I don't own Alice in Wonderland or any of its characters. Based on the 2010 Tim Burton film.

Rated M.

This story is dedicated to a special friend; Jewel. She knows who she is!
And I want to thank my wonderful Beta Reader, Wanderamaranth. She's a true gem!

Tarrant Hightopp/Alice Kingsley/Mirana of Marmoreal

Alice has returned to Underland. Both Tarrant and Mirana love her. But Mirana also wants to punish Tarrant for breaking her heart in the past. Will Alice be her unwitting pawn in this game?

A Pawn In Her Game?

Chapter 1

Alice had returned. It had been four long years for Tarrant, but the wait had been worth it. He had felt in his very bones that Alice would keep her promise and return. He never gave up on her even when Mally tried to talk him out of waiting.

"She ain't comin' back, 'Atter!" Mally would constantly say, "she's already fergotten all abou' us!"

But Tarrant would scold her and tell her that she was wrong; that Alice was indeed going to return. And finally, during the third year of waiting, Absolem paid Tarrant a visit regarding Alice. He had coolly, and pretending to behave as if he were completely indifferent to the matter, informed him that Alice was sailing home and wrapping up her business in Otherworld. She had every intention of returning to Underland for good. He had even seen her keep her memories alive by writing in a blank book every day! She wrote down every detail that and constantly added, at the end of each entry, that she was recording her memories, not her dreams. They were memories and they were real. And Tarrant Hightopp was real and that she had promised him she would return and she would do so.

It took Alice nearly one more year, but she had finally completed her Otherworld business. She had expanded her father's trading company, handed it over to Lord Ascot to run, and provided for her sister and her mother. And then she had informed her mother that she was leaving for China once more, and possibly for good.

And she had Returned.

Tarrant, even though he had kept faith in her, still couldn't contain his surprise when she walked through his Garden Gate and, lifting her skirts, hurried towards the Tea Table. He had stood to greet her, yet his feet failed him and remained stubbornly where they were, as if rooted to the ground, as the beautiful young blonde wearing a purple, high-necked dress rushed into his arms so hard that they both nearly toppled over!

Tarrant didn't know what colour his eyes were reflecting, but he didn't care. Let her see his colour of love, whatever colour that was. Of course he did not know. He had never been in love before. Oh, yes, he had been attracted to a few lasses in his day, but he had never loved before. But Alice; yes, he loved her! His pulse quickened and shocks like tiny bolts of electricity surged through his veins. His cheeks flushed, his throat felt tight, and his brain felt like so many fluttering rocking-horse flies.

Her arms around him, her golden hair tickling his nose, her rose and vanilla scent wisping into his nostrils and making his skin heat and prickle with pleasurable ripple-like sensations. He held her more tightly and Alice giggled and tightened her hold on him in return.

"I'm so glad to be back!" she whispered in her breathy Alice Voice. "I've missed you so, Tarrant! You have no idea how I have missed you!"

"Oh, but I do, lass!" he gasped through his constricted throat. "However much you've missed me, I've missed you more! Tenfold more! No, twentyfold! No, a grimblemillionfold more!"

Alice finally drew back enough to peer into his face. Her lush pink lips were glistening with the perfect amount of kissable moisture, but he didn't dare kiss her. Not yet. Those lips beckoned to him of their own accord, regardless of whether Alice was aware of it. But he tore his gaze from them and looked into her azure-blue eyes. He had never forgotten for a single tortuous eternity-stretched moment those eyes. He had never seen eyes that colour before and knew he never would again. Yes, they were Alice Blue Eyes. Only she could have such.

"Tarrant," she whispered, "I've brought you a few things."

"Just give me one for now," he said softly, still holding her as if she would vanish once more as she had the day the Jabberwocky had been slain.

"What would you like?" she asked saucily, quirking a brow at him and her pink lips curling into a mischievous smile.

"A kiss," he whispered, hardly believing those words had just come from his mouth.

When she did not move, yet still smiled, he quickly seized the precious moment and gently pressed his crimson and suddenly nervous and dry lips to hers. He had meant to brush a kiss across her flushed cheek, but those lips had beckoned and he had answered their irresistible call.

Tarrant drew back to gauge her reaction. He was pleased by what he saw. Alice was blushing and her eyes were half closed.

"Tarrant, that wasn't what I meant," she murmured, amused, "but it was the best thing you could have asked of me, or me from you, when it comes down to it."

He knew he would have to take her to Mirana. But the White Queen could wait for a little while. He finally had Alice back. For good.

Mirana could barely keep her renowned royal composure when Tarrant brought Alice to her at last. Oh, she had waited so unbearably long to see the lovely young woman again!

Alice, in her strange high-necked purple dress and tousled golden hair had never looked so lovely and alluring as she did at that moment. Yes, the gown was strange; quite oddly conservative, but the girl herself radiated joy and confidence. Yes, Mirana knew, she had indeed Returned to Stay.

She tried to appear calm, yet sisterly as she opened her arms wide, beckoning for her Champion to come to her. Smiling, yet somewhat shyly, Alice did. They embraced tightly and after a few moments, Mirana allowed tears of joy to trickle down her marble-white cheeks.

Alice also allowed her tears to flow, and soon the two women were embracing fiercely. "It's so good to see you again, Your Majesty!" Alice whispered brokenly.

