Page 21 of Tweedles Reflection (The Crimes of Alice #4)

“Finally, you stopped hid—” Her eyes found me and then widened. Stumbling back a step, she shook her head, “Wha...? You stupid girl, what have you done?”

“I did what no one else would.” My voice wasn’t just mine anymore, it was theirs. My hand lifted, power coursing through my veins. “What you didn’t have the strength to do.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing.” Tatiana kept backing up from me, no longer attacking. The fear in her face brought a euphoric feeling to my chest.

I stalked forward.

Her hands flew up. Shards of ice flew at me. Unlike before, they bounced off an unseen force field. I had barely thought of blocking the ice before it was there, two steps ahead of me.

Tatiana screamed at me, drawing a large amount of magic to herself. A large piece of ice bigger than my head formed before her, spinning as fast as a tornado. She launched it in my direction.

My hand flicked it to the side, causing it to smash into a nearby building. Debris fell around me, and the others shouted in panic.

Ignoring them, I kept moving toward the female who had caused all my heartache. The one who blamed everyone else for her mistake. The shadows wouldn’t have formed if it hadn’t been for her. Then none of this would have ever happened.

Tatiana breathed heavily, her foot catching on the cobblestone. She sprawled on the ground, scrambling back from me with wild eyes. “You’ve doomed us all.”

“I don’t think so,” I mocked, wrapping my hands around her throat. Then with very little struggle, the Seelie Queen lifted into the air, her eyes bulging as she scratched at her neck.

“Ally?” Coby’s voice filtered into my ears.

My head turned toward the three of them, hovering in the doorway. A combination of fear and confusion covered their faces. Cheshire stepped out of the doorway, and I held a hand up.

“Stay back,” I instructed them, eyes still focused on Tatiana. My hand tightened on the queen’s neck, making her gasp and cry out. “You think you can just do whatever you want because you’re the queen? You pass judgement. Punish your people for simply existing. No more.”

“You. Will. Destroy. Us. All,” Tatiana choked out.

My hand snapped to the side, and her head twisted sharply. The light in her eyes dimmed. I let her fall to the ground with a smirk.

“Off with her head.”

My chest rose and fell. The euphoric feeling of power still rushed through my veins. I stared down at the still body of the fae that once was the Seelie Queen.

“Alice.”

My gaze shifted from the body, lifting from the ground to the eyes to meet the emerald orbs of Cheshire. A cold calm I never knew filled my mind. My head tilted to the side, watching him as he approached me.

“Alice, pet, love, sweetheart.” Cheshire reached a hand out to me. The caution in his eyes made my brows furrow. Was he scared of me? “It’s alright, now. She’s gone. She’s dead. You can stop now.”

Warm hands wrapped around my shoulder, pulling me to his chest. The cold inside of me inched back. The scent of Cheshire’s floral and spicy filled my nose. My hands came up and curled around him, tightening in the back of his clothes.

“Ally?”

Two more warm bodies pressed in on my sides, wrapping their arms around me. The power receded, unhooking from mine and slipping down my arm until it cooled at my finger.

I lifted my head, peering up at the three of them. “I’m me. I’m okay.”

They pulled back but didn’t release me. Three sets of eyes locked on me.

Clearing my throat, I pressed my hands to Cheshire’s chest. “I promise, I’m alright now.”

Slowly, they released me. Moving around me, they took a few steps back, their eyes on the ring on my finger.

I hugged myself, glancing off to the side. “So... the Seelie Queen’s dead.” I let out a nervous laugh. “Kat’s going to be so cross with me.”

“Alice,” Cheshire began, that hint of hesitation still in his voice. “Please tell me I have drunk too much tea and I was just hallucinating what I saw.”

“I don’t know.” I smiled weakly. “Have you been drinking tea today?”

My eyes burned with unshed tears. They were afraid of me now. I could hear it in their voices. See it in the way they held themselves apart from me.

“Ally,” Carban’s stern tone cut me to the core, “tell us about the ring.”

They won’t understand.

