Rather than wait on Xavier to pick her up after her lesson, Alice snuck past the silent librarian and out the doors, deciding to find her own way back to their room. She took a few wrong turns, but did manage to make it back to the room.

The palace seemed oddly empty. Despite the fact that there had been a crowd at their wedding, no one was around now. She wondered if there was a town outside the castle walls where the courtiers and other Shadow Fae lived, but if such a thing existed, she wasn't certain she'd ever get to see it.

At least... not if she kept listening to Xavier.

Once in the bedroom, she decided to search for anything that might give her more information, anything that might tell her something about Florian. Alice didn't know if there was a separate office that Xavier kept for palace work, but there had to be a desk in the room for a reason. It was probably best to start there, and then she could move to searching the wardrobes, under the bed, and looking around the walls for hidden compartments.

That last one might have been a stretch, she thought, but it couldn't hurt to check every possibility.

The secretary-style desk was practically empty, with only a blank notebook, some pens, and a few documents in the fae language. Alice traced her fingers over the top of the desk, pulled out all the drawers, and found nothing.

"Look under the bottom. I see a latch," Missy said, staring up at the underside of the desk from her position on the floor.

Alice reached under the bottom of the desk, moving her hand until she found a small indention in the wood. When she pulled the right way, something clicked under the desk, and a small compartment opened.

Perhaps checking for hidden drawers wasn't a stretch, after all.

Leaning forward, she hesitantly reached inside the hidden drawer until her fingers found two objects. The first was a leatherbound book with deckled edge pages, the cover water stained and worn from use. Alice flipped it open to look inside, but almost immediately cursed under her breath.

Whatever it was, it wasn't written in English. There were markings at the top of each entry that looked like numbers, possibly indicating days and years, so she assumed it was a journal. However, that was all she could intuit. Even the characters looked strange and otherworldly, like the fae writing had in the library earlier. Alice wasn't one to learn languages quickly, and she wasn't sure how it might translate, so she simply shut the book for the time being. It had to be important if it was hidden... she just didn't know why.

The second object in the drawer was, at least, something she'd seen before. As she reached into the back of the compartment, Alice's fingers touched something cool, round, and metal. She wrapped her hand around the palm-sized object and pulled it towards her, surprised to see the silver pocket watch from the wedding gift table.

"Soul trap watch...?" she muttered, glancing at Missy.

"Looks the same to me," the possum confirmed. "Let's not open it and test it, though."

"Good plan," Alice said, staring down at the silver watch.

Why would Xavier choose to store this in his desk? And why hide it? If it had been a wedding gift, wasn't it something that should be in the treasury?

... Did the Shadow Court have a treasury, she wondered?

In any case, this watch had been specifically picked out from the rest of the gifts. Xavier had chosen to keep it close, within easy reach, but hidden. He hadn't once mentioned it to her, either, and Alice did not like the pressing feeling in the pit of her stomach when she thought about that. She didn't understand why it was here, but this was dangerous. Shouldn't he at least have told her about it if he was keeping it in their shared room?

That was when the doorknob started to turn.

Acting on instinct and adrenaline, Alice shoved the journal back into the compartment under the desk exactly as she found it, slamming the hidden drawer shut. As the door started to open, she realized that the silver watch was still sitting on her lap, not quite in plain view, but it was too late to put it back into the drawer. Instead, she shoved it into her dress pocket.

"Looking for something?" Xavier asked as he stepped through the threshold. It was all Alice could do not to flinch, though she felt her heart rate increase.

"I can't read most'a the books in the library. Thought there might be somethin' to help translate in here," she said with a smile. It was the best excuse she could come up with on short notice.

"You can always bring it to me, and I'll translate for you," Xavier offered.

"Aw, that'll take a whole lotta time, though," Alice said, pouting. "I know you're busy."

"Not too busy for you," he said, moving closer to her. He bent down to place a chilly kiss on her forehead, slipping his hand under her chin so she was forced to look up at him. "What has my lovely wife been up to? Did lessons go well?"

"They went fine," Alice mumbled, glancing away.

"What's on your mind, treasure?"

"Nothing," she sighed, shaking her head. It wasn't like she could ask him why he had a death watch in his desk.

"Now, now," Xavier said. "Talk to me."

Alice gasped as he scooped her up from the chair, moving them both over to the bed. He sat with his back against the headboard, settling her on his lap. It was comfortable, but also not comfortable. She'd wanted someone to hold her like this for far too long, and a part of her just wanted to relax and enjoy the embrace. It didn't matter if he was cold. It didn't matter what he did.

Just as long as someone loved her, she would be okay.

For a moment, Alice let her head relax against his chest, wondering what it would be like if she stopped questioning quite as much and let him take control. They could have a chance at a good life together, she thought. They'd be bound forever, able to know each other more fully and deeply than anyone ever imagined possible.

... But was that what she really wanted?

The longer she stayed in the Shadow Court, the more Alice wasn't sure she really understood what love was at all. She didn't know what she wanted, didn't know how to give what someone else wanted, didn't know what to do except what was expected of her. And, more than anything, she wondered if she'd ever see the people she left behind again.

"Why did you bargain with my momma for me?" Alice asked hesitantly. "If we're already mirrors or soul mates or somethin', why bother with more?"

