Queen of Hearts

Seven

"You're on a team?"

Lizzie sighed and scribbled on the corner of her paper as Alyson slapped a hand over Ace's mouth. "Don't tell the whole world, Ace," Alyson hissed.

"Sorry," Ace said, bringing her voice down to a whisper, "It's just...ugh! Jack never lets me do anything. I mean, he put Dottie on this team. Dottie, and not me. His own sister."

"Did you ever think that he didn't put you on the team for precisely that reason?" Lizzie asked.

Ace seemed to ponder her suggestion for a moment before dismissing it entirely. "That can't be it."

"Whatever the reason," Alyson said, "can you cover for the three of us if the Dees ask? I want to keep this under wraps. Tia would be less than happy to discover that she has been kicked off of the team by Hearts."

"Tia was kicked off of the team because of me?" Lizzie asked. Both of the girls ignored her question.

"Especially when she finds out that Attacus is leading the team," Ace commented.

"Why?" Lizzie asked.

"Tia has a not-so-subtle crush on Attacus Blue," Alyson explained.

"That's only because she has a pulse," Ace added on, "I mean, I personally would never venture into that territory-with him being my brother's best friend and all-but I wouldn't blame you if you did. He's got the whole staring-wistfully-off-in-the-distance-bad-boy thing going on."

Lizzie stared at the girl in front of her. "What age did you say that you are again?"

"Fifteen," Ace said with a grin, "But I've been told that I act extremely mature for my age."

"Mature isn't the word that I'd use," Alyson muttered under her breath.

Ace rolled her eyes. "I'll cover for you."

"Thank you," Lizzie said with a smile before she and Alyson left the table. As they left the mess hall, they passed by Silver Blanc's table. He didn't even notice them. Lizzie glanced at Alyson. Her eyebrows were scrunched and her lips pursed. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's just fine." Alyson picked up the pace. "We don't want to be late."

When they got to the training room James Knave was already there, but Dottie and Attacus were nowhere to be seen. James was pacing around the room, swinging his sword in lazy circles. Lizzie eyed it warily. She wasn't quite sure that she trusted James not to stab Alyson at any random moment. She definitely didn't trust Alyson to leave James alone.

"Oh." Alyson wrinkled her nose in disgust. "It's just you." She walked over to the other side of the training room and lifted a sword from a rack. "Tell me when someone important gets here."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because I asked you nicely," Alyson snapped back. Lizzie rolled her eyes. This was going to take forever.

"Of course someone such as yourself would-"

"That's enough!" A figure landed in the middle of the training room. Lizzie released a sigh of relief as Attacus Blue straightened up.

Lizzie hadn't gotten that good of a look at him the last time that they'd met, but Ace was right. He was hot. He wore a dark blue waistcoat and pants along with a pair of black boots. He may have been the first person that Lizzie had seen in the past two weeks who wasn't dressed in black tactical gear. His impeccable fashion choices only made Lizzie long for her own red wardrobe back home.

A length of rope appeared out of thin air and Attacus stalked over to where Alyson and James were fighting. Lizzie heard a squeak from next to her and turned to find Dottie Mouse standing beside her. "I didn't think that he'd actually do it," Dottie whispered.