War of the Cards

War of the Cards
Colleen Oakes

Dorothy Must Die meets Alice in Wonderland.This is not a story of happily ever after – it’s the heart-stopping conclusion in the twisted YA origin story of the infamous villain, the Queen of Hearts.Dinah has lost everyone she ever loved. Her brother was brutally murdered. The man she believed was her father betrayed her. Her loyal subjects have been devastated by war. And the boy she gave her heart to broke it completely.Now a dark queen has risen out of the ashes of her former life. Fury is blooming inside Dinah, poisoning her soul and twisting her mind. All she has left is Wonderland and her crown, and her obsession to fight for both. But the war rages on, and Dinah could inherit a bloodstained throne.Can a leader filled with love and rage ever be the ruler her kingdom needs? Or will her all-consuming wrath bring Wonderland to its knees?

First published in the US by HarperTeen in 2017

HarperTeen is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers

Published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2018

HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,

HarperCollins Publishers

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London SE1 9GF

The HarperCollins website address is:

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

Text copyright © Colleen Oakes 2017

Jacket art © by Ruben Ireland 2018; Jacket Design by Jenna Stempel

Colleen Oakes asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008175450

Ebook Edition © 2018 ISBN: 9780008175467

Version: 2017-11-03

To all the girls with dark hearts and those who dare to love them

Epigraph (#ulink_26ca9e2e-f6c5-5e5b-a5a1-0db51a8a944f)

“I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, sir.

Because I’m not myself, you see.”

—Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Contents

Cover (#u1b6c2209-1c5f-5a09-bf69-d1cd21abfc54)

Title Page (#ufb7c25e0-444f-507a-a03a-3b5d43988ea1)

Copyright (#u66e0f416-50fb-58ad-a580-ef4e88ff0085)

Dedication (#ub2b53fca-1369-52cc-bd30-566d51ddaa4b)

Epigraph (#uedca38b1-b58f-599b-9b27-ec0fc5b6e481)

Chapter One (#u8209e2fe-bc7e-51b5-9823-95ebe86de0da)

Chapter Two (#udd0a9ff2-71f6-562b-b5ef-f16724e67a3f)

Chapter Three (#u5a9e5c95-311e-5ed4-90fd-a9dedc33c7b9)

Chapter Four (#ueb50b86a-6ca9-5628-85cb-bb0c869c87c6)

Chapter Five (#u0765414f-30f4-5a07-8b3e-252e114f52a8)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)