Page 77 of Madness Becomes Her

“You are,” the queen whispers, her hands splaying against my cheeks in quiet comfort.

“How will I know when the time is right? How will I know when to draw the blade or when to fight?”

“Unfortunately, you won’t have the luxury of worrying much longer,” she answers. “Enjoy the time you have before the battle.”

Battle.

Swallowing, I nod.

As the White Queen leaves Cirius and me standing bereft and reeling, I turn toward him. “Ready?”

He nods. “Let’s work on unsheathing the blade in action.”

Later in the day,the sun waning on the horizon, I’m sitting beneath a large mushroom the size of a tree, yawning as the book in my lap has lost my attention entirely.

Beau runs toward me from a distance, his ears larger than his body.

I smile.

“Hey, Eleanor!” he says, tripping over his front paws and toppling over my feet.

I capture him and hug him tightly, kissing the top of his head.

He and I have gotten close since Hatter’s been away. Besides Hatter, he’s become the companion I’m worried I can’t live without.

“Whatcha’ up to?” he asks.

“Reading.”

“You weren’t reading. I know what that looks like. Papa loves to read anything he can get his paws on.”

I smirk at his candor. What I love about him is that he doesn’t mince words. “No. I guess I wasn’t.”

“You were thinking. You had your thinking face on.”

Shaking my head, I ruffle his ears back and forth.

He growls at me, taking a defensive stance to my left as he rolls off my lap.

“Going to fight me, little pup?”

“The way I hear it, you could use the training,” he teases.

Standing, I take chase after him through the woods. “Oh, you’re done for!”

His high-pitched screams dance back to me as I laugh, chasing him at half-pace so our fun isn’t cut short.

An hour later, we’re both lying beneath the same mushroom, my book long forgotten, and our breathing has finally returned to normal.

“Being with you makes me feel young again,” I tell him.

“Being with you makes me tired.” He yawns.

“You started it.”

“I typically do. Doesn’t mean I don’t pay for it.”

Silence bleeds between us, and it’s comfortable. Closing my eyes, I let it envelop me whole.