8 hours. That's how long she'd been stuck in Wonderland in Bella's mind. Emma couldn't take it. Between the incessant dancing and drinking and eating weird pastries that tasted faintly like blood and other repugnant stuff, she really wanted to go home. 

Most of all, it was one in the morning in her time and that meant her mother was probably panicking. She would have seen her disappearance when she didn't come down for dinner. 

Right now, Bella was sitting in the rose garden, alone in the grass. She didn't seem to be afraid to stain her beautiful dress. 

" Emma, I am going to ask you something. I know you loathe me for kidnapping you into this place so I could live, but I'm asking for your sympathy here. My life is difficult. I have to sacrifice someone to live. I'm going to let you speak. I want to know how you're taking life here."

She stopped speaking. Her tone had been gentle and very British. 

" Emma...?"

This time she seemed a little worried. 

" Honestly? I... I... Wow. Feels nice to speak. Okay... Um... Honestly? I hate you. I want to kill you. You made me eat human heads, you made me see a dying dude, you made me do some horrific stuff and you literally tried strangling me to calm me down. You let me go home and you tormented me and you forced me to go back there. But I get it. Your world is weird, twisted, and you've never lived where I was... So you probably don't get that how you treated me and what you're doing is downright traumatizing for me. I'm not gonna lie, I want to go home so bad right now, but I don't think you'll let me. And... Honestly... well. Right now that's all I have to say."

Bella looked at her hands. They were so perfect, woman-like, beautiful. 

" I'm sorry, you know. I never really knew if I fully liked the Host system, I used to believe it wasn't right, but here it is, serving me. 

— I don't understand this world fully, you know? I've been here the equivalent of a school day and I don't get the ropes yet. I do know there's weird stuff happening. 

— It feels weird to speak to yourself when I'm actually speaking to you, Emma. 

— I know."

Bella giggled. 

" I think that if you stop fighting, you'll learn to love Wonderland. It's not called Wonderland for nothing, you know. It's a fantastic place. 

— No offense, but I don't want to get used to it. 

— None taken."

Emma smiled mentally. It felt weird to have a heart to heart with her oppressor. 

" You know, I've lived strange things but it's more interesting than any show I've ever watched. 

— Show? 

— Um...story. I don't know. I just... I still hate you. Don't forget that. I really hate you. I just want to make this hell less hellish."

                                                                                                -

9 hours. 

Bella was walking in a little cottage. It was hers. Emma was asleep in her mind, she's sedated her with an enormous dose of wine and champaign and whisky. Bella herself was feeling a little tipsy. She marched to her bed, an enormous king sized with golden quilts and white pillows, and she changed into a thin blue robe that glided on her curves in a perfect way. 

She slipped under the quilt and closed her eyes. It was two in the morning and she needed only an hour of sleep to feel satiated, but she was stressed. Emma had been weakened but she knew she was probably waiting to fight again. 

" Are you sleeping, Bella?"

The Hatter daughter jumped and sat up in second. It was only Knave of Hearts, wearing his eternal black leather suit, sitting on her rocking chair. 

" How long have you been here? 

— Long enough to enjoy the view."

He snickered. 

" I'm sorry. I know that would mess with your reputation if people knew. I just wanted to talk. Look... Bella..."

Knave got up. His eye that wasn't hidden by a red heart was a dark blue. His dark shoulder-lengthed hair were glowing in the candlelight. He got up and slowly walked to the side of the bed. Bella's chest rose and descended in slow motion. 

" What are you doing, Knave? This... We said we'd forget this. Remember? 

— That was a very long time ago, Bella... You were gone a very long while..."

He climbed on the bed and on top of Bella. His breath had changed. It was uneven. 

" It's true but... I don't... I can't..."

His hands rested on her waist on top of the cover. She breathed out in a dramatic way. Her heart was beating extremely fast and she was thankful that her Host couldn't see this right now. 

" There's nothing to worry about. You never got to turn eighteen, they never got to find you a suitor, and now you're back, and... And they'll find you one. Until then, remember, you are..."

He pressed his lips right under her jaw. Her hands grabbed his wrists but didn't stop him. 

" Mine..."

His lips made their way to her lips. Fire exploded within her chest. It was a growing one, that consumed her whole. She kissed him harder, with more passion, and he slipped his tongue between their parted lips. 

That's when she gently pushed him away.

" I can't do this, Knave. My reputation is everything, especially now. I've just come back. There are power plays. I need to make sure I stay on top. That and I'm still at war with my Host Body, and the revolutionaries are trying to overthrow our Queen... I can't. 

— Can't you try to love me? Is your schedule so... So tight that love cannot take its place? Its rightful place? 

— My love... You do not seem to fathom how hard it is for me to ask you to... To calm your urges for now. My heart is yours but my lips can't be right now. If someone discovers this... Anyone... It can ruin my chances of staying in this high position in Court and it can ruin me. This is a power war, Knave. I want you to be beside me when I marry, as I want to marry you. I want you to be my side, take me in your arms at night in a castle somewhere. Right now I simply cannot. I cannot be ruined by a relation outside of marriage."