Chapter 40
MISERY
“No one move!” I roared, grabbing Madde and Cat as I stared at the gameboard around us, at Death, Tor, and Pain who’d gone deadly still. “Don’t move one fucking inch. Look at them.”
“They’ve frozen like Cat,” Madness breathed, the whites of his eyes showing as he stared around us, his gaze always returning to our wife. “What do we do? What do we do?”
“Take a fucking breath and get your shit together,” I snapped, too wound up to comfort him.
“Take a breath,” he repeated under his breath, his chest moving with exaggerated breaths. “Get my shit together.”
“We’re not turning robotic,” I noted, staring at Death’s blank face, the anguish in Tor’s. Pain’s eyes were wide, wide hazel. He looked terrified. “Because the square is already occupied. But we’re still playing the game, and it’s our move.”
Madde was shaking; his teeth chattered no matter how much he repeated get my shit together under his breath.
“Madde,” I said, touching his shoulder. “Madness.”
Nothing.
“Don’t make me slap you.” I tugged a lock of his red hair and palmed his head when his eyes focused on me. “I need you to stay here with Cat and try to get through to her, okay? Don’t let any other piece claim this square. And do not step off it. If you do, you’ll end up like the others.”
Madde nodded rapidly. “Right, right. Don’t step off the square. Keep Cat safe. I won’t let you down. Promise.”
“I know you won’t,” I agreed, kindness coming out despite myself.
He’d been too afraid we wouldn’t want him after his mix up with the forget-me-nots.
Which I was still pissed off about, by the way.
But he was contrite and self-deprecating enough that I felt bad for him.
And a tiny, infinitesimal part of me felt protective towards the weirdo.
“What are you going to do?” he asked, wrapping both arms around Cat.
I assessed the board. “I’m going to play this fucker, and win.” I turned to give Cruelty a hard look. “I’m taking Cat’s place, given you’re cheating by laying traps on each square. I’m the queen now.”
“That’s a rule breach,” Violence rumbled.
“Nobody asked you,” I spat. “I was talking to your sister, who has a mind and voice of her own.” Just because it was, as Pain had said several times, batshit Looney Tunes, didn’t mean her brother got to speak for her. That shit enraged me.
Cruelty blinked, narrowing her eyes on me. “You get this one pass. Anything else, and I will end you, Misery. And you’re in check, darling.”
Oh, that was fucking wonderful. Not the threat—that was normal—but the fact she’d allowed the breach.
It meant she didn’t give a shit about the outcome of this game after all.
She was just trying to keep us here, probably so we didn’t have time to repair the domain before she and her brother did whatever they’d planned to do.
I shoved aside the robed figure marked as a knight, and put their king in check, scanning the pieces around us, frowning at Duncan who stood still, unblinking, at the other side of the board. Turned out he wasn’t the one betraying Cat after all.
“Check,” I said a little smugly to the two fuckers who’d set up this game. When this was over, when my girl Peach was back safely with me, I was going to enjoy cutting them into pieces. Maybe I’d borrow some of Madde’s ideas.
“Yes! Go Miz!” the madman himself shouted.
I tilted my head when the king moved aside one square, my next move obvious.
But was it a trap? I forced my head to cool, ran through every scenario, but I couldn’t find one where it ended badly for us.
Which, again, was suspicious as fuck. I knew one of those psychopaths was making the moves, which meant they had another goal in mind than victory.
And that meant we needed to get Peach, knock my loves out of their blank-eyed fugue states, and get the hell back to the domain. Something was very badly wrong.
But that didn’t stop me making the move.
“Checkmate, bastards,” I snarled. “Give me my Peach.”
Violence smiled. Slow blooming, self satisfied, and deep enough to bite into his cheeks. “We never had her.”
Cruelty bounced on her heels, clapping her hands. “But what a fun game!”
“Don’t fuck with me. You sent me fur clippings!”
“Illusions,” Cruelty said with a beaming smile. “Was it torture, thinking we were cutting all her arms and legs off? Oh, you were so scared. It was like drinking the finest wine.”
I snarled, one second away from throwing myself into shadow and strangling the life out of her, all my plans be damned, but Death stumbled, coming out of the haze, and my heart rate kicked up.
I whipped around to watch Tor inhale a ragged gasp, and Pain patted himself all over, as if checking all his limbs were there.
Relief had a single second to form. “Grab Cat and—”
Let’s get the hell out of here, I planned to finish.
Especially as a familiar beat competed with the sound of Cruelty’s low laughter, and her Stalker army marched through the arch in the hedge and fanned out around us. The dying light outlined their powerful figures and black clothes in crimson.
I didn’t finish my sentence; I grabbed everyone and wrapped us in a cyclone of magic—
Nothing happened. And something told me we’d have to fight our way off Ford’s grounds to get to the exit.
“Sorry, Misery,” Cruelty said as she hopped up onto her throne, sitting gracefully beside her brother, “but I’m not ready for you to leave.”