Page 50 of A Court of Hearts and Hunger
Judging by the frequency of the meals and my own guesses, I’d say I’ve been left alone for a day, another whole night, and possibly a second day. There might have been another night in there somewhere—I can’t be sure.
The White Rabbit hasn’t come to take my fingers yet. Is he starting to like me, or just delaying the inevitable?
By now my family has realized I’m gone. How has Drosselmeyer explained my disappearance to them? He couldn’t very well say that I went down a hole with a white rabbit. That sounds absurd.
Maybe he’ll say I ran off with a man. That would be a far more likely story, and also a partial truth.
I speak my siblings’ names aloud in the aching quiet, focusing on each small face.
Bertha. Cricket. Amy. David. Ash. Saylie. Ben.
I don’t want them to cry about my disappearance. For their sake, I hope they forget me quickly.
I’m lying on my cot, reciting their names again, when the door to my cell opens.
My heartbeat skids into a new rhythm. I stay where I am, staring at the ceiling.
When nothing happens, I glance at the door.
I thought the White Rabbit had finally come to take me for dismantling. But there’s no one in the open doorway.
Hope blazes in my heart, searing through my limbs. I swing my legs off the bed and dash for the door—
Only to collide with something solid.
A body. An invisible, bare-chested body.
“Caer.” I step back and turn away, intending to lie down again, but he flashes into existence between me and the bed. He’s shirtless and barefoot, wearing dark pants. His jewelry glitters with every twitch of his ears.
His handsome face looks—not regretful, exactly, but almost. “You’re still angry.”
“Of course I am. You bargained with me, knowing your friend could help you break our deal. Have you come to take me to my torture session? Maybe you’d like to watch him chop off my fingers, slice off my tongue, and scoop out my eyeballs.” I’m trembling, stricken with the heat of fear and disappointment.
“He’s not here right now,” says Caer. “I came because I need some amusement.” He holds up the gold leash. “How would you like to get out of here for a while?”
Yes. Yes, I want that. After two days—or three days—alone in this stone box, I am desperate to get out.
But I don’t want to seem too eager, or give in too easily. So I use a word I’ve never used in my life.
“Fuck you,” I spit, and I shoulder past him, flinging myself onto the bed.
“Very well.” He disappears again, and a moment later, the cell door closes.
I prop myself on my elbows, unsure whether he really left or not. Warily, I sniff the air. Is the fragrance of violets a leftover scent, or is he still in here?
“If you won’t come with me,” says the Cat, appearing on the bed beside me so suddenly that I scream, “I shall stay in here with you.”
“Gods!” I clutch the thin chemise to my chest. “I wish you wouldn’t keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly.”
“Oh. Of course.” He begins to fade slowly, strips of his body dissipating into nothing, until the only parts left are his long tail and his wide, wide grin.
“Not like that, either. Stay visible, like a normal person.”
“What in the realms convinced you that I am even remotely normal?” says his smile.
Pointed teeth glittering in midair. Unnerving.
“Admit it.” He reappears and runs a long claw along my collarbone. “You’re just as bored as I am. He’s been in a terrible mood lately, and I need company. Come and play with me, mousie.”
