Page 7 of Tweedles Reflection (The Crimes of Alice #4)

I hoped no one in the neighborhood witnessed me and the Tweedles creeping around Kat’s house like thieves in the night. It wasn’t a good look for me or the fae community right now.

Coby stopped at the right window, peeking up over the edge before ducking down. “There’s a guard in there.”

We crouched down beneath the window while I pulled my phone out. I sent a quick text to Kat about the guard.

“Give it a minute. Kat will get rid of them.” I tucked my phone back in my skirt pocket, bumping Carban with my elbow.

Our eyes locked.

After hearing what Cheshire and Coby had said about Carban, I saw his silent treatment in a whole new light.

It was sweet and kind of romantic how much faith Carban had in me. While I had been wasting away in the Hall of Mirrors, Carban had been holding out hope that I would come for them some way, somehow. He had so much faith in me. Faith I’d never had in anyone or anything. Not even myself.

“I... uh...”

My phone dinged.

“The guard’s gone.” Coby waved a hand, shoving the window open. Coby offered me a hand up and then Carban’s hands were around my waist, lifting me up and into the window. I grappled with the edge of a side table before stumbling into the bedroom.

My eyes couldn’t settle on one place to look. Between all the clothes strewn across the room, the jewelry falling out of suitcases and piled on the dresser, it was like the fae had not only destroyed Kat’s yard but had taken a turn through the Seelie Queen’s bedroom.

How was anyone going to find anything in this mess?

“Wow, our queen’s a slob.” Coby had come in behind me with Carban, and they were now glancing around the room. Coby’s lip curled in disgust.

“I know.” I kicked a pair of shoes out of the way. “I don’t know how we’re supposed to find it in this mess.”

“Well,” Coby picked up a shimmery pale blue dress and tossed it aside, “better get started. I doubt they can distract the queen for long.”

“I’ll work through the jewelry over here, you try...” I grimaced at the room. “Looking somewhere else.”

Then we embarked on the longest scavenger hunt of my life.

I didn’t know how a single woman could own so much jewelry.

She had necklaces, earrings, broches, even tiaras.

Why would she need to bring so many tiaras to the Human Realm?

I swore I had dug through every piece of jewelry she had, and yet, no blessing.

I collapsed on the edge of her bed with a groan, dragged my hands down the sides of my face, then hung my head down between my arms. The mattress dipped beside me on either side, the scent of the Tweedles filling my senses. Somehow, just smelling them made me feel calmer.

“We’ll find it, Ally.” Coby brushed my hair over my shoulder, his fingers brushing along the skin of my neck.

“How?” I threw my hands up. “How are we going to find it in this mess? And for all we know, it’s not in here.

She probably has it on her right now. Or she left it back in the Underground.

And all this is a risky game that all the fae are counting on me to win, and I can’t even find the ridiculous little stone that—”

My eyes widened as I realized the mouth covering mine was Carban’s, taking any words I was going to say with him.

His hands slid into my hair, pulling me closer, his tongue sliding across mine. My eyes fluttered closed, and I sank into the kiss. A low moan dragged out of me which Carban swallowed down too.

A hand dragged down my leg, pushing up my skirt slightly.

“Hold on, what’s this?”

I jerked my mouth from Carban, face heating and heart racing. My eyelashes fluttered as I touched my lips before looking down to where Coby knelt by me.

Coby lifted his hand, a string looped around his finger, dangling from it was a icy blue gem with the same piece of the Tree of Life inside of it.

The blessing.

I reached out my hand to grab it. Before my fingers could even touch the necklace, a sense of urgency and panic filled my chest.

“Hatter,” I mumbled, then my eyes widened. “Someone’s coming. We have to go.”

We barely scrambled to our feet before footsteps sounded down the hallway.

I shot a panicked look at the Tweedles. We were out of time.

If the Seelie Queen found us in her room with the blessing, well, I didn’t think she would stop at banishing us to the Shadow Realm or making us a new home in the Hall of Mirrors.

Not that I would go back there without a fight. I’d sooner die than submit to that same punishment.

Without warning, I grabbed Carban by the front of his shirt. “Kiss me.” I didn’t give him time to respond before I pulled his mouth down to mine, dropping us back down on the queen’s bed.

Coby didn’t need to be told what to do before he was down on his knees beside the bed, his hands moving up my skirts. The door opened just as Coby’s lips grazed the inside of my thigh.

