{A Fantasy Romance retelling of Alice in Wonderland}
In order to survive, a pirate and a thief must clear their names by traveling into a magical dream world together.
Adah Prideaux, seamstress by day, petty thief by night, finds herself in a world...
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Starry skies that had been flecked with magic gave way to a muted purple dawn as the Mircella crept out of its dock and fell into the fast river current.
Adah had been tied to the main mast, left to freeze in the early morning chill, while the princes of Belint busied themselves navigating the ship. Even Ezra, who was still bound at the wrists, was tasked with climbing the swinging rope ladders and opening the black sails.
As the ship rocked, Ezra seemed to move with it as he climbed up and down, making sure the ropes holding the sails taut were tied off properly.
Every once in a while, she found him staring at her from atop the rigging, silently speaking to her with only a glance. His gaze as comforting as it was thrilling.
She wasn't sure when the pirate sailed into the turbulent waters of her heart, only that he had. Somewhere along the way they'd become more than enemies. Ezra wasn't just another Levesque, nor was he a merciless pirate. Ezra was something else entirely.
He could be funny at times and even charming. There was also a softer side to him that came out unexpectedly. But most of all, she'd realized Ezra lived by a code of honor, despite the terrible things he'd been through.
After his own family cut out his heart, he'd survived. Which seemed more like a miracle than the curse he seemed to see it as. Yet, what did it mean to live without a heart? Ezra claimed he didn't need or want love in his life, and she understood why. The people who were supposed to love him the most hated him.
She glanced down at the dried blood still coating her palm, thinking of how he'd protected her from his family and of the way she wanted to protect him.
As the deck beneath her ass rocked back and forth, Adah reflected on what Fortuna had said about unrequited love being the most broken dream of all. She'd loved Reynald for so long, thinking that one day he might love her back. But, after seeing him again, the delusion she'd been living under for the past eight years seemed to fade. Reynald didn't love her—his actions and unsaid words told her as much.
The realization that she'd spent all these years loving a man who saw her as nothing but a best friend cut deeper than she wanted to admit. And more than the hurt, it was embarrassing.
Putting herself out there, again and again, getting her hopes up only to have them crushed.
As she sat bound to the mainmast of a ship, surrounded by the very men who'd killed her friend Lita and countless others with their cruel, heartless ways, Adah couldn't help but wonder if she was letting history repeat itself.
Was she looking for the love she so desperately wanted from a man who couldn't love her back? Was she walking into another broken dream?
