average human’s Reviews > Into the Madness > Status Update

“Perfect pain. Perfect pleasure,” he whispers hypnotically against my lips.
My breath catches from the feel of his strange words against my tongue. A smile tips the corner of his mouth. And then he pulls away. I’m left blinking up at the alluring man and his constantly odd behavior.
“Was that really necessary?” Kais passes a new glare toward the man kneeling at my side.
“Well, I got the job done. All you did was growl about it.” Lighton’s smug amusement doesn’t falter, and the moment I glance down, he leaps.
The bed jostles beneath his weight, and his hands grip the rafters above. His lean body tenses, the muscles in his arms bulging as he lifts himself up to sit on the dusty old beam above me. It distracts me but only for a second, and then I’m looking down at the pale blonde locks in my fingertips once again.
What the fuck did his perfect pain, perfect pleasure do to me? My fingers twist through the soft blonde hair, but it is most definitely attached to my head. I sit up abruptly, stare into the mirror and come face to face with the green-eyed, blonde haired woman that I apparently am.
“What the fuck, Lighton?” My words come out on a quiet, astounded breath.
“You are welcome,” he whispers, staring blankly out the window at something only he can see.
“You can’t be a false Alice with red hair. You must be blonde.” Kais shakes his head as if he’s only ever disappointed in life.
He is good at it. He’s really good at being a disappointed asshole.
He’s also right. If I’m going to do this, I’ll have to do it right.
“What else is expected of Alice?” I finally ask.
Kais looks up to the man perched above us. Lighton arches an eyebrow at him, and the two exchange a look as if they’ve hidden a thousand secrets away among the silence they share between them.
“She’s kind but fierce,” Kais tells me. “Smart. And…” His voice trails off, and I’m leaning closer the longer the moment passes without the last little thing on my to do list.
“And?”
Kais doesn’t look at me, his big tattooed arms folded firmly in place even as he avoids my stare.
“And she’s a virgin,” Lighton adds with a dirty smile against his lips.
“What? Why does that matter?” I can’t help the defensive sound of my voice, but seriously, why the hell is this even in the legend of Alice Liddell right now? What old man was sitting around jotting down Alice qualifications and double underlined her sexual experience? Or extreme lack thereof.
I’m partly furious that they’d never include this if Alice was an Alec, and I’m also partly furious…because I am in fact a virgin.
But that is not the point!
The point is it shouldn’t matter if I’ve slept with zero men or a whole football team of men. My mind pauses a bit too long on that visual, and then I realize they’re both staring at me.
“Are you a virgin?” Lighton asks the question slowly. He looks like he’s about to devour me whole right now.
“Why would you ask that? I don’t understand what value this holds for our plan.” My voice gets higher and higher with every line that rambles out of my mouth. “I’m going to pretend to be Alice, I’m going to marry the King, and I’m going to save two Kingdoms. That’s the goal here. My cupcake and the details of how often it gets its icing whipped is none of your business,” I shriek the last line out on a trembling voice.
Silence drops into the room.
But Lighton doesn’t let it linger long. “Mmm, but really, has anyone tasted your cupcake? Because I, for one, am a big fan of dessert.”
Kais’s head turns so slowly, cutting a glare toward his friend with newfound aggression. My eyes close, my cheeks blazing with embarrassment.
“You blush like a virgin, Cupcake.” Lighton’s smirk only grows in his tone.
“That’s enough,” Kais finally says. “It matters because Alice is the image of innocence. And it matters because the King will find out on your wedding night.”
Oh, for outdated standards’ fucking sake.
“Can we just get through today? Who’s to say his sister will even let this charade go any farther? Let’s just get through today, and then we can go from there.”
“Well, seeing how we’re eight minutes late now, and you’re still sitting in bed, I’d say yes, let’s get started on getting through today.” Kais’s features remain impassive as my glare burns a hole through his obnoxiously handsome face.
