Free The Nutcracker Bleeds by Lani Lenore Page B

concentrate.
    “I
can be nothing else,” she said finally, heatedly. “I don’t know what else there
is!”
    “Liar!”
the Lady proclaimed, standing. “You might just as well be a spy!” Olivia shook
her head. “You’ve always thought you could trick me, Anne.”
    Clever
girl. The roles were reversed now and Anne understood the basis of this dream.
Olivia had once lived in Anne’s world and now Anne was in hers–the Lady
Sovereign’s kingdom. There were entirely different rules, and Anne had no idea
how to defend herself.
    Olivia
stared at her for several moments. Then when Anne said nothing, she shook her
head once again.
    “Imprison
her,” Olivia declared with a sigh, waving her hand dismissively.
    “No!”
Anne protested loudly, shoving away one of the guns that had been thrust in her
direction.
    “You
would try to prove your loyalty then?” Olivia asked with a taunting smile. “A
task?”
    Anne
didn’t respond, clenching her hands that were becoming clammy. She pressed a
finger too tightly and the knuckle popped. What would she do? Of course, there
seemed only one obvious answer: accepting the task. Still, she hated that she
didn’t know what she might be getting herself into by this.
    When
she was silent for too long, the soldiers moved to take hold of her again. She
held onto all of her self–restraint in order to keep herself from fighting back
this time. The lamp light flickered.
    “Let
me prove my loyalty!” she cried out. “Give me a task. I’ll do whatever you
want, Lady Sovereign.”
    Anne
nearly cringed as the words exited her mouth, but since she didn’t know what
imprisonment would entail, she decided she would rather avoid that–even though,
knowing Olivia, she would ask for something impossible.
    The
Lady Sovereign put a small finger to her delicate lips, tilting her head away
from Anne.
    “Hmmm…”
she considered, and Anne wondered briefly if the girl hadn’t already changed
her mind. “Though I suppose I can’t very well know that you won’t just run off
and tell the enemy whatever secrets you’ve uncovered as soon as I release you…”
    Anne
was very near to losing her temper completely. She opened her mouth to loudly
insist that she knew nothing about this ‘enemy’ when a voice rose up
behind her.
    “Let
her be in my charge.”
    The
voice was unpleasant, an English glide that was running across glass shards. It
pitched high to low and back again within every few passing syllables.
    Anne
turned her head and saw a familiar, leering grin set in a white face. A wild
suit made of black cloth. Curling shoes on extremely long feet. A hat that fell
behind him like dark rabbit ears. Dangling puppet strings. Sinister eyes. Anne
gasped.
    The
jester doll. Now fully as tall as she was.
    He
wove his way past the soldiers with fluid movement, gripping her shoulders and
squeezing them slightly. Anne didn’t want him touching her, but was too shocked
to protest.
    “I
shall make sure that she returns from her test and does not veer from me!” he
declared. “I will vouch for her character if only it pleases Her Ladyship.”
    All
of the jester’s movements were exaggerated, including the bow and flourish he
threw in at the end. Anne stood appalled while Olivia was completely enamored.
    The
Lady nodded. This proposal seemed satisfactory.
    “That
will do, Quentin,” she bade, then directed her attention to the shocked nanny.
“Bring me the cat’s eye .”
    “The…what?”
Anne asked, hardly hearing because her mind was trying to wrap around the ever
growing unpleasantness of her situation.
    “That
will be all,” said the Lady Sovereign. “And fetch for her a pair of shoes, will
you? Can’t have her running about like that.”
    Before
Anne could speak up, the feathers were lowered back in front of Olivia as a
dismissal.
    It
wasn’t long before a female doll hurried in from the side, handing Anne a pair
of tall boots made out of black cloth. They were thick, and if nothing