Cheshire laughed, an insane, high-pitched cackle dripping with malice. “Those lords, so jumpy! They thought they could outsmart me. It makes me laugh even now.”
Harris continued, “Then you left, to find Dinah, to help raise her army. You marched on the palace. You killed Lord Sander in the battle—how convenient to be able to do it out in the open!—and then, with a bribe, you were able to persuade a few Spades to kill his family.” Harris paused for effect. “We have ferreted out those men, by the way. They will stand a private trial for murder.”
“And then . . .” Cheshire’s cool demeanor looked slightly worried now, his black eyes darting back and forth from Dinah’s face to Sir Gorrann’s.
Harris went on, “After you returned, you quickly figured out that Lord Sander had hidden the crown with his poor apprentice. One day before the queen’s coronation, you snuck into the Thorndike residence, killed Swete, and found the crown he had been hiding. Then you gave it to Vittiore—Alice—to carry into the coronation.” Harris rubbed his glasses. “You must have believed you were in the clear! To think, in your blind pride, you had forgotten what you had told the queen about your whereabouts the night of her brother’s murder. That you had consorted with Lords Delmont and Sander while the king murdered her brother. I imagine their names must have been the easiest to remember in the midst of your lie, seeing how you had already killed one and were planning on killing the other. What a sloppy mistake! When the queen realized that Alice had never worn that crown, and that the King of Hearts had never even seen it, she realized it couldn’t have been the king in the room that night. All this time it was you, the man in the shadows.”
Cheshire smiled up at Dinah grimly, his face shaking with vicious intent. “So tell me, daughter, how does it feel to know that you started a war against a man who was innocent?”
Dinah didn’t even blink.
“The King of Hearts wasn’t innocent. He tried to kill me several times, though it’s understandable, seeing how he believed that I actually killed Charles. Though our belief in the other one’s guilt was false, I have no regrets. He was a terrible king, a murderer a thousand times over, and a corrupt leader. He threw those who opposed him in the Black Towers. He cheated and exploited the people of Wonderland. He ordered the slaughter of hundreds of Yurkei and those villagers who lived in the Twisted Wood.”
Her eyes flitted briefly to Sir Gorrann.
“The king didn’t protect his people when our armies took the palace. He took Alice from her home and attempted to use her to usurp my throne. Then he killed her mother right in front of her, as a warning to me. Trust me, I have no regrets about killing him.”
Cheshire’s eyes watched her face. “My little Dinah, so full of fury. But humor me one last time. How did you know that I would be here? A lucky guess?”
Cheshire’s cracks were starting to show as his eyes darted wildly from face to face: Harris, flush with anger; Sir Gorrann, rippling with fury; and Dinah, cold and as still as stone.
She clicked her tongue and answered his question. “You are by far the most clever mind in Wonderland, and yet, like any man, you are still predictable. The calling card of Lord Cheshire is that he cleans up his messes. You make sure that anything in your way simply disappears. You and the king made sure that Faina Baker disappeared into the Black Towers, and that Alice disappeared completely into the creation of Vittiore. You killed not only Lords Delmont and Sander, but also their families. You leave no trace behind, and you punish all those who were connected to your plans, even by the slightest margin. I’m going to guess that once you figured out that I was unraveling your plan—which was yesterday—you needed to get rid of those who would stand in your way when something happened to me.
“You came for Sir Gorrann first because he would be the most vocal and had the most power. I would guess Harris would be your next target, then Wardley.”
“Wardley would rejoice at your death.” Cheshire grinned. “His hatred for you will never fade.”
Dinah’s face stayed unaffected. Cheshire seemed to get aggravated by this and began squirming. His words rushed out in a screaming wave as his carefully constructed face fell to pieces.
“Don’t just stand there, staring at me like that. I created you, Dinah! Without me, you would be no one. From the day you were born, a squalling, screaming child, I had a plan for you, a plan to raise you up to be queen. I protected you from the king’s wrath. And oh, how you were my child. Your black hair, your intelligence, the way you watched people. But you also had your mother’s delicate heart, prone to love. A flaw if I ever saw one. Every single day of my life, I worked so that you might be queen, so that my blood would become royal. I might have been born poor, but I would be the father to the queen someday. My plan unfolded the moment I saw your mother. I crept my way into her heart, so that someday we would create a child to rule. If I wasn’t born into the Royal Line of Hearts, I would scheme my way into it. You have a crown on your head because I put it there. You marched on Wonderland Palace because I arranged it. And if you hadn’t meddled where your nose didn’t belong, we would have ruled the entire kingdom.
“In a few years’ time, we would have marched on Hu-Yuhar and enslaved the Yurkei beneath us, something the King of Hearts only dreamed of. You would have been the most powerful ruler that Wonderland had ever known!”
His eyes were wild now as his voice rose through the barracks, hysterical. “Power, Dinah! True power! That’s all that matters, and I’ve done everything to give it to you. If you wouldn’t take it, then I would have.” His eyes lingered on Dinah’s face. “My plan was flawless.”
Dinah reached down and rested her hand against Cheshire’s wildly beating heart. “And yet, it was all ruined by a mad boy, who wanted nothing more than to give a gift to his sister. Love ruined your plans.”
Cheshire stared into his daughter’s face, his words cruel. “Love also ruined Wardley’s life.”
Dinah turned away. “Raise him to his feet.”
Two Spades walked forward and propped him up. Sir Gorrann held his sword tightly against Cheshire’s throat.
“You can’t kill me. I’m your father!”
Dinah stepped forward, so close that he could feel her breath. Her face twisted in anger, her fingers clasped on both sides of his head. “Hear this!” she hissed quietly. “I have no father. Not you, and not the king. Too long have I been defined by the men who claimed that title. I had a loving mother, an innocent brother. And I have men who are truly loyal to me. I need no father.”
Clearing her throat, she leaned back on her heels and regained her composure. She held out her arm over him, as if blessing him. “Cheshire of Verrader, I strip you of all lands and titles in your name.”