"I've told you the reason for the blood vows already. Was that explanation insufficient?" he asked, brow furrowing.

Alice did not think of herself as stupid. However, she wondered if playing dumb might be an advantage in this situation. Xavier clearly thought, at the very least, that she couldn't speak correctly. She wondered if she might be able to get some useful information out of him if she leaned into that.

"I don't know..." Alice said softly, reaching out to hold Missy as the possum jumped up into her lap. "I just don't get it, I guess."

Adjusting her weight on his lap, Xavier sighed and seemed to think for a long moment before he spoke.

"She wanted someone to take her pain away," he said, brow furrowing. "She lost your sister, lost your father, and lost herself in grief so dark and deep that she couldn't care for you. I saw the opportunity to help her and secure my connection to you, so I took it."

Alice narrowed her eyes.

Help might have been a strong word. Based on what her older sisters remembered, their mother had entirely changed after the birth of Alice and her stillborn twin. She'd been softer, more forgiving. Everyone assumed that coming out of that deep well of grief had changed her, but...

What if that wasn't the entire story?

"Trust me, my treasure: I only made that bargain to ensure an easy road towards what was already destined to happen," Xavier insisted. His tone was even and calm, but Alice was starting to realize that it was always like that.

"An easy road?" She raised an eyebrow, hoping for more information.

"I did not want to fight another man for you if it could be avoided," he said simply.

"F—for me?" Alice stuttered, heat rising to her cheeks despite her reservations.

"I was not about to let the other half of my very soul slip away," Xavier murmured, picking up Alice's left hand in his own. He placed a soft kiss over her wedding ring and pulled her closer. Missy squeaked in protest, jumping out from between them as Xavier shifted his hold.

He gently pressed his lips against hers, kissing her slowly, his hands tracing along her waist. Alice sighed into the kiss without thinking about it, leaning into the touch. It was strange being this close to someone, and it felt nice, but it also felt like something was missing. Something was underwhelming where it shouldn't be.

His tongue slipped into her mouth, and Alice pulled away, embarrassed. Not deterred, Xavier shifted to pressing kisses against her neck, down her collarbone, over the swell of her small breasts. His grip shifted to her hips, pulling her towards him.

"I— I don't know if—" Alice stuttered, hovering somewhere between responsive and pulling away.

"Relax, treasure," he murmured against her skin. "This will feel good."

It... did feel good. Maybe.

Did it feel good?

His lips were soft, but they were also cold. His hands running down her arms sent chills down her spine, heat building low in her belly and breasts growing heavy and tight as he stroked them over her nightgown.

Something was wrong, though. Alice was well aware of what happened between husbands and wives, even aware enough to know that her body wanted him like she thought a body should. The sight of his muscular frame nearly made her swoon. He was objectively handsome, devastatingly so, but...

But he wasn't...

"N—no," she croaked, voice barely audible.

This wasn't right. This wasn't supposed to be happening, not with him. It didn't matter how her body reacted. Her mind and her heart were terrified.

"No, stop. Stop!" Alice cried, pushing Xavier back with all her strength. He fell back against the headboard, eyes going wide as she scrambled away from him, shocked and panting. She stood on shaking legs and stared, unsure what to think.

No, she was only thinking one thing: He wasn't Florian.

She didn't want Xavier. She wanted... Florian.

Missy hissed from her position on the floor, backing towards Alice as Xavier looked on, mouth opening and closing like a codfish.

She scooped up the possum and bolted for the door before she consciously made the decision to do so, sprinting into the hallway and away from the bedroom as quickly as she could.

All she had wanted was to be loved, to be wanted, to have the life that she'd envied all this time. Now, she was married to a man that she didn't want to touch her, trapped in a Fae Court she couldn't get away from, and running to nowhere in particular just to gather her thoughts. Not to mention, she was very quickly developing an overwhelming attraction to her new husband's twin brother, who no one seemed to remember existed.

This was an incredible disaster.

Xavier stared at the open doorway, wondering where the fuck his bride had decided to run.

No matter. He controlled every inch of this court, every inch of these grounds. There was no way Alice would be able to leave without him knowing, and as long as she didn't leave, he wound find her. She would come wandering back to him, eventually.

She was absorbing the magic from the land and the Shadow Fae nicely. He could feel it building inside her, a well of power deeper than anything he'd ever hoped to tap into, but until their blood vows were consummated, he wouldn't be able to access it. Alice was too slow and dense to be able to utilize that power herself, he'd realized. She wouldn't know how to channel raw magical energy into the shape it needed to be, and thus he needed to be able to access it for himself.

He was so, so close. One more step and their magics would combine, one more step and he could take what he needed from her.

Icy rage bloomed in his chest as Xavier pulled himself to his feet. He hadn't counted on her being quite as afraid as she was. Yes, she was starry-eyed and desperate for love, but she clearly required more coddling than he'd expected. It wasn't as though he lacked time, but he had aimed to perform his spell on the eve of the full moon, when the muted silver glow signaled completion.

It would signal the completion of a decades old bargain that still trapped him halfway between one form and the next. It would signal the completion of centuries of planning. And, ultimately, it would signal the completion of his rise to power.

He had three weeks left before the full moon. She'd damn well better submit before then.