and myself.
"Who dares trespass in the queen's garden?" His voice boomed through the air, making the ground shake and Trip cover his face with his ears.
Frowning, I stalked up behind Trip and placed a comforting hand on his head. "Would you pipe down? There's no need to yell."
The guard frowned down at me curiously. "You are trespassing. I do not take orders from you."
"Well, I don't take orders from you either," I countered with a huff. My eyes slid over to Mop who only shrugged, he was as clueless as I was to this guards presence. "When did the queen care who came into her garden?"
"Since now." A wicked grin slid up the Fae's face. "I say who does or does not enter the queen's presence. Now, state your business else meet the Reaper."
I tossed my hair over my shoulder and scowled, "I'm surprised you don't know me. Everyone does."
The guard's confidence dropped for a moment before gearing back up. "I do not care who you are. I only know that no one is allowed in the queen's garden without her permission and she has not given anyone permission to be here today."
I glanced up at the sky as it began to lighten once more. "How do you know?"
The guard's brow drew together tight. "What do you mean how do I know? The queen would tell me herself, of course."
Seeing where I was going with this, Mop stepped in. "Seein' as it be a new day, have ye seen the queen yet to ask 'er?"
Puzzlement covered the guard's face. "Why no? Not yet. But she would have told me about you."
I blinked up innocently at him. "When? While she was sleeping? Certainly, you don't expect the Queen of the UnSeelie Court to drag herself out of bed to tell you someone is coming? We hadn't even known we were coming ourselves until just a few moments ago."
"See," the guard shot back thinking he caught us. "The queen doesn't know you are coming so you do not have her permission."
"But don't we?" I arched a brow. "We wouldn't come if we didn't. Have you asked her?"
"But you just said, she wouldn't..." the guard fumbled over his words clearly having a hard time keeping up with the situation.
"Oh, Vydriel," a low sultry voice crooned. "Have you been bested by a child?"
The guard, Vydriel, straightened abruptly and turned toward the voice coming from behind him. "Your majesty, please forgive me for my insolence. You should cut off my head and toss me to the Reaper for my betrayal."
A haughty laugh filled the air. "I do not think that will be necessary today, Vydriel. Please retire for the day. I will take my guests in the garden."
Vydriel bowed deeply before walking straight into the hedge where he disappeared without a trace. In his place stood a voluptuous woman with skin the color of the full moon and hair as dark as the night sky. Her ruby red lips curled up into a telling smile as she surveyed us. The black dress she wore made her seem as if she were floating as she moved toward us.
She reached a single pale hand out to cup my face making the black netting of the sleeves spread out like bat wings. The sharp black and white nails sat so close to my eye I tensed. "Alice," she purred ever so seductively. "I was wondering when you would grace me with your presence."
Swallowing thickly, I opened my mouth to speak but her thumb traced along my bottom lip pulling it down before releasing it. Trying again, I stuttered, "I've been busy in the human -"
"Spare me your excuses," Mab released me abruptly and stepped away, her dark blue eyes dropping down to my companions. "So you accompany this one as well?"
Trip bounced on his heels completely unaware of the underlying message in her words.
Mop pulled his hat from his head, sweat clear on his forehead and he bowed to Mab. "Yes, yer majesty, we be runnin' an errand fer Hatter but seems Hatter be missin'."
Mab's gaze wandered for a moment a sort of trance like expression on her face. "Ah, yes. He is not the only one who has gone astray." Her hand reached out into the air and the tightened into a fist suddenly. Her lips curled up at the edges as her gaze locked onto mine. "You have risked a lot coming here, Alice. And all for your Hatter."
I dipped my eyes for a moment, my