies and the velvet sofas and the pools of blood disappeared until all we were looking at was an empty gold frame.

Strong, cold fingers pried the Vorpal Sword from my shaking, clutching hands, but Callister didn’t try to stop it.

A swirling motion of gleaming platinum and black moved faster than my eyes could register what it was. The gold frame in front of us shook, then collapsed in pieces as if it had been cut by a laser.

My eyes focused on the figure standing above the remains of the mirror. Black armor accented in the palest shade of silver was molded perfectly to a muscular male body. A long black cloak hung from a powerful set of broad shoulders, draped elegantly around his armor. He held the Vorpal Sword with so much skill and control that it gave me the impression he knew the blade better than I ever would.

Shiny, long cascades of platinum white hair fell down both sides of his flawlessly chiseled face, making the startling red color of his eyes impossible to ignore.

His cold gaze flicked down to me, holding me in a brief, hypnotic spell. I couldn’t look away even if I’d wanted to. I wondered if this was how a fly felt after it had been paralyzed by a spider’s bite . . . waiting for the venom to slowly liquify its body and turn it into food.

Whatever this terrifying creature was—he wasn’t human. He wasn’t fae. I wasn’t even sure if he was a demon, but he scared me enough that I was grateful to not be alone.

Unfazed by the lightning-quick speed that he’d used to slash the mirror frame apart, Hatter walked up to him and gave him an appreciative slap on the back like they were old drinking buddies.

“Thanks, Jack. I owe you one.”

“You owe much more than one,” he murmured so quietly that I barely heard him. “It’s fine. I stopped counting years ago.”

“Sorry to break up the reunion, but I’m worried about Ransom,” said Chess, who was kneeling down by his side. Ransom was conscious, but he was clearly in agony. His wings were full of gaping holes, oozing with black slime.

“Is that his blood?” I asked, reaching out to touch.

A cold hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me away from him.

“Don’t touch him,” Jack warned.

How the actualfuckhad he appeared by my side so fast?

His piercing red eyes seemed to see through my very soul. “He’s been shot by a large number of poisoned arrows. They’re rotting his flesh away. They’ll do the same to you if you touch his wounds.”

“But we have to dosomething. He saved us all!”

Jack gave an imperceptible nod.

“Yes. I saw that. We’ll bring him straight to the Queen. She’ll know exactly how to heal him.”

“No!” I cried out. “Are you insane?” I tried yanking my arm out of Jack’s grasp, but his hand was like stone.

“He means the White Queen, Alice,” Callister explained as he, Chess, and Hatter used their magic to levitate Ransom and put him on a floating stretcher. “We’re nowhere near the Red Queen. We’re not even in the Kingdom of Hearts and Roses anymore.”

“Then where the fuck are we?” I huffed angrily.

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