Page 26 of Maddie
“Look, Noah,” Maddie said slowly. “Tell me what you would’ve done in my position. If it wasyoursister in Mouse’s place, and my sister was going to die anyway.”
His shoulders stiffened and his voice came out even. “I wouldn’t have taken your sister.”
“I don’t believe you.” Maddie narrowed her eyes. “Not if you knew what Mouse has been through. Not if you knew how they’ve been treating her in that palace. For two years, Noah! And that is only two years. This may go on forever. Do you realizethat?”
He stopped. Turned to her. His piercing green eyes met hers then. “I get it. I do. But Alice ismysister, and I was only human a few days ago. Maybe you forgot what humanity is like.”
Maddie sucked in a sharp breath. She didn’t usually do things like this and didn’tnormallyturn mortals without their consent. She knew exactly who she was. “I did save you, didn’t I?”
“About that…” Noah bit his lower lip, studying her intensely. “You mentioned the cure and that it’s just past Ivory in werewolf territory. I want it. For her and for me.”
He was asking about that damn cure again? If Maddie could pull one out from her pocket right now, she would, but she couldn’t. “There’s no way you’ll ever get it. Only a couple have, and they didn’t go unscathed. One lost an arm, the other a leg. All the others never came back.”
A look of fear crossed Noah’s handsome face, and she didn’t want to put it there. But he needed to understand that he would most likely die. This wasn’t playing with a few bats here—these were true monsters.
“Would you risk it for Mouse?” He turned the tables on her, just as she had done to him a moment ago.
“Yes,” Maddie said simply. For her, for Ferris, for Ever, if any of them wanted to go back to being human, she would risk her life for theirs.
“Then help me, Maddie,” Noah pleaded, placing his arms on her shoulders. “And I’ll help you.”
Help herhow? She thought again about how she’d already tried to infiltrate the palace with Ferris. He was much cleverer than anyone she’d met, and still, he hadn’t succeeded.
“My, my, my, look what we have here.” Maddie froze at the sound of Rav’s voice. What had the bastard heard? He slinked out from the side of a building, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
Maddie clenched her jaw. Why did she always have to run into him? It was as though he sought her out on purpose to toy with her.
“I just came from Osanna’s and was on my way to give you my condolences, but lucky me, I found you. Although, it looks as though your mortal lived.” He raked a hand through his hair, smoothing out his white and red locks as he sauntered toward them. Noah clenched his fists at his sides, and Maddie screamed inside her head for him to quit showing their cards to the bastard. Rav would take notice.
“Perhaps,” Rav continued, his finger stroking his lower lip as his gaze fixed on Noah’s. “I can help you with whatever you need instead of Maddie. A pity you are no longer mortal, I wouldn’t have minded turning you myself. After fucking you of course.” His stare slid to Maddie’s and he smirked.
“Sorry, I’m taken,” Noah said. “I’m Maddie’s.” Her eyes almost widened at the sentiment, but she kept them relaxed.
“Mm. For now.” Rav remained smirking as he turned his attention back to Maddie. “If Ever isn’t found soon, he may end up in a cage beside your sister. Cheers then.”
Maddie’s nostrils flared as Rav walked away with a pep in his step, disappearing through the city. Perhaps she would rip a head off today because she wanted to rip his off right now, then cover his face in hatpins. Before she could decide to chase after him and get herself killed, Maddie stormed off in the direction of the safe house. Noah easily caught up beside her with his enhanced vampire speed. He must’ve seen by her expression to not ask anything because he stayed silent.
After they left the city, screams echoing in the distance, the safe house slipped into view. The night was already starting to fall as she pounded the secret code for Ferris a little too loudly on the door. He should’ve already made it back … with Alice.
Ferris threw open the door, a scowl on his face as his mouth opened to say something. Most likely to reprimand her.
“Not now.” Maddie waved her hand in the air and skirted past him. Alice sat on the settee, her expression one of sadness. When she’d taken Noah’s sister, Alice was too loopy to know what was really going on. It had almost been too easy to lure her through Wonderland. Had it been that easy when Rav had brought Alice here? She was incredibly naïve. Just as Maddie had once been. A part of her hated what she had tried to do while the other still wished she’d succeeded.
Maddie avoided looking at Alice, trudged into the room where Noah had slept, and slammed the door behind her before plopping down on the mattress.
Why couldn’t it have been Imogen she’d run into today? Why did it have to be that bastard?
The door didn’t remain shut for long, though, its loud creak echoing. “Ferris, I…” Her words trailed off when Noah stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him.
His expression wasn’t hard as it had been earlier—it was softer, kinder. “What the hell just happened back there?”
“Rav,” Maddie muttered.
“I don’t understand. You mentioned him before, that you two… But there has to be more to it. Tell me.” His throat bobbed as he studied her, and she felt she owed him this after taking his sister.
“Fine, I’ll tell you my story and you may understand a bit more on why I don’t want Mouse there a moment longer.” Maddie then explained to Noah how Rav turned her over two centuries ago, pretended he was a gentleman taking her to become a hat maker for the queen who was really Imogen, how she thought she was in love with him after a day. And how, when she got to Wonderland, Imogen didn’t choose to have her as a servant in the palace and believed her too pathetic to make any hats. Maddie was tossed out in the city, starving and weak, and she’d kept walking through a world she didn’t understand. Then, she’d stumbled into Ivory and met a female whom she believed was a nobody like her. But that female ended up being Ever, the Queen of Ivory. Ever had chosen Maddie to make hats for her, and only then had Imogen taken notice of Maddie.
“That motherfucker.” Noah’s chest heaved, angrier than he’d been earlier.
