Rose of Passion

Chapter 4; Contagious

"Are you my official bodyguard or do you just have the most amount of free time?" Kate mused, sitting in her new throne. 

"I just do as I am told, ma'am." 

She looked over at him, standing some feet away behind her at an angle. "Would it be possible for you to stop calling me that?" 

He opened his mouth, then shut it. Lycaon was no longer looking at her but past her, and he lost his lopsided smile. 

Kate turned back around to see a female demon at the bottom of the stair leading up to the thrones. "Who are you?" 

"Iscariot, Your Highness." 

"I'm not-...I'm not the...queen." Queen of Hell.

"Sorry, ma'am." 

"So, if you're looking for Aesc, he's in the study," Kate said and started to turn back to Lycaon when Iscariot spoke up again. 

"No, ma'am, I was looking for you," Iscariot said. "I was told to see if you require anything, anything at all, as Lycaon is not permitted to leave your side." 

"Oh..." Kate thought a moment. "No, I'm fine. What about you?" The last part was an automatic reaction, completely involuntary. 

Iscariot looked surprised but pleased so Kate didn't say anything to take it back. "I, um, I am fine also, ma'am. Thank you." 

"No problem," Kate muttered. "You can leave...or stay, whatever you want." 

"I may remain?" 

"Sure, whatever." 

"Thank you, ma'am-" 

"Okay, no more from any evil creature," Kate announced. "It's weird and throwing me off. You're supposed to be bastards, plus I never have liked being called ma'am or misses." 

"At least it's not concubine," muttered Lycaon. 

Kate spun around and glared at him. "I may have permitted you to tease me back and joke some too, but don't make me take that privilege away." 

Iscariot raised her eyebrows at Lycaon, who shrugged. 

Kate looked back to Iscariot. "I don't know you much yet, so I don't trust you as much as I do Lycaon, but if you have any way of making the time pass without it involving danger or intoxication, feel free to share." 

"Cards?" Iscariot suggested. 

Kate shrugged. "Sure, why not?" 

"They're in the libraries," said Lycaon. "Follow me, please." The two women followed their guide through the corridors and into a library. 

Iscariot took a minute to search for a deck of cards. They sat at the table, and Iscariot started to shuffled when she noticed something off. "Some of the cards seem to be missing." 

"House of cards?" Kate suggested, and the other two nodded. 

So, the trio passed the time by building a house of cards through trial and error. It did end up taking hours. They had built it half way up when the door swung open and the house fell apart. The two demons froze, even Kate felt fear squirm its way into her and close up her chest. 

"Aesc-" she started. 

"Why weren't you in the throne room?" the king fumed. His fists clenched at his side as he stared down at Lycaon, who was mute from fright. 

"Aesc." Kate stood up, snapping his attention away from her poor guide. "It's not either of their faults. If you want to be angry with someone, be angry at me."-So many terrifying images flashed through her mind, so many possibilities that the King of Hell might to do her, but she had to stand her ground, for Lycaon and Iscariot, even if they were evil creatures-"It was me. I ordered them to come with me. I didn't listen to them. I wanted to leave the throne room for a little bit, but got carried away. I'm sorry."