Shades of Alice

Author's note: This is a 750 word story (and a 119 word Author's note), but it's also an introduction of sorts. Not all of these will be 750 words, but this story and the one prior "A Kiss Toward Chaos" lended themselves nicely to a laconic telling of backstory. And this is all of the backstory I will provide for our dear Alice. The next tale will be longer and, I hope, will be better received than the short pieces I wrote only to set the mood and tone of my main story, that being, "Shades of Alice: A Queen's Sin." (I am hoping to release the first chapter by March.) Comments will encourage me to keep writing.

~

Nathan stroked Alice's pale cheek; her cold stillness unsettled him.

It's for her protection, he reminded himself. Temporary so she didn't meet her mother's fate. Protecting her the way he hadn't protected her mother.

Nathan hated how it felt as the carriage bumped and swayed along the rocky path. "Your mother would love to have been there last night. Laughing in the king's face as he tried to marry you to his heir. His kind isn't used to rejection, little one."

Her eyes barely opened. Nathan had never tried to present himself as anything other than who he was, which included confessing to having burned her mother alive at the king's demand mere days after Alice was born. She understood that he hadn't wanted to do it. After all, he'd loved her mother. Nathan had never married and Alice had never seen him take a lover in all the years she'd lived with him. He still loved Alyssa.

She tried to speak but failed. Her mouth was dry, and her muscles stiff. He smiled, a sorrowful gesture denoting some level of deceit, "Sleep, girl. We're almost there."

Alice's head rested on his lap. She tried to move, but he held her still. "Alice," his tone was scolding, "that potion was powerful. Meant to feign death. Rest, be still. You'll meet your mother one day, but not today."

He shifted, shrugging his left shoulder and glancing over it before turning his attention back to the petite girl partially laid across him. "She still whispers to me. At night, it's loudest, but even now, she's here. Taunting me. Reminding me. One mistake of that magnitude is all I can endure in a lifetime." His voice caught.

Alice knew he spoke of her mother; he never failed to lift his fingertips to his lips anytime he alluded to her.

"Nathan," Alice croaked, her voice weak and barely carrying to his ears.

His eyes widened, "Sleep, Alice. Chaos is not yet yours to make. If your mother whispers in your ear, pay her no heed."

"Uncle..."

He clasped his hand over her nose and mouth, blocking her breath. She tried to lift her hands to his, but the weakness of her muscles prevented her from doing more than a twitch of her wrist. Her breath failed her and tears streaked from her eyes as the world went black.

"Sleep, Alice," he repeated. "All will be better soon. I have word that your father is waiting for you."

He sighed and slunk down in the carriage. Her real father, he noted. A prince from a far-off and magical land. Nathan took in the girl's appearance. She looked nothing like her parents. Alyssa had been raven-haired and statuesque. Maybe the only part of Alice that favored her mother was her porcelain skin and delicate features.

The girl's father was more of a mystery to Nathan. He'd seen him once but couldn't remember much beyond the smoke surrounding the bed and the depth of black as skin formed from it. Alyssa had trembled that night, her eyes pleading with Nathan as he tried to move forward but found himself rooted in place, smoke circling his ankles.

He watched her dress fall away; her body was exquisite in its fine beauty. He watched, gaze full of terror and lust. The smoke rose behind her, taking the shape of a man before Alyssa whimpered and cried out.

Nathan closed his eyes, pushing the image from his memory as her voice echoed in his ears, "You watched him, Nathan. Only watched."

~

Alice's body was limp in his arms as he presented her: eyes open and unblinking, skin pallid and cold. The king nodded, pride apparent on his face. "The demon wench is dead? Truly?" he asked, not hiding his glee.

Nathan nodded, his own expression sullen, "Freshly this morning. By poison."

The king reached out and stroked her cheek; his hand trailed down her neck before Nathan stepped back with her. "Pity she couldn't be obedient. She'd be as beautiful a princess as her whore mother was a queen. Burn the body and return to the kingdom by nightfall. You've done well once again."

Nathan lowered his eyes.

Alice's lithe body lay easily on the pyre, and Nathan made the motions of building up the wood as the king's carriage vanished down the trail. The smoke began to rise before a flame was lit. "She'll be safe?" he asked.

"She'll reign in beautiful chaos, Nathan" a deep voice assured.