He’s so infuriatingly irritable. I can see the stress in his eyes even if his arrogant posture refuses to show it. He’d be happier—everyone would be happier—if he relaxed a little.
I throw my feet over the edge of the bed, take my time stretching, tilting my head this way and that as I arch my back until each muscle pulls deliciously.
“Done?” Kais licks his lips quickly as if he can rush this along simply by the cutting tone of his voice.
“Should I get dressed first or just prance into the King’s castle in my fucking jammies?”
Madison Torrent, False Queen of Wanderlust, Queen in the streets, slob in the sheets.
“Get dressed. Find something innocently blue, and then let’s go.”
His absurd annoyance with me makes me want to annoy him even more.
“Innocently blue? Is that a color? What if I wore like sadness sapphire or slut red instead? Would the wrong color dress just completely cripple your plan of deceiving the King?”
“Go. Get. Dressed. Fuck, you fight me on everything.”
“Because you have no idea how to talk to someone. You just order me around like a little toy soldier. You’re shit at guiding and advising. You’re a Demander not an Advisor.”
“Go.” The control he puts into that single word, not shouting it, simply grinding it out like it’s all he can do to not shake with anger.
I brush my shoulder against Kais’s as I pass, and from above me, Lighton balances his weight, arms out at both sides as he makes his way over to where the beam connects with the attic floor above me. When I climb the stairs, he’s right there, trailing at my side as we walk into the mess of fabric that’s strung through the enormous room.
“If it means anything, I’d let you be my demented.” He bumps his shoulder into mine.
“Demander. Demented is…something else entirely.”
I truly believe he would though. I don’t think anything in the world could make Lighton angry. It’s his easy-going attitude that balances Kais just barely.
They’re terrible together but good together too.
In a pile of white and pale colored material in the corner, I start to dig. A few articles of clothing have been started. A shirt is here, sleeves missing, ready to be sewn on but not yet assembled. I won’t tell Kais, but I secretly love this room. I don’t know if a seamstress or maybe a sweet little old lady lived here or what, but this is my dream room. I’d love to just work here in this dusty old place day in and day out.
But I guess that’s not in my future. Not for the False Queen.
My fingers catch on a pale blue shirt, and when I pull it out, I find it’s a button down made of smooth silk material. Soft fabric slides against my fingertips as I trail them against the garment. Once again, the sleeves haven’t yet been attached, but it’s long, and with just a few stitches, it could be perfect.
Unless a certain rabbit sneaks up here and finds me making a dress in my free time that isn’t really my time to be free.
I look up at Lighton, and he’s already crossing the room. He turns on a little overhead lamp near the corner, and there along the wall is a little desk, and perched on top is a black metal sewing machine.
Lighton pulls the wooden chair out with a sharp sound of wood grating against wood. Then he looks to me. He’s so…odd but knowing too. Maybe he’s aware of more than I give him credit for.
Quickly I sneak over to him, flinching when a floorboard cries out underfoot.
“Better work fast. I can practically hear him checking his watch as we speak.”
I smirk at Lighton but take my seat in the little chair. His hand rests against the back of the wooden chair, his warmth lingering against my skin as he watches me get to work. He isn’t overcrowding, he’s just curious, I guess. I like him watching. It’s nice to feel like someone has an interest in my work.
The thin needle is poised and ready, blue thread in place as if whoever was here last was working on the very same project I am now. My bare foot presses to the cool metal of the foot pedal, and in just moments, the machine fires to life. I take my time with the steady bob of the needle. I perfect the cut off arm sleeves, take in the hem on each side, then remove a few buttons and sew up the bottom.
Perfect. Done. That only took…fifteen minutes.
Kais’s going to murder me with a spool of thread if another minute ticks by.
As quickly as possible, I stand and pull the worn t-shirt over my head. It hits the floor near Lighton’s shoe.
“Oh, okay then,” Lighton says with a pleased nod, his attention drifting slowly down every exposed inch of my skin.
