Free Spades: The True Wonderland Awaits. (Of Wonderland Chronicles Book 1) by A.G. Stone

started to change. Instead of my brown hair cut short in a pixie style, my hair was now turning silver and was growing bit by bit until it fell down to my waist. My eyes that were once dark brown were now turning into a shade of light green with purple flecks that were large enough to be noticed. My skin was still ivory pale, but I had markings starting to appear on my face that were bright yellow trailing down from underneath my left eye across my cheek, only stopping at the corner of my mouth. I couldn't place the markings; it was as if there was something inhibiting my memory. But there were silver jewels studding the markings at random intervals - sometimes they were inches apart, sometimes only centimeters.
    The dress I was wearing was mostly red with black roses and thorns trailing across my chest and my stomach. There were black pieces of fabric that looked like they had been crumpled up before they were sewn on to the dress. The rest of the dress was red with little designs of black roses and thorns decorating it like on the bodice of the dress. Some pieces of the dress - dyed crimson with what looked like blood - were made of chiffon and were only near the bottom, amidst other pieces of chiffon that were black. The heels that I wore on my feet were mostly transparent, revealing my ivory colored skin beneath. The black designs crawling up and down the heels were also of roses. The heels cut out to reveal the back of my heels and my toes, which were always painted red.
    "Milady, Master asked that you wear this," Meadow said, handing me a small top-hat.
    I put the top-hat on my head and angled it. The red and black stripes of the top-hat, mixed with the chiffon flower on the brim, completed the outfit, and I walked out of the room, going to Blayke's side where I felt as though I belonged.

Chapter 13:
The Lesson on the Wilds and the Faeries
     
    "You look lovely, darling Bryony. The dress I picked out for you suits you well, and that hat just accents your hair and sets off the dress just right. How do you like the heels? Do they hurt your feet? I'm sorry if they do," Blayke said without turning from the painting of what I supposed used to be the Castle of Spades. I could tell because Spades were painted on the gates. Somehow I knew that the Castle of Spades didn't look like that anymore.
    I shook my head. "The heels don't hurt my feet at all," I said.
    I could see the corner of his mouth turn up at that, and I blushed, thinking how lovely his smile is.
    "Is that your home?" I blurted out without thinking. I clapped my hands over my mouth and flushed, just realizing the rude question I had asked.
    Blayke chuckled, turning to me. "Don't be embarrassed, lovely Bryony. Yes, that is my home. It doesn't look like that anymore, though, not since the current Queen of Spades began her rule. Now the castle is dirty and stained with the blood of the people's heads she placed on stakes surrounding the perimeter warning people not to mess with her. The Queen of Spades has at least fifteen people beheaded per day. The King of Spades pardons the others when he knows his wife isn't looking, because he knows that she'll behead him too if she knows he's crossing her; but if the people the King pardoned weren't pardoned, the number of people beheaded per day would be more like sixty-nine."
    I snorted, and Blayke looked at me strangely.
    "What's so funny about the number being sixty-nine? That's a lot of people being beheaded per day; that's a lot of deaths, Bryony. You should care," he lectured me, but I only snorted again. He gave me a disapproving look, but that only served to make me snort once more.
    "Long story," I said, biting my lip to keep from bursting out laughing.
    "It's a human world thing, isn't it?" Blayke asked, arching an eyebrow at me, and I giggled.
    "Yup," I said cheerily, popping the 'P'. "Very much so."
    Blayke chuckled and shook his head. "You humans are a very strange species," he said, turning back to the