“What? That makes no sense. Who’s unleashed this magic?” Ragoth again. The dragonborne literally had smoke curling out of his nose.
“Me,” was all I could say. And then I began to shake. I couldn’t lose it. I had to hold myself together. I had to fix this.
“You! You!” Ragoth was screaming, but the bubble suddenly vanished.
Syrith had popped it, silencing the rage of his father in an instant. Then he took me in his arms and held on tight.
I clutched at his back. “What have I done, Syrith? What have I done?”
He shook his head. “You did nothing, Galeta. This wasn’t you. This is wild, unstable magic unleashed. Not you. Do you understand? Not you.”
His words were growled, and his fingers were desperate as they gripped me tight. My stomach heaved. I knew he was trying to soothe me, but I didn’t feel soothed in the slightest. This was my fault. Just as everything else had been.
I’d destroyed all of Kingdom, and this time without even trying.
“How far back does this go? Where does it end?”
“What! Have! You! Done?”
A shrill, piercing screaming filled my ears. I didn’t need to turn to know who it was. I felt the pressure of magic as a travel tunnel sealed tight.
Danika Moon glared furious daggers at me. “My head!” she screamed, grabbing hold of her temples and squeezing tight. “Memories that aren’t real. Families in chaos. Ruin. You!”
I’d never seen the beautiful fae so angry, not even the day I’d cursed her nubile form to freeze into that of a hag. Her spider-silk dress was in tatters. Her nut-brown hair full of brambles and weeds, as though she’d raced through anything and everything in her path to get to me.
“My brain has been consumed by two memories of lives that cannot be real! And there is an aching emptiness within me. What have you done, Galeta? What have you done?”
Tears ran down her face unchecked, but I was given no chance to respond back. For another figure had appeared.
“Bring her back to me!”
Rumpelstiltskin appeared before us. His eyes were wild, and he appeared more demon than man, his image flickering from something dark and deadly to the mask of the man I’d always known.
“Who?” I asked, but I already knew.
“My world! My life.”
He was tossing furniture around, blasting out magic in his madness. “I felt the touch of your hand in this. None remember her. Her father is with another. Her mother does not exist in this world. I am not mad! I am not crazy. My woman, my Sh—”
“Shayera’s gone too?” I whispered, but the way he suddenly stilled, it was as though I’d screamed it.
Twirling on me, heaving for breath, and face contorted with both madness and shock, he rushed me. Gripping my forearms. Syrith tried to stop him, but I shook my head, telling him I was okay.
Rumpel shook me so violently, my neck whipped back and forth.
“You know her! She is real! She is mine.” His beautiful face was contorted into one of madness. “Give her back to me, fairy. Give her back.”
Danika was suddenly there, wiping her nose. “Shayera...carrots?” She blinked. “She’s not real.” She blinked again, eyes running over with heavy tears as she looked at Rumpel and me. “But she is.” She tapped her head. “I remember. There are two worlds. In the other, she was there. And I loved her too.”
At those words, Rumpel released me, sinking to his knees and curling his head upon the thick carpet. His body shaking powerfully. And though I heard nothing, I knew he sobbed for the wife he’d lost.
How was it that he remembered? How was it that some could and some couldn’t?
A thought suddenly came to me then. “What year is this?”
“What?” Syrith asked, sounding more sure and less shocked now. “What do you mean?”
Danika was on her knees, trying to comfort Rumpel, who seemed to want none of it. They were both lost to their own misfortunes, and I had a terrible thought, that just like Rumpel, Danika too had lost her mate. Only she hadn’t realized it yet. In fact, she might never know at all.
I trembled and shook my head. “I’m not sure. But it matters, somehow. I don’t know how, but it... Hatter!”
He’d know. I knew he’d know. His and Alice’s romance had been powerful magic. They had to still be together. They had to be. Grabbing Syrith’s hand, I flew, dragging him with me.
“Where are we going?” he screamed into the wind.
“The Hatter’s cottage. To find him. To find Alice. I have to know how far this disruption has gone.”
Syrith didn’t speak the rest of the way, for which I was grateful. It gave me time to think. Harpy took the seed, and magic erupted. In the trials for my soul, I’d been forced to endure the pain of seeing all the happily ever afters I’d destroyed. Gerard and Belle. The Wolf and his wolf bride. Jinni and his Queen. Hook and Talia. Hatter and his first Alice Hu. The Moon and the Sun.
Oh dear gods...
Time has reset. Button’s words echoed back at me.
Spying the Hatter’s cottage, I flew as fast as my wings would carry me. Breathless when I landed, my fingers felt numb and cold as I knocked on the door.
