Work Text:
“Little Alice fell d
o
w
n
the hOle,
bumped her head
and bruised her soul”
- Alice in Wonderland
“What are those?” Cardan, prince of Elfhame, looks to his closest friend -- someone that he's not entirely sure likes being his friend or just likes using him as a pawn in his games. The redhead faerie boy lies on a mat surrounded by colourful pillows and piles of books.
Locke pushes a book across the floor to Cardan who crouches to catch it. “Mortals’ tales.” Its cover says, Alice in Wonderland .
“And why are you reading those?” Cardan asks. He came to Locke's manor to get away from his brother and his sword lessons.
“You saw them, didn’t you?” Locke’s eyes shine with excitement. When that happens, sometimes amusing things come after. But sometimes they don’t. “Sat near us in the palace class.”
Cardan tries to hide his own curiosity, “Madoc’s wards?” He doesn't want to be part of Locke's games with them. He could hurt himself too.
“Pretty dresses, gold pens, bread with honey and palace classes. He is treating them as if they were one of us!” He laughs. “Do you think the Grand General has gone insane?” Cardan has no intention to answer, but Locke hardly gives him a chance. “Anyone can see what they really are. But what do they see , Cardan? What do you think they see when they look at us ?”
“Something that scares or amazes them.” A memory stands out, walnut eyes that don't realize they are being noticed. “Or angers them.”
But Locke is too busy with his monologue to hear him. “These are books about us and our magic that mortals read to their children.” He isn’t even speaking to the prince anymore when he says, “Maybe I could convince one of them that I'm their faerie godmother."
Cardan leaves.
He takes Alice with him.
On another night, a bored prince lays in pillows with a book in hand. Not for the first time, nor for the last, he reads a tale of a wonderful and terrifying world and a mortal girl trapped in there, wondering how she feels.