A Game of Cards

Chapter XII: Mace Hayes Bloodbreak

Even though I wasn't in charge of the army, I usually trained there, so most of the soldiers knew my face, not surprised to be sitting with the prince of Hearts during lunch, not shocked to have met him during sword arts practice.

Onyx had always been daring, but I had not known her to be so daring as to directly attack the Heartisian military base. Hearts didn't have an army as powerful as Spades', but it could still crush a single person with as much effort as crushing an ant, even if that person was both an Impersonation and the commanding general of the most powerful army in all of the United Empires. To single-handedly, attack the Heartisian army wouldn't even be considered venturesome, just ludicrous at this point. Never would I describe Onyx as foolish, as much as I hated her. Which was why it came as a surprise even to me when she decided to attack the Heartisian army.

Tourmaline, my sister, was twenty, four years older than me, and attended the West Diamonds College of Herbal Studies for an herbal medical degree. Academics was tight in Diamonds, yet even so, she took time off from her studies to travel back to Hearts and visit us.

She squealed the moment saw me, bounding off the deck like a little girl to envelop me in a tight hug, leaving hasty footprints in the snow. "My little brother!" she screeched, laughing, a white cloud coming from her breath, contrasting with the cold wintry air, "How happy I am to see you again. It's been so long! You rarely have holidays at such a convenient time. It really makes it difficult for me to schedule visits, y'know."

"Hi Tourmaline," I tried to struggle out of the hug so I could breathe again. "It's nice to see you again. I missed you too."

Tourmaline poked my cheek, grinning. "What's with the lack of enthusiasm? Tell me, aren't you happy to see your big sister again?"

Tourmaline turned to hug Mother and Father as well, albeit with a little less charisma. Then she whirled back to me, a contagious smile on her face.

"Well, what shall we do this afternoon, Mace?" Tourmaline inquired as we all headed towards the chariot. "Shopping? Strolling through the forest? Oh! Maybe you could buy me lunch!"

"I thought you were going to offer to buy me lunch," I frowned.

"I would, but I'm kinda broke right now," Tourmaline giggled, "You know how it is."

"Unfortunately, I'm also kind of broke right now, so I may need to borrow some money from you to buy you lunch."

Tourmaline poked at my side. "You cheeky little—"

The rest of her sentence was swallowed by snickers and hiccups as I poked her back.

...

I slashed at the training dummy, imagining Onyx's cold, indifferent face, eyes shining with an insufferable smugness. This method had always worked quite well, allowing me to effectively chop the straw dummies in half without much effort, my pent-up rage towards the general being all the strength I needed.

"Hello Prince Mace," Several passing soldiers nodded towards me in greeting and I nodded back.

As I was training, my mind swirled with thoughts about Briana. That girl was courageous, that was for sure. Not many people would directly stand up to Onyx, with her reputation and all. Not to mention quite attractive and well-versed in the knowledge of history. I felt a small smile touch my lips as I thought about her. She a special one.

When I realized I was thinking about her, I quickly shook those thoughts out of my head. What would my father have said?

"Mace, focus on your sword!"