The devilishly handsome madman answered only a moment later, smiling broadly, and I suddenly couldn’t breathe right. Either he was happy because he was with his Alice, or he was happy because he’d never known her at all.
“Hatter,” I snapped, “what year is this?”
“Well, that was rather brusque,” he said in his deeply accented voice. “But if you must know, it is the year twenty-o-two. And just who are you, pretty fairy? Would you care for a spot of tea? I’ve got plenty.”
Suddenly, a steaming pot and a cup and saucer appeared in midair.
“Twenty. O. Two,” I mouthed. Dear heavens above, I hoped he was lying. Otherwise, time had just sent us back nearly to the very beginning of their happily ever afters.
Syrith touched my lower back, and I leaned into his hand, needing his strength. I nodded.
Kingdom time and Earth time were vastly different, but if I wasn’t mistaken...Alice quite possibly already existed on Earth. I could still fix this, although he seemed oddly content for a man who’d just lost everything. So perhaps he hadn’t lost his Alice at all?
“Hatter. May I speak with Alice?”
He shrugged. “Sure, why not?
“Alice,” he called over his shoulder. “A strange fairy wishes to speak with you, my little lotus blossom.”
My lip curled. Since when had he begun calling her that?
And then Alice came to the door. Long black hair. Smooth brown skin. And a sensual smile. This was Alice Hu all right, but the wrong one.
“Hello, fairy,” she said, and her voice made me shiver with its undertones of ice and calculation. “What do you want?”
Eyes going wide, I said nothing back to Alice 1.0. Grabbing hold of Syrith’s hand, I opened a portal of time and returned to the Heart’s castle.
Everyone was as I’d left them.
All who could looked up at me with emptiness and devastation written in their eyes. I notched my chin for the biggest test of my life.
“It’s time to restore our happily ever afters. Now, who’s with me?”
~*~
Love my books? Then make sure to sign up for my newsletter or follow me on FB, or better yet, do both. I know Kingdom seems bleak now, but believe in the magic of happily ever afters, and don’t lose heart. Our little fairy might surprise you yet. If you enjoyed this book, please make sure to leave a review—those things are golden in my world! Also, if you want to know more about Kingdom, specifically many of the popular characters referenced here, did you know I wrote many books under the name Marie Hall. You can start with book one, Her Mad Hatter and work your way through.
Author’s Notes
The next queen is coming soon, though it’s a mystery who she’ll be. If you want to know, stay tuned to either Jovee Winters’s FB page or sign up for
her newsletter, which is probably the best way to keep up to date.
The next queens, in no particular order, are as follows:
The Centaur Queen
The Fire Queen (Fiera’s Story)
The Mesmerizing Queen (The Pied Piper’s Story)
And if you want to start at the beginning, make sure to pick up your copy of The Sea Queen!
About Jovee Winters
Jovee Winters is the pen name of a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author who loves books that make you think or feel something, preferably both. She’s also passionate about fairy tales, particularly twisting them up into a story you’ve never thought could be possible.
She's married to the love of her life, a sexy beast of a caveman who likes to refer to himself as Big Hunk. She has two awesome kids she likes to call Thing 1 and Thing 2, loves cooking, and occasionally has been known to crochet. She also really loves talking about herself in the third person.
Want more Kingdom?
Did you know I also wrote a slew of Kingdom tales featuring many popular characters such as The Mad Hatter, Robin Hood, and Captain Hook—to name a few. I wrote them as Marie Hall. Below you’ll find the complete listing for those stories.
Marie Hall Books
Kingdom Series (Fairy Tale Romance)
Her Mad Hatter (Free everywhere! Book 1, based on Alice and the Mad Hatter)
Gerard’s Beauty (Book 2, based on Beauty and the Beast)
Red and Her Wolf (Book 3, based on Little Red Riding Hood)
The Kingdom Collection (Books 1–3, with bonus deleted scenes)
Jinni’s Wish (Book 4, based on Arabian Nights)
Hook’s Pan (Book 5, Based on Peter Pan)
Danika’s Surprise (Book 5.5, novelette and first introduction to the upcoming Dark Princess Series)
Kingdom Chronicles (Books 4 & 5, and includes Danika’s Surprise)
Moon’s Flower (Book 6, based on the legend of the Man in the Moon)
Huntsman’s Prey (Book 7, spinoff Dark Princess Series)
Rumpel’s Prize (Book 8, loosely based on the legend of Rumpelstiltskin and Beauty and the Beast)
Hood’s Obsession (Book 9)
Her One Wish (Book 10)
Jovee Winters, The Fairy Queen
(Series: The Dark Queens # 6)
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