Page 47 of Off with Her Head
Seventeen
SCARLETT
The journey back to the Castle of Cards feels like emerging from a long nightmare into the first uncertain light of dawn. Ravenna walks beside me, our hands still clasped.
Ravenna's face bears the burden of someone who has both won and lost in the same moment. Mara may have been lost beyond return, but she was still Ravenna's sister.
I squeeze her hand gently, giving her a reassuring glance. She looks at me with those piercing blue eyes and offers a small smile that makes my heart flutter.
"I'm fine," she says, answering my unspoken concern. “I will be. Mara was gone long before today."
"Still," I reply, understanding her loss despite my lack of siblings, "you were raised together. It's natural to mourn what might have been."
Her fingers tighten around mine, gratitude flowing through our connection.
As we approach the castle, the evidence of our victory spreads before us. The sick magic recedes visibly from the landscape, black crystal growths dissolving into dust that the wind carries away. The roses along our path bloom more vibrantly.
Our forces greet us at the castle gates—shadow-warriors and card-soldiers standing side by side, chess pieces intermingled with creatures from both our kingdoms. They bow as we approach, recognizing not two separate queens but unified rulers whose boundaries have dissolved.
Commander Lysander steps forward. "The battle is coming to an end, My Queens. The shell containing Edmund collapsed moments ago."
"And Edmund himself?" Ravenna asks, raising a brow.
"Alive, though gravely weakened," Lysander reports. "The crystal prison that contained him shattered, leaving him physically intact but unconscious. Our healers attend to him now."
Edmund may have been Mara's pawn, but he was also her victim—the first to suffer her dark version of unification. His survival offers hope for others similarly affected, and potentially an ally in the work that remains.
"The castle?" I ask, turning my attention to my home.
"It’s healing rapidly, Your Majesty," the Duchess answers, joining us with a basket of black and red roses clutched in her arms. "The roses prove remarkably effective against the lingering poison."
We enter the castle, finding card-soldiers working alongside shadow-warriors to clear debris.
The sight brings tightness to my throat. Not because my castle returns to its former state—it doesn't, notentirely—but because this is better. They’re working together, fixing our home.
Two kingdoms united entirely.
"It's beautiful," Ravenna murmurs beside me, sensing my gratitude. “The kingdoms balance one another perfectly.”
"Like us," I reply softly, so only she can hear.
Her eyes meet mine, reflecting that same grateful feeling I’m having.
We did it.
We proceed to the throne room, which has undergone the most dramatic transformation of all. The single throne—once a gaudy statement of absolute authority—has been replaced by dual seats connected at their base, red and black marble intertwined in patterns that mirror the roses blooming around them. The ceiling appears as an illusion, continuously shifting between Underland's bright sky and Darkmore's star-strewn twilight.
"The castle itself acknowledges both its queens," the White Rabbit observes, his pocket watch temporarily forgotten in his amazement.
Bothits queens.
The phrase echoes through me, feelingright.
Lysander clears his throat, drawing us back to practical matters. "What of Ironwood, My Queens? Edmund lives, but his kingdom remains vulnerable. Reports suggest the sick magic still spreads there, though more slowly without Mara's direct influence."
"And the pool beneath the castle," Ravenna adds. "The original source of corruption remains active, threatening to spread again if not addressed."
Pulling it from a pocket in my gown, I reveal the Blood Tree seed. "Thisis our answer. A third Blood Tree, planted at the pool's edge, to cleanse corruption at its source."
