"Check."

Alice looked down in disbelief at the chess board. "Already?"

"You weren't concentrating." A wry smile lifted the corner of Blood's lips. "Was there something on your mind?"

Alice thought for a moment before moving her king out of danger. "Of course not," she replied coolly.

"You keep on glancing out of the window."

Now that he mentioned it, Alice realised she had been looking at the window a lot. The sun was high in the sky and a light, summery breeze drifted in through the vent, bringing back memories of tea parties and board games in the garden.

"I was thinking it might be nice to go outside." She sighed. "It's okay. I don't want people to see I'm here."

"I have an inkling that after this morning, everyone already knows." Blood shot her a teasing smile.

It took Alice a moment to realise what he was talking about. "Blood!" She had to resist the urge to lean over the board and dig her elbow into his shoulder.

"It's far too easy to wind you up," he said with a laugh. "Not that I'm complaining. You look even sweeter when your cheeks are red."

Alice raised a hand to her face. Even though it was just the two of them in the room, she couldn't help blushing.

Looking down, she realised Blood had already made his move. "Perhaps we should see how you like it when I tease you back," she said coolly.

"I wouldn't mind." His eyes sparkled. "If you really wanted to make your point, you could always pin me down. I'm sure that would teach me a lesson."

"Yes, because you'd hate that, wouldn't you?" Alice rolled her eyes, though deep down, she was enjoying his teasing. She moved another of her pieces forward, preparing for an attack, when Blood sucked his breath in. "What?"

He reached over and positioned his knight between her bishop and rook, forking the two pieces. "You fell right into that one, young lady." With no way of blocking or taking the knight, she had to choose which of her pieces to lose.

She groaned. Usually, she and Blood were evenly matched when it came to chess. Alice had grown up playing board games with her sister, after all. Today, though, she was losing to Blood three to one, and from the way this game was going, he would be soon be upping his winning streak by one.

The sound of voices in the corridor tore her attention away from the board. She froze. Servants were constantly passing the room, but these seemed to come from just outside the door.

The next thing she knew, the door flew open and in burst two small figures.

"The chicken rabbit said you were in here, boss," said Dee, rushing forward.

"Yeah, he mentioned something about Alice, too, but I think that was a mistake," Dum added.

The pair paused in unison as their eyes fell on Alice. She only just managed to stand before they slammed into her, almost knocking her to the ground again. For a few seconds, Alice's world was a jumble of hugs and wails.

"Big sis, we missed you so much."

"It was so boring here without you."

Alice managed to wrest her hands free of their grips and rubbed their heads. "I missed you, too."

"Why didn't you come to see us?"

"Yeah, we tried to find you but Boss wouldn't tell us where you were."

"I didn't know where she was." Blood had risen to his feet. Despite the sharpness of his tone, Alice could tell from his expression that he wasn't angry at the interruption.

Well, that's it. The whole Hatter family knows I'm here. Alice couldn't help but smile. She and Blood had tried so hard to keep their new relationship a secret, sneaking around the mansion and keeping their voices low, and it had all been for nothing.

But a part of her was glad she could be more open now. She'd made her decision to stay with Blood, so what was the point in hiding herself away? Not to mention how much she'd missed the Twins, too.

Dum pulled away from her, and Alice's heart leapt to see his eyes were filled with tears. "We thought you hated us, just because you hated Boss."

Blood raised an eyebrow.

"You don't hate us, do you?" asked Dee. Unlike his brother, he wasn't crying, though he seemed to be on the verge.

"Of course I don't," said Alice, squeezing them both close again. An idea came to her. "Say, since it's such a nice day, why don't we all go outside?"

"Is that a wise idea?" Blood asked.

"I see no harm," said Alice with another glance at the window. "Besides, I feel like tea."

A smile spread across the Hatter's face. "Outside it is, then."

Alice giggled. Why did I have a feeling you'd say that?

Later that night, as the mansion rested, Alice lay in bed. She'd been drifting in that fuzzy space between sleep and consciousness for a while now, deliberating whether her body's needs were urgent enough to justify a trip to the bathroom or not. Most of all, she didn't want to break the position she had with Blood, who dozed peacefully behind her, his arm wrapped around her chest.

Inevitably, discomfort won. The bathroom it was.

She slipped out from underneath Blood's arm, taking extra care not to wake him, but despite her best efforts, he grunted sleepily and muttered, "Are you okay?"

Alice told him where she was headed, and he nodded. By the time she was off the bed, he'd fallen back asleep.

It was a short walk along the corridor to the bathroom. As far as she knew, nobody but Blood used this space, since the Twins and Elliot had their rooms on the first floor. Once she was finished, she walked back to Blood's quarters, wanting nothing more than to crawl back under the covers and close her eyes.

"Miss Alice?"

She paused in her steps and turned to see a single figure standing at the end of the corridor. Though she was little more than a silhouette, Alice could tell at once from her uniform and the slightly drawl of her tone that she was one of the faceless maids who worked in the mansion.

"Are you okay?" Alice asked.

She's probably surprised to see me here after so long, she thought. Back when she'd been living here, Alice had had a good relationship with several of the staff members, even helping them out with their work when she had time to spare.

"I'm... fine." The woman sighed deeply, then made her way towards her. Alice frowned. There was a slight limp to her walk.

"Are you injured? I can get you some help." Alice rushed forward to meet her. The woman stumbled the last few steps and landed in her arms.

"Thank you," she breathed. "I'm... sorry."

Sorry? Alice watched in confusion as the woman reached into the pocket of her dress. Then something flashed silver in the dark. By the time alarm bells chimed in her head, it was too late.

She barely managed a scream before the woman slipped behind her, grabbed her by the hair and jerked her head back. A knife pressed into her throat, so hard Alice feared it would break the skin if she so much as flinched.

"Make a move," the woman whispered in her ear, "and I'll kill you."