“You know about the ring,” I snapped back. “You saw it. Saw what happened.”

Coby blew out a breath. “Ally, we don’t know what we saw. One moment you’re fighting the queen, and the next, you’re out here with black eyes and darkness mixed with your magic that seemed an awful lot like –”

“The shadows,” Carban finished for him. “You made a deal with the shadows again, didn’t you?” He grabbed my arm, turning me to look him in the face. “Didn’t you?”

“Yes!” I jerked my arm away from him. “I did, alright? Is that what you want to hear?”

“Why, Ally?” Coby cried out, grabbing his hair and walking in a tight circle. “Why would you do something so stupid?”

“Reckless,” Carban added.

Turning to face them, I stared them down. “I did what I had to do. You were all looking to me to be the High Queen. To fix everything.” I dragged my hands through my hair and shook my head. “I didn’t know how to do it alone. Then... he appeared.”

“What was the deal?” Cheshire asked, not chastising me simply asking the important questions.

“The Shadow Man—”

“Shadow Man?” Coby asked, arching a brow.

“I forgot you weren’t around for that whole part.

” I sighed, trying to think of a way to recap in the fastest way possible.

“So the shadows aren’t just a big blob of shadows anymore.

He... they took a fae form. Shadow Man is what Kat calls him.

Though I’m pretty sure the original shadow was some fae male called Madoc who pissed off the queen.

” My eyes darted to the still form a few yards away from us.

A part of me was sad to see the once great Seelie Queen nothing more than blood and bones. The other part of me wanted to throw a bloody fucking parade.

“Anyway,” I drew out with a hard breath, “we chased him to the Shadow Realm where the prince, Dorian, and the Reaper were supposed to be finishing him off.” I shrugged a shoulder. “As you can see, that did not happen.”

“Alice,” Cheshire’s tone had lost some of his patience, “answer the question.”

My shoulders lifted and then dropped. “Not much. He’d help me with the trials and then...” I looked away from them, staring up at the damage we’d caused to the surrounding buildings.

“And then?” Coby prompted me.

I cupped my hand over my face and muttered, “I’d set him free.”

“Mother fucking kelpie sucking bitch fuck!” Carban shouted, pressing his hands into his eyes as he stalked back and forth in front of me. “What the actual fuck, Ally? How can you promise him that? It’s the shadows.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” Carban snapped, getting into my face. “Do you know that?”

“Oh, go jump in the fucking swamp,” I snarled back. “You don’t get to judge my choices. I didn’t see you volunteering to do the trials.”

“I couldn’t, remember? They have to be unbiased.” Carban gestured to his brother animatedly. “I’m pretty fucking biased.”

“Ally,” Coby huffed out, “we’re not judging you.”

“Speak for yourself,” Carban muttered and turned his back on me.

“We’re just worried this is going to end badly.”

“The way it usually does with the shadows,” Carban added with a glare.

Cheshire stepped up to me, cupping my face with his hands. “Alice, precious, you know I love you, but this...” He shook his head, sadness in his eyes. “I just wish you had trusted us enough to talk to us before you made another deal with him.”

“Again,” Carban quipped.

“I know.” I held Cheshire’s hands to my face. “I know and I should have, but I...” I was speechless. I didn’t know how to explain to them why I hadn’t asked them. Why I hadn’t told them about it until now when I absolutely had to.

“Why, Alice?” Carban pushed. “Why couldn’t you have talk to us?”

I pulled my lower lip between my teeth, and my eyes filled with tears again. I swallowed and shook my head. “I can’t.” I dropped my hands and backed away from Cheshire. “I can’t do this right now.”

“Sweetheart.” Cheshire stepped toward me. “Don’t.”

Brushing a hand over my cheek, I shook my head. “I just... I need a moment.” I spun on my heel and practically ran away.

“Ally!” Coby called out after me, but I didn’t stop.

They’ll get over it.

I gritted my teeth together, shaking my head as angry tears fell. I shoved a hand over my face as my feet slapped the cobblestone beneath my feet.

They might get over it, but I wasn’t sure if I would.