I roll my eyes at him as I huff an anxious sigh and start to pull on the dress before I’ve even fully kicked off my pants. The silk feels so nice against my skin. It caresses in all the right places. When I pull it up my thighs, it glides across them snuggly. My arms slip in, and the shirt I found is now nowhere to be seen.
The backward shirt leaves smooth material hugging my front, with a line of white buttons down the back.
“Can you button the back?” I look over my shoulder at the man lingering just inches away.
A strand of his golden hair falls free, teasing the amber color of his eyes that are locked on the length of my exposed back.
Steady fingers meet my bare spine. A breath catches in my lungs as he runs those fingers at a leisurely pace from the nape of my neck all the way down to nearly the curve of my ass. He’s big all over. Lighton’s hands feel just as big against my skin. He stops where the fabric meets low against my back. He takes his time, torturing me with each little brush of his fingers against my skin. One by one, he trails up until his palm pushes away the length of my blonde hair, careful to slip it over one shoulder before caressing that shoulder, trailing down, and buttoning the final button.
“There. All done, Cupcake,” he whispers against my neck, his beard tickling slightly.
My thighs shift, and I force myself not to lean into his broad chest.
“Thanks.” The word is a breathless, pitiful sound, and it only makes him smirk at me.
“Are you sure you’re all done because twenty minutes have passed.” Kais yells up from the room below in the most condescending tone.
He is so exhausting.
My eyes narrow on the place where I imagine him to be standing on the level below, and a need to piss him off even more burns pettily in my heart.
I look around the endless clothes hanging from lines across the ceiling, at the piles of fabric tossed here and there, colors and fabrics of every kind. And then I see it.
Just what I need. The very image of virginal innocence.
Yes. Just what a virgin needs in her life.

41%

King Constantine might be obsessed with Alice, but Konstance is obsessed with the crown.
I’m not saying she’s evil; that’s just crazy. But I grew up with books and movies in place of friends. Between those fictional pages, I’ve loved a thousand men, met a thousand friends, and I’ve also met my fair share of villains.
No one spots a villain faster than a book nerd.
And Konstance, she’s a villain in the making.
“I just hate the idea of you marrying all alone,” she pouts.
My eyes narrow on the strange sentiment. I arch an eyebrow at Kais, but his features are as blank as ever.
“Well, it’s a union of two people, so he won’t be alone,” I say slowly.
The entire arrangement of a wedding is the joining of two fucking people. What in the ever-sibling-loving fuck is turning in her mind right now?
“I meant without me,” Konstance snaps sharply.
Of course she did.
“Perhaps you should find a partner of your own, Sister.”
“Perhaps I will, Brother.” When she mimics his thoughts right back to him, I realize then that this beautiful woman in the deep red gown isn’t the Queen of Hearts, and the King isn’t the Wonderland King I thought he was.
They’re Tweedle-fucking-dee and Tweedle-fucking-dum.
I blink slowly at that realization.
What hole have I thrown myself into where I’m prepared to marry a Tweedle twin? This is going to be more work than I realized. I take a long drink of the cold water as they continue to speak as if the two of them are the only people in the room.
In the Kingdom.
In the world.
“We should arrange something. Today. Someone strong but who won’t get in your way. You’re not a fan of sharing the lime light.” That’s for fucking sure. Her brother carries on, “Someone who won’t require too much love, you’re not the sappy type. Maybe someone who’s just cold and a little too broken to really require much attention.” Both of them are nodding their blonde heads, and I almost want to scream at what they’re concocting together. They’re just spewing out ideas of how they can use someone to their benefit.
Is this the way they sat around and spoke of me? Or…Alice, should I say.
“I got it!” Constantine says with an excited snap of his fingers.
I take another slow sip of my water as I imagine myself strangling him with the shining golden crown on his head.
“The Rotter,” the two of them both say in perfect unison.
The Rotter? My nose scrunches at the serial killer sounding name alone.
“Who’s The Rotter?”
Konstance’s red lips curve into a wide smile. “My future husband, of course.”