My eyes squinted at the guard standing in the doorway in his golden armor. I pulled my lips away from Carban, and his mouth traced a path down my jaw to my neck.

“Do you mind?” I put the same kind of arrogance in my voice that the queen herself used when addressing the guard.

His gaze moved over the twins and me before hardening on my face. “You shouldn’t be in here.”

“Aren’t we?” My head tipped to the side to give Carban more access. He cupped my breasts, giving it a firm squeeze for show.

A gasp escaped me.

Coby’s mouth teased to the edge of my undergarments. He pulled the scrap of fabric to the side and his mouth was on me.

The guard’s nostrils flared, his eyes heating. One foot stepped into the room, then a voice called down the hall. His head turned, his eyes still on us before he stepped back out of the room. “It’s nothing,” he answered. “Stupid faerie got in.”

The guard shot us one more look before closing the door behind him.

A hot, wet muscle touched my clit.

“Coby,” I groaned as I pulled at his hair. “He’s gone. We can stop now.”

Carban sucked on the flesh of my neck, tugging it between his teeth. My eyes rolled up in my head.

“You’re so wet for us, already,” Coby murmured, lifting his head from under my skirt. “You have no idea how hard it is to stop right now.”

Carban lifted his head, his eyes locked on my neck where I was sure he’d left a mark. His gaze shot up to mine. He licked his lips, the heat in his eyes sending a rush of arousal through me.

“We have the blessing.” I pressed my lips together and swallowed thickly, my breath coming in pants. “We shouldn’t linger.”

“How?” Coby questioned. “We can’t go back out the window. The guard saw us.”

“We can’t walk out of here,” I countered. “The queen would see us and question our presence.”

“Not necessarily. Hatter and Cheshire are here. Where they go, you go. It would only make sense that you would be around as well.”

I glanced between the two of them. “And you think we can just walk out of here with the blessing in hand without the queen being any the wiser?”

Coby held up the blessing by its string and frowned. “Well, it does smell like the queen. I’m not sure taking it through the living room would be a good idea. She and her guards would smell something of hers on you.”

“And I suppose putting it in my pocket won’t suffice?”

“Unfortunately, not.” Coby pressed the blessing between his thumb and forefinger and then glanced down at my skirt before up to my face. “We could hide it somewhere else.”

It took me a moment to understand where exactly Coby wanted to hide the blessing. I snapped my thighs together, my face burning. “Not going to happen.”

Coby shrugged. “Was just a suggestion. You’re so ready, it would slide right in.”

“Find another way,” I bit out, body burning from his words.

“Toss it out the window.” Carban offered up, looking anywhere but at me. “We throw it out the window and then walk out the front door with the others. Then, when we are outside, one of us grabs it.”

“There, was that so hard?” I quipped at Coby. “A real solution. I’m not made up of some holes you can just shove whatever you want into.”

Coby’s lips curved up in a salacious grin. “That’s not what I heard. Cheshire told me about all kinds of new toys we can ‘shove’ in your holes, and you’ll love every moment of it.”

I shoved him away and stood, grabbing the blessing from between his fingers.

“One step at a time, pretty boy. We have to survive this quest before anyone is shoving anything in me and my holes.” I dropped the blessing out the window, making sure I saw where it landed before closing the window after it.

“There.” I dusted off my hands. “Problem solved. Now, let’s be on our way.”

I strode across the room to the door, the Tweedles hot on my heels. My skin still vibrated from the touch. Still hot and aching. Their press of their body heat against my back was enough to make me pause.

“Ally?” Coby’s voice low in my ear. “Open the door.” His hand wrapped around my waist, fingers splaying low. “Unless...”

My eyes closed briefly, taking a moment to breath out the desire still lingering in my veins. I shook my head, shifting out of his grasp. “I just needed a moment, that’s all.”

“Take all the time you need.”

Head turning toward Carban, I frowned. “I have no time at all. So how can I take the time I need when there is none to take? Too many are relying on me to succeed. I cannot be selfish with their time as if it is mine to claim.”

With not another word, I pulled the door open, ready to face whatever came for me next.

In silence, we moved down the hallway. The voices of the Seelie Queen and the others filled my ears the closer we traveled toward the front of the house. I paused at the entrance of the living room, taking in the scene before me.

My gaze immediately found Hatter and Cheshire sitting on either side of the Seelie Queen on the cream-colored couch. They wore matching expressions of amusement that would fool anyone who didn’t know them well.