"Call me Mirana, dear. I've missed you as well! I've awaited your return with such anxious and hopeful anticipation!"

Alice pulled back and the women held hands now, gazing at each other affectionately. "Didn't you see anything in the Oraculem? Or didn't Absolem tell you anything at all?"

Mirana shook her head, but smiled. "The Oraculem has not unfurled since your Departure. And Absolem can be quite...ah...obstinate, not to mention often absent. But I did hear from McTwisp that he had gone to see Tarrant almost a year ago."

Mirana looked at Tarrant and the Hatter saw something in her eyes that betrayed a slight touch of menace and envy. No, surely she could not, after all these years, still feel the jealousy and hurt?

How many years had it been? Mirana had been the White Princess then, and she had taken quite a fancy to the Royal Milliner. She was kinder and undeniably gentler and more benevolent than her sister, Iracebeth, and her father, who's own tendency towards selfishness and small acts of cruelty had to be constantly tempered by his wife. He was willing to be aided by his wife, however, as he was not a willing slave to his darker urges, but Mirana and Iracebeth were both fiercely independent in their own ways and embraced those ways enthusiastically.

Mirana had tended towards being graceful, charming, always the perfect hostess, and prided herself in how often birds and various types of butterflies would alight on her shoulder or a proffered pale finger. Her Charms were her pride and her manners and etiquette were her Codes.

He and Mirana had developed a close friendship for a while. She would visit him while he was making hats and gowns and shoes for the Ladies of the Court. Mirana used to delight in twirling about his Workroom modeling one of his gowns or hats and showing off her grace and beauty. That was when he began to see that Mirana had more than just friendly interest in him.

Tarrant had been so flattered; so pleased. And he was a young man, so he also was incredibly attracted to the white-haired beauty who floated and giggled and danced around him as lightly and gracefully as a nymph. The more she began to exhibit such flirtatious behaviour, the more he found his body begin to respond to her.

Then one day, Mirana glided past him and ran her tiny hand across the area where his trousers were so incredibly tight and uncomfortable.

"Is something...troubling you, Tarrant, dear?" she breathed into his ear as she circled him as if she were dancing.

Tarrant closed his eyes tightly. This wasn't right! He was a normal man, yes, but she was a Princess! He wasn't allowed to think of her in such vulgar ways, much less act upon them! So why was she tormenting him? She was supposed to be his friend, nothing more! His eyes flew open. No, he had to face her and tell her...

"Tarrant," she sang softly, "my Hatter, come to me in my Chambers tonight." She smiled and batted the lids of her doe-eyes alluringly, and Tarrant felt his shameful and slurvish member begin to leak. Even the smell of her, all sugar and cream, was arousing him in ways he had never known possible.

"That is an order, Tarrant Hightopp," she finished, tracing a black-nailed fingertip over his lips. "You have no say in the matter. Although," she teased, glancing down at his bulging torment, "I don't think you will find it a terribly unpleasant experience."

And he hadn't. He had been with lasses before, several in fact, but Mirana was different. She was so sophisticated and commanding, yet in a gentle and lady-like way. She was not lusty and earthy as his previous conquests had been. She was lustful, yes, but in a nymph-like way. And gradually, her focus began to center on skillful touches and the perfect timing for this position and that... After a while Tarrant began to not only be ill at ease due to her station, but her sexual demands were almost...clinical. It was as if she were using him to perfect her skills, not to show him affection or to please him.

Tarrant did not want her to love him, but her tell-tale behaviour did not serve to endear her to him any further. Nor did he feel guilty that he simply found that he could not love her. Not in his heart. She could be a good friend, but as for anything more, he was simply not interested. As a lover she seemed to be less a woman and more of a mechanical being. She had no life and no passion. Even if she had, he could not have loved her. But her lacking those qualities made it easy for him to see her as simply a sexual partner and nothing more.

It was only later that he realised that Mirana had been truly interested in him. When, after several months of their secret liaisons she told him she loved him, he had laughed. Surely she was joking! But then he saw tears mist in her chocolate eyes and his laughter died upon his lips.

"Oh, Mirana, I'm so sorry!" he whispered, broken inside. He never had wanted to hurt her!

She slowly got out of bed and slowly and deliberately pulled on a thick white robe.

"Leave, Tarrant. We will never speak of this again. But know this, one day I will be Queen. And also know this. When I am Queen I will take from you what you love and you will understand and suffer what I am suffering at this very moment. Go."

Now, Tarrant stared uneasily at Mirana's eyes as she held Alice's hands. A shiver of fear rippled down his spine and for the first time in many years, he felt afraid of her.

Author notes - I have a fairly good idea of what I want to do with this story. I am reluctant to post it a chapter at a time, but I feel that it will keep me working on this and not allow me to run out of inspiration for it based on nervousness. I've wanted to do a Darker Mirana story for some time now that also features Alice and Tarrant. I have decided to suck up my jitters and go ahead and create a story in progress. Wish me luck, please!

I also want to thank "ThisLittleDeath" for the idea behind this story. I asked her a question and she turned it around and I LOVE it! So this is dedicated to her, and to everyone who wants to see a darker side to Mirana that is hidden behind her loving and perfect outer shell.

Also I want to thank Amaranth for suggesting that a Dark Mirana story might be a welcome exploration into her heart and humanity.

I hope you enjoyed this first chapter in my new story. All comments are welcome.