Chapter 52
Chapter Fifty-Two
ALICE
The map trembles in my hands, the ink shifting under my touch like the damn thing is alive. I can feel the heat of Hook’s gaze, burning into me even through the parchment. What the hell am I seeing?
I pull the map from my face, my heart hammering against my ribs.
The cool air hits my flushed skin, but I can’t shake the image burned into my mind—him.
Those eyes, raw and unguarded. He’s always this untouchable, arrogant, unbreakable pirate, but what I just saw.
.. It’s like some crack in the dam, a glimpse into a world of pain that steals my breath.
I stare at him. He’s standing across from me, his arms crossed, his usual guarded expression back in place. But there’s something different now—something softer in his eyes. Just the faintest flicker of vulnerability. A glimpse of a man I don’t know but feel like I could reach out and touch.
I open my mouth to say something—anything—but the words stick in my throat. How do I even begin to ask? Why? Why would he let me see that?
I lift the map again. I have to. And there it is—him, but not him. The magic in the map doesn’t just show us the path, the twisted roads of Wonderland leading us to the Queen’s heart. Oh no. It pulses with him, pulling me in.
It’s like seeing him through a different lens, one stripped bare of all his usual armour. The way his muscles tense as he holds back. The sharp line of his jaw. The hardness of his expression, built to keep the world out—everything, except the secrets he guards so viciously.
And then I see it.
The pain. The way his heart pounds, frayed and battered, pieces of it lost so long ago that I don’t think he even knows where to look for them.
The desire, raw and desperate, hiding behind that mask of bravado he wears like a second skin.
It’s overwhelming, electric, and it spikes something deep inside me that I don’t know how to name.
And his eyes—those stormy, dark eyes. Full of unsaid words and things I don’t dare ask.
I can’t breathe. I can’t move.
The map lowers in my hands, but my gaze doesn’t leave him. I’m staring at him, wide-eyed, and he’s staring right back.
There’s something about the way his lips press together, the faint light in his eyes softening for a second, and I’m undone. My chest tightens, my mind spins, and deep in the pit of my stomach, something stirs—a pull, a crack, a spark.
None of it is tangible, but I feel it all.
He takes a step closer, his voice low and deliberate. “See everything you wanted to see?”
I swallow hard, trying to find some semblance of control, but my body betrays me. Heat crawls up my neck, my pulse thrumming in every corner of me.
“I saw you,” I say, my voice barely steady, the words trembling on the edge of truth. My chest aches, my breathing shallow, because it’s him. I don’t even know what that means, but...
Hook doesn’t take the map from me. Instead, he moves closer. So close I can feel the heat of him, can smell the salt and leather that clings to him. And I... It doesn’t matter. My thoughts are a mess, my brain isn’t working, not with him this close. Damn him. Damn me. And damn this map.
“Well?” His voice is rough now, cutting through my haze. “Are we going, or do you want to wait for the guards to come back?”