Page 7

Chapter

Six

“ T ick, tock. Tick, tock. Tic?—”

Charming stares at me with a scowl marring his features, his arms banded tightly across his chest. I think he’s trying to be intimidating. “Why are you imitating a clock?”

“I’m willing time to move, so I am making the tempos go faster,” I explain as I sit cross-legged on the weird lake that somehow holds us on the surface, yet gets my butt wet like I’ve peed myself.

“Even you can’t control the sands of time.”

“Who says?” I raise a brow at Prince Poopfloof, who Erik unceremoniously dumped at my feet, declaring I should take the Hallows trash back home with me. I don’t know when I became responsible for assholes, but I guess this is a small price to pay to get back to my realm.

Eron chuckles from his seat beside me. “You know what? If anyone could bend space and time, it would be you.”

“Glad we agree on that,” I reply, still reeling that everyone back home had already worked out I was trapped here. What gave it away?

I glance over my shoulder at Erik, who remains standing and alert as he watches over us. “What will you do when Malice returns?” I ask.

Erik emits a low growl. “I will force her to give up the mirror shards she’s held hostage for far too long, and then I’ll kill her.”

Yikes. He’s got a violent streak to rival my knights’.

Eron smiles softly at him. “Malice will face a fair trial, just like anyone else in the Land of Reflection.”

I’m pretty sure the trial is a moot point when the victim is their king, who they clearly love.

Hart’s voice booms through the mirror. Somehow, Eron has the power to allow us to view the room, but not give away our presence.

It’s a good thing that I trust my mirror man isn’t a pervert who spies on my nocturnal activities in the arms of my knights.

I make a mental note to cover all mirrors when getting naked in the future just in case, because Eron can’t vouch for all of his people.

I jump to my feet and move closer to the mirror’s surface to study Malice as she waltzes into the chambers with Nash hot on her heels.

He glances around with a frown, no doubt wondering where everyone has retreated to.

Hart advances on Malice, determination plastered on his face, and I half expect him to pick her up and throw her at the mirror. It could work.

“Get ready,” Eron advises. “The moment she touches the surface, you need to do the same.”

“That’s it?” I check.

“She’s the imposter, Daphne. Your soul knows where it belongs. The magic needed to reclaim your body is minimal.”

I suck in a breath and track Malice with a sharp focus. Energy flows down my body, knowing I’m about to be back where I belong, surrounded by my knights.

Nash’s eyes skim over the mirror, and it’s like he’s reaching through the surface and wrapping his hands around my heart. Malice huffs as she dumps Excalibur onto the table, making slices of sausage tumble to the floor. A squeak of horror leaves my lips. Not the sausages!

“That damn rabbit eludes us,” she whines. She doesn’t even sound like me, probably because I don’t whine. What would be the point? My parents weren’t the loving and emotionally supportive type. My physical actions are already a burden on Gwyneth, and I won’t add to that with emotional turmoil.

Hart rounds the table and jerks his head at Nash in a silent instruction.

Nash nods once. “I’ll go get cleaned up, then we can come up with a new plan, Daphne,” he promises. No need—I have the plan already worked out.

Nash strolls to his chambers while Eugene and Hamish dash out and make happy clucking noises around Hart’s feet. The chamber door drifts closed, leaving Hart and Malice alone with my capons who aren’t fooled.

I shake my arms loose and get ready.

“Wait, how do I leave?” Charming asks. “My body is not here.”

Eron sighs. “You’ll need to take up temporary residence in one of the others.”

“That seems like asking for trouble,” I note.

“So long as he’s back with his body within a turn, it should be as easy as his host touching the vacated body.”

“They’ll exist in the same body for a short period?” I check.

“Yes,” Eron confirms.

“I don’t like it,” Charming decides.

“You don’t like it because you’ll be inhabiting a man with actual courage and skill—things you lack. Maybe take notes while you are in there.”

Charming curls his lip. “The Stirlings have nothing to teach me.”

His loss. If he doesn’t use this opportunity to learn how to behave like a man worthy of my sister’s affections, then he’ll never win her heart.

Erik swings his sword in a graceful arc. “You can always remain as our guest.” The wicked glint in his eyes makes me suspect Charming wouldn’t enjoy his accommodations.

“No, that’s okay,” Charming mutters. “I’m sure I can share the same space as Hart Stirling for a turn.”

I wrinkle my nose. I won’t be kissing him while Charming’s slimy soul shares his body.

Good thing I have three others I can smooch while I wait.

Then, I’m going to make it my mission to erase Malice from Hart’s lips until he’s breathless and consumed by all the things the real Daphne can offer.

Not the fake one who dances around with expert coordination, making her exceptionally boring.

