Page 26 of Madness Becomes Her

“No. I’m going. If anything, I can be a distraction to her behavior.”

“Oh, Eleanor.” Fin turns, fear painting his face. “You must behave yourself. Please don’t lose your head in her presence.She’s an awful woman. Downright horrible. Don’t look at her. Don’t give her a reason to keep you, either.”

“Like she has you?”

His brows tug together, considering my words. He likely doesn’t seem to realize, even if the queen is holding his sister hostage, it’s him she wants.

He’s the prize. Anyone can see it.

“Just be on your best behavior. Please?”

I nod. “I’ll do my best.”

Lewis slips a paw in my hand, smiling at me as Finlo takes the lead, ascending the steps before us. “That was very kind. Most don’t realize he’s the true gem in this place.”

“Well, I’m not most.”

“You never have been, Elli-roo.”

I hold on to Lewis’s paw the entire way up the stairs, telling myself it’s only for his comfort, not my own.

The ornate doors at the top of the stairs are weather-beaten and wrought-iron. The curling vines on their surface look like poison ivy from my world and give warning to the vile woman beyond their hold.

“Is this one sanctioned by the queen?” a guard asks, his humanoid face in direct conflict with the paper-thin cardstock of his body.

“She’s my… assistant,” Finlo offers. “Took her on last week. I am getting older, you know?”

“Mm,” the guard says, sneering. “Four hundred looks good on you still, Hatter.”

Four hundred?!

For the first time since I dropped through the hole in the earth, I wonder what magical creatures live in Wonderland.

The guard nods to another standing just inside the gates, and then they open.

Creaking and groaning, the gates finally stand wide, and I follow Finlo and Lewis inside, choosing to hang behind them for shelter.

We’re led through the palace to its interior before being deposited before two more doors, which are made of carved wood, and there is a scene of a queen holding a head upon it.

I notice the queen’s head is oblong, and I’m cocking my gaze to get a better look at it when the doors open.

Finlo looks over his shoulder at me. “Do exactly as I instruct.”

I nod, suddenly overcome with nerves.

The queen sits atop a throne, and her head teeters on her small neck as if it’ll topple off at any moment.

The carving didn’t do it justice.

“There you are! It’s about time!” she screams, her loud, grating voice echoing off the walls.

I jolt, and Lewis gives me a look over his shoulder through his monocle.

I smile to relay to him I’m alright, but I’m not alright.

The Knave of Hearts stands beside her, stoic.

Finlo and Lewis bow, so I follow suit. “Your Majesty,” Finlo says. “You summoned?”