rows of chairs for the jury, a seating arrangement for onlookers, and there sat the queen in her throne across from the suspect. The suspect was a flat man with a hood over his head. His normal-looking hands and feet were wrapped in chains spiked to the ground.
“Delicious!” A voice said by way of greeting. Among the arriving onlookers, Alice saw it was Caterpillar! He wore a big, welcoming smile.
“I don’t understand,” Alice said. “Last I saw you, you were becoming a cocoon. But you look the same as before.”
“I was in that cocoon to realize my full potential. Inside I had time to think. If I wanted to get to the best I could be, I needed to first know where I was starting from. The more I dwelled on who I already was, the more I realized how I didn’t want to be any different. I am Caterpillar. Smoking gun and all.”
Alice ran into his arms to give him the hug he so deserved, and took comfort in feeling all of his hands enfold her. Caterpillar’s words and confidence warmed her chest. She wondered if it would do her well to follow his example.
“Come to order!” the queen announced.
It was time to sit down. Alice bid Caterpillar a quiet farewell. She looked for a place to sit, but all of the onlookers’ seats were taken. Alice saw Rabbit in one of the seats. Without asking, she sat on his lap. He frowned, but said nothing and didn’t move her off his lap.
“Jury,” the queen said, “what is your verdict?”
“Uh, not yet, your majesty,” said a courtroom orderly standing beside the queen. “First we must hear the evidence against the Jack of Hearts.”
“Oh, very well.” The queen waved her hand as if to say move along. “Go on.”
The orderly announced, “Bring in the first witness!”
Two flat soldiers, the Eight of Hearts and the Nine of Hearts, escorted the elder of the village in. Rabbit whispered to Alice. “This isn’t very comfortable.” He patted her hips.
Alice had an idea. “You wanted to know what a pussy feels like?” She grinned at him.
“Yes?”
“Well, I’ll show you something that feels better than that!”
Alice discreetly lifted her dress, pulled her panties down, and sat on Rabbit, skin on skin.
The queen asked the elder, “What’s your testimony?”
“I saw the Jack in Rabbit’s cottage,” the old man said. “And it wasn’t even his cottage. It was Rabbit’s.”
Alice reached behind her and rubbed Rabbit’s cock. She had to see. Had to know for sure if this was the only way she could climax. His length hardened hot in her hand.
The queen said, “Jury, what’s your verdict?”
“Um,” the orderly said, “there is more evidence to view, your Majesty.”
“Yes, yes,” the queen said. “Call the next witness.”
“Bring in the next witness!” shouted the orderly.
The soldiers escorted the elder out and brought in Caterpillar.
Alice brought Rabbit’s tip to her ass. “It’s as moist as a tongue,” she said. His length became slippery and the head slid right in.
Alice sucked in her breath. She clenched around him and felt him stretch her entrance.
“Alright, Caterpillar,” the queen said. “Present your evidence.”
“I was sitting on my mushroom at the time the tarts were stolen,” he said.
“So?” the queen said.
“So the thief clearly was not me. And since the Jack of Hearts is also not me, the thief must be the Jack.”
“Yes!” the queen said. “That proof is solid.”
Alice ignored the ridiculous testimonies of the witnesses. She was just glad to know Caterpillar found his true self. Now to find her own. She focused on relaxing, letting herself inch down on Rabbit’s cock, getting closer and closer to becoming fully seated in his lap. Rabbit groaned. Alice reached all the way down, her rim clenching, pulsing, throbbing around his hot shaft. And yet, something still wasn’t as good as when the hatter did it to her. What was missing?
The trial continued its meaningless course, as Alice tried to increase her arousal by moving up and down Rabbit. She felt his cock pushing into her. She lifted herself up, then down, his cock pulling out, pushing in, stretching that narrow secret part of her. But it wasn’t enough.
“This isn’t working,” she whispered to Rabbit. She sat up, releasing his length completely out of her.
Rabbit wrapped his fist around his cock and worked on himself. “It was! It was!” Alice stood to walk away and wait until the queen was done with her duties. Alice could ask the queen after the trial how to get back home.
The queen said, “What is your verdict?”
The orderly said, “Remove his hood so he can be properly addressed by his jury.”
The Eight of Hearts pulled the black cloth from the Jack of Hearts. Alice recognized his face immediately.
She gasped. “No!”
Chapter 22
It was the hanged man, his gorgeous body now hideously flattened. Alice ran to him and lifted his now clean-shaven chin with delicate fingers to peer into his eyes. Without his facial hair, she recognized he was more than just the hanged man. He was Jack. Her Jack. Under his perfect mop of dark and sweaty hair, tired blackness bagged beneath his half-shut eyes. His lips were cracked from dryness, a desperate tongue failing to revive them.
“Hanged man,” she whispered.
He awoke at her voice, and seemed to notice his surroundings. With his gaze into her eyes, Alice felt him penetrate her soul.
“Alice.” His dry, scratchy voice cracked through his smile. “My big beauty. Ly muv.”
He seemed to have forgotten all the horrible accusations around him. He put all his attention on her. His recognition of who she was, as if nothing else mattered to him except her, made Alice swoon.
“Jack. My dear hanged man.” Alice wanted to keep his mind off the trial. “I never had a chance to ask you. How did you know my name?”
“You’re the only woman…Your warm love…for my hold cart.”
Alice clutched fast to him, holding him as tight as she could.
“Stop that at once!” the queen shouted. “Get that woman away from the Jack!”
Two soldiers clamped their beefy hands on Alice’s arms and began dragging her away from the hanged man.
“No!” Alice cried. What could she do? “I know where your tarts are! I know who has them!”
“Wait!” shouted the queen. She looked at Alice with stern eyes. “Where are they?”
“They’re in that shed over there,” Alice pointed to the nearby wooden hut. “And Queen, the man inside who stole the tarts?” Alice gave the queen a firm look. “He also took your rose.”
The queen’s mouth opened, and then closed into a thin-lipped grimace. Angry red welts filled her cheeks. The queen stood and stepped down from her throne.
Holding her dress up off the ground, the queen marched towards the shed. “It’s like I have fists of steel.” Her hands turned to metal and she disappeared into the shed.
In moments, Alice heard the duke cry out.
Alice turned to the Jack of Hearts. It was ludicrous that the Jack was suspected of crimes he could never commit. He only wants to love. And the one he decides to love is his choice. Jack’s choice. No matter who he chooses to love, love is never a crime.
She wrapped her arms around him, and held him tight. “Jack, I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have known who
