The Queen of Hearts

The Meeting

"Come on your Highness everyone is waiting for you!", cried Lucy my helper and friend who currently, is in a high stage of distress as I'm apparently taking too long. I sigh. I've had enough of being in the spotlight for today. It's too bad that Genevieve, my younger beautiful and devious step-sister, can't be the one having to attend all these court meetings. She craves fame and having an audience that loves her is her absolute dream. To be honest, everyone watching would also rather have Genevieve rather than me, but what can I do about being born first? I sigh again, this time much longer. 'Time to go now", Lucy reminds me as I trudge out into the biting cold of winter. My black corset hugs me too tight and my cloak isn't doing much of a job against the winds. My long ebony and crimson dress is laced with hearts and with rubies and diamonds adorning the curtains of my dress. As my skirt swishes against the snow, I leave a little trail behind me with Lucy following me like an overexcited child. I guess it's because this is the first time she's been allowed to a court meeting. Although I've already (many times) moaned to her about how excessively boring they are, she seems to be forever entranced in whatever I do when she is not with me.

You might be wondering what I look like. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm certainly not the prettiest girl you can find- that would be Genevieve. I guess I'm not ugly either though. I have long, black hair usually up in a bun with a small heart-shaped pout and a slender frame. My best feature, I would say would be my eyes. Emerald in colour with flecks of gold in the middle, surrounded by long, luscious eyelashes. But apart from that I'm pretty normal looking. If you ignore all the ridiculously fancy gowns I keep having to wear that is.

As soon as we reach the court, I'm sure that something isn't right. Everyone is standing  without speaking and the guards bow down awkwardly as if they know that something isn't right. Lucy joins the crowd as I lift my chin up and try to be as regal as possible. Piercing eyes, hands folded, graceful walk. I walk up the aisle and take my place in the smaller throne next to the King of Hearts. He looks angrier than usual with a sad tiredness in his eyes that I've never seen before.  "People of Wonderland..", the King begins, "Unfortunately, I have to be the bearer of this tragic news. A few of our rebellious Wonderlanders have ignored our words of advice and have wandered into the area of the Vingstone tribe who we know are very dangerous. The rebellious group are then known to have caused disruption and chaos in the form of taking many lives." A gasp spreads around the room. " As a result of their foolishness, the Vingstone have declared war on us. Currently all the members involved in the disruption are being held by the Vingstone and won't be coming back anytime soon." A woman started sobbing. "My son...my son...please..", the woman protested weakly in between her tears. "They deserve what they're getting. Even if we get them to Wonderland they're still going to get punished. What's the difference of punishing them in a different place?!", the King asked. Everyone stayed silent. "Meeting finished", the King announced. That was by far the shortest meeting I've been to with the heaviest news. I hate wars. All those lives wasted on useless fighting. All the time wasted. And what revolts me most is how everyone slaughters without thinking. Without thinking about the life that they erased. Without thinking about their family and friends. All that matters then is war and battle. Revolting.