Hart rounds on Malice, his back to us. Her wild eyes skim the mirror, and a frown mars her forehead. It seems she is waiting for Eron to recover and blow her secret up, but she’s counting on escaping to Wonderland before that happens.

Hart steps into her personal space, and his hands thread into her hair. I hate it. The rage, the jealousy, the irrational fear that he might prefer her lips on his than mine.

“You missed me, Hart?” she breathes. My eyes narrow.

“More than you can fathom, Calamity. I’m not whole without you,” he growls. “Before we go off chasing rabbits, let’s take a moment for us. I want to lick my lips and taste you there.”

Her pupils expand, and her lips part. “The taste of my mouth won’t linger for long. You’ll need to replenish it often.”

“Floozy,” Charming snaps.

For once, we agree on something.

Hart skims his nose along her jawline and pauses at her ear. “It’s not your mouth I want.”

My heart drops to the lake floor like a lead weight has caught it, and now it’s skimming along the bed, smashing against rocks and rubble as it becomes bruised and bloodied.

“Damn,” Charming mutters. “Now I get it.”

I side-eye Prince Poopfloof. “Get what?”

“Your fascination. He’s got game.”

Hart doesn’t play games, that’s what makes his attention so addictive. If you have it, it’s not because you wore a fancy dress or fluttered your eyelashes, it’s because he’s genuinely and completely invested in you.

Hart fists Malice’s hair and snaps her head back. Her hands grip his forearms, and she smirks at him. I want to claw her eyes out for daring to look at one of my knights with bedroom eyes.

He twists his arms, removing her hands, and grasps her wrists, tugging them behind her back. She gives him a cocky smirk.

“You want to tie me up?” she breathes.

Oh, he better not.

“That’s smart,” Eron declares from my other side.

“I enjoy having you at my mercy,” Hart agrees.

“How is this smart?” I snap as Hart drags his leather belt free of his breeches and binds Malice’s wrists together. Then he undoes the first few buttons of her dress and yanks the shoulders down, making sure she’s trapped.

She tilts her head, not even protesting as he reveals the swell of her heaving breasts.

“Oh my,” Eron mutters.

Charming scratches his chin. “Don’t look,” I grumble.

His lips twitch. “Where would you prefer I avert my eyes? I need to watch for the moment we have to reach through.”

I huff as I realize he’s correct. Doesn’t make it any better.

Hart bops Malice on her nose before tearing his shirtsleeve free and blindfolding her. “I know you love it when I steal your senses,” he explains.

“I’ll be stealing more than your damn senses if you dare follow through on that promise to taste her,” I growl.

Hart glances over his shoulder. “Get ready,” he mouths.

He spins Malice around and pushes her with all his force backward.

Hamish and Eugene perform some weird kind of flying attempt to avoid being trampled on.

My hand slams on the surface just as Malice’s head connects with the mirror.

Charming grabs my arm, and my body feels like it’s being squashed in a vise and spat out into the realm. My heart thunders in my chest.

“I can’t see. Oh my Idols, I’m blind,” I shout.

Material is tugged off my face to reveal a smirking Hart. Wait, no—a slimy Charming inhabiting my knight’s body. Hamish pecks my ankle in greeting. “Calamity?”

“Who else?” I growl as I try to jerk my arms free.

He wraps his arms around me and releases the belt before bringing his mouth down on mine. What in the ever-loving Blazes is Charming doing?

I jerk my knee up and slam it into his groin. He releases my lips and doubles over as his face pales and his knees hit the floor.

“Why?” he breathes.

“Taking liberties with my affections. Do you think I am stupid? Wait until my sister hears of this.”

The doors bang open, and the rest of the knights and my sister join us. Gwyneth raises a brow at Hart.

“You know he was just acting, right?” she mutters.

“Before, yes. But now Charming is possessing him.” I point at Prince Poopfloof.

Hart’s eyes widen, and he shakes his head as everyone freezes, trying to work out what freaky mess is happening.

“Umm, fair Diane,” Eron interrupts.

I spin to face him, dragging my dress up over my shoulders to cover my breasts.

“You have Malice?” I check.

“Yes. Erik is removing her to the dungeons as we speak, but?—”

“Good, then all that’s left is to put Charming back into his own body.”

Hamish nibbles incessantly at my boot. I frown down at him. “I missed you too. Now chill.” He glares at me. Wow, being judged by a capon is a humbling experience.

“Daphne,” Charming growls. “I’m Hart, not Charming.”

“He’s still with you?” I ask Eron.

My mirror man shakes his head and dips his gaze to Hamish.

My eyes widen. Oh, my Idols.

Charming is now a capon.