“J-Jericho?” Alice stared up at him in surprise.
Realization lit up his own face. He abruptly dropped his hand.
“Uh, sorry,” he said quickly. “I should’ve…asked, at least, before touching you.”
“Yeah, but…okay. Why did you do that?”
He looked away. “I wanted to check your pulse,” he murmured. “And that’s the quickest way to find it. Sorry to scare you like that.”
She frowned. “It’s not a big deal, you just…surprised me. I’m fine, Jericho.”
Jericho’s closed, apologetic expression melted away. He stared down at her in fascination.
His eyes softened, like he was gazing at an old memory. Alice sensed sadness behind it.
“Good. That eases my mind. I’ll…see you later.”
The Gravekeeper spun on his heel and walked away. He disappeared into the crowd just as Alice realized why he’d left so fast.
Blood appeared beside her.
“The Gravekeeper,” he said darkly. “I knew it.”
Alice cringed slightly. “Blood! When did you get back?”
“A moment ago.” He snorted. “Maybe you didn’t notice because you were drowning in pleasure.”
Alice scowled. After his vanishing act and abrupt return, she didn’t like him immediately needling her.
“Knock it off, Blood.”
He turned exasperated eyes on her. He suddenly shoved a vial with a drug label into her hands.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“Medicine.”
“Well, I can see that! What kind of medicine?” She squinted at the label.
And stopped.
Amidst the directions and precautions, she saw the words “to reduce scarring.”
It only took a time period for wounds to vanish on people in Wonderland—and that included scars. Why did this medicine even exist here? Blood certainly didn’t need it.
She looked fearfully back at him. Trepidation crept up her spine.
“You didn’t…leave to buy this, did you?” she croaked.
Blood answered with a shrug. “I didn’t think you’d be taking that time to flirt with the Gravekeeper.”
She glared at him. “I wasn’t flirting.”
He returned the look, danger looming behind his eyes.
“You’re pretty cold to me as I am now,” he said in a low voice. “I’ll bet you weren’t like this with the other Blood Dupre.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You heard me. If you’re going to show a pretty face to men outside the territory, you could at least make your landlord happy, too.”
“Happy…?” Her hand clenched over the vial. “I’ve told you a million times—I’m just being civil with Jericho. I barely know him—we’re not even close enough to be friends!”
She stopped as his gloved fingers suddenly brushed the pulse at her neck.
She jerked back, trembling. “Wh-what was that for?!”
He grunted. “You didn’t look that shocked when the Gravekeeper touched you.” His lips curved in a dark smile. “Unless you consider me more of a sexual threat.”
Alice finally lost her patience. She roughly knocked his arm away.
“Jericho surprised me, so I was too shocked to react! It was just a normal reaction to someone surprising me. The only kind of person who wouldn’t react would either be numb below the eyebrows or have nerves of steel. God, get over yourself!”
“……”
Blood glowered at her. She glowered back.
The twins suddenly ran up, breaking the tension. With screams.
“Boss!” Dee cried. “I think we made a perfect bet this time! But ya can’t win today, okay? Ya gotta pull your punches for our plan to work.”
“Yeah!” Dum shouted. “Even if you try to win, ya can’t do it by much. Just do it right, okay?”
Alice sighed at the same moment Blood did.
Elliot walked up behind the twins, a betting voucher proudly clutched in his hand. It looked like the twins had even convinced him to gamble.
“Are you brats stupid?” he barked. “I put a marker on Blood for the win! It’s only natural, right, Blood?”
“I’m done with all of this.” Blood sucked his teeth and whacked Elliot across the face with his cane. As Elliot grunted and rubbed his cheek, Blood strode past him. The twins ran to follow, gesturing for Alice to come along.
“So who’d ya finally bet on, Big Sis?”
“We can use it on our next bet, so tell us!”
Alice winced at their screeches. “Well…this is the first time I’ve ever placed a bet, so I just bet on us.”
“But what rank did you put us? That’s the important part!”
“Yeah, tell us!”
Her bad feelings started to melt away. With a wry smile, she flicked up her index finger.
“You’ll just have to wait until it’s over to find out. For now, it’s a secret.”
“Wha?!” Dee threw up his arms. “Big Sis, now you’re just bein’ mean!”
“Boo! Everybody’s gotta profit or it’s no fair!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
With dry laughter, Alice dodged every one of the twins’ questions. They danced around her and wheedled even as they entered the Survey Meeting’s arena.
The game hadn’t changed since Round One—along with the numbers proclaiming the size of each territory, the leaders could strategize and add in the force that they chose. Blood took his position and made his moves without speaking.
But the Gravekeeper won the day, with the Castle in second place. Hatter Mansion was third, above only the Station.
The shift in winners helped bring the arena to a thundering climax.
Alice leaned back in her seat. She couldn’t figure out what force Blood had chosen to use…and neither could Elliot, apparently, based on the way his big frame shook.
“It can’t be true!” he cried. “This is Blood we’re taking about here! Why aren’t you on top, Blood?!”
Blood sneered over his shoulder. “Pipe down,” he snapped as he lowered himself into the chair at the front. “You’re close enough for the cane, if you want me to make you.”
Elliot clenched his fists. “I can’t take this!”
“Shut up, Elliot!”
“Gah!”
The cane whipped behind Blood, cracking into Elliot’s orange head. Elliot curled up and groaned in pain.
Alice licked her lips and double-checked the voucher in her hand.
“I don’t believe it,” she murmured to herself. “I got it right!”
A winning ticket on her very first bet. She hadn’t wagered much money, but she was still pleased. The twins leaned over her and pouted in unison.
“Aw… Big Sis got the only win? I had you at second, Boss! What’re you gonna do about it?!”
“Me, too! Agh! We shoulda followed her beginner’s luck! Now we’re gonna make even less than last time!”
Seeing the twins depressed and Elliot hunched over in dejection, Alice couldn’t get that excited about her win. Not if she was the only success story among all the Hatter elites.
Blood turned in his chair, his blue-green eyes leveling on her. “Well,” he said. “You won. Who would’ve thought?”
Alice got the feeling he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t. She curled her fingers over the ticket.
“I didn’t really care if I won. Maybe that’s why I did.”
“Didn’t care?” he repeated sourly. “Are you lacking in desire? I could never live like that.” His eyes burned. “Desire fuels everything.”
“And greed can eat you alive,” she countered. “What I’ve got is just right for me.”
He turned back to the arena.
Alice let out a breath and looked away. The cheers of the crowd filled her ears as the second Survey Meeting came to an end.