Even if I didn’t have my heart connected to Hatter’s, I could see the tension in his jaw, the way his smile never quite met his eyes.

Then there was Cheshire, the feline might be lounging carelessly on the one end of the couch, but his tail ticked with rigidity.

His claws flexed on his fingers as if he would spring from his place at any moment.

The guard who had caught us stood with his companion off to one side, their golden opulence so out of place in the average human living room. I’d give the guard some credit, he didn’t even glance our way when we entered.

Kat’s grandmother might have taken to loud prints and vibrant colors, but Kat preferred softer tones that were more appealing to the eye. I remembered the fight she and Chess had over the decor months ago when they finally moved from her grandmother’s home.

After having seen the home father and son shared, I didn’t blame her. They enjoyed far too much pink for my taste.

My best friend sat in an armchair to my left, Chess perched on the arm, his arms protectively around his mate. Their heads shifted our way at my appearance. Surprise lit up Kat’s eyes, but she quickly stifled it with a smirk.

“I was wondering where you went off to.” Kat nodded toward Hatter and Cheshire. “When these two came in without you, I feared maybe the sickness had gotten you, after all.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her dramatics. Kat had never been good at acting.

The Seelie Queen, who had been in mid laugh, quieted, her pale eyes watching me with a predatory grin on her lips. It didn’t escape my notice where she had placed her hands on my males. She stroked her hands up and down their thighs with obvious intent.

I knew she was baiting me. Even the warning in Hatter’s gaze told me so. I should leave. Just turn on my heel, ignore her, and walk out that door. I’d gotten what I wanted. Rising to her bait was beneath me. After all, I’d sent them in to distract her, and they were doing it.

“Not yet, friend.” I smiled cheekily to Kat before turning my gaze to the Seelie Queen.

“And Your Majesty, I wasn’t aware you were here, or I wouldn’t have sent my mates ahead of me.

We all know how hard it is for you to keep your hands off what doesn’t belong to you.

Tell me, where is your dear sweet husband? ”

Coby’s and Carban’s presence pressed against my back, a warning to me to tread lightly as much as a show of strength against the queen.

Tatiana glowered, the room growing cold. “Not that it’s any of your concern, but my king is assisting our people while I visit our daughter. You wouldn’t know anything about putting others before yourself, now would you, Great Pretender?”

“Maybe not.” I shrugged a shoulder. “But I do know how to unleash all kind of chaos on your world if you don’t get your hands off my mates. Now.”

The band on my finger warmed almost to a burning stage, either in response to my threat or the magic in me swirling tightly, ready to be unleashed at the Seelie Queen.

“Your Majesty,” Chess began, not moving from his place by Kat, “I believe what Alice is trying to say is—”

“You don’t speak for me,” I snapped, a rising possessiveness burning in me. “I said what I mean, as I always have.” My eyes locked onto the queen’s, and I put all the hatred I felt for her in that one single stare. “Get your fucking hands off my mates or I will remove them.”

To my surprise, the Seelie Queen removed her hands, lacing them together in her lap. A thin-lipped smile on her lips while her eyes burned with rage. “Interesting coming from someone who likes to put her hands on what’s mine.”

I forced myself not to flinch. She couldn’t know about the blessing. She was just playing games, like always.

Hatter and Cheshire shifted from their seats, crossing the room to stand by my side.

Even more surprising, the Seelie Queen let them. Tatiana crossed one leg over the other and leaned back in her seat.

“Do not worry, I’m not going to retaliate. After all,” her eyes settled on Kat’s stomach, “I wouldn’t dare risk my grandchild for the likes of you.”

I resisted the urge to snort. She didn’t give two shits about her daughter, let alone her granddaughter. While she was playing doting mother now, it had to be another game.

“I do not know how you took it, and I cannot sense it on you now, not that I think you were foolish enough to stand before me after stealing from me, but you may have the blessing.” Tatiana’s grin held wicked delight. “You won’t last the trials for it to even matter that you stole it from me.”

With all four of my mates by my side, my rage dropped to a simmer, but I didn’t relax just yet. “You should be rooting for me to succeed, or you won’t be queen of anything before long.”

“Better queen of nothing than to answer to you,” Tatiana sneered.

I returned her sneer with a benevolent smile. “Don’t worry, I will be a fair and just queen. And I don’t believe in holding grudges. I nurture them.”