"Oh! If it isn't the Queen of Hearts, I've missed you, my friend!"
Calla, the Queen of Hearts. She walked up to me, her light brown hair in an almost perfect French Twist, an elaborate blue masquerade mask hiding her features. If I didn't know her better, I'd have thought she was almost making an effort to stand out.
She just doesn't like her suit. She doesn't want to be the Queen of Hearts, but she's awfully pretty. It's a wonder why she's even friends with me. We're an unlikely pair; her family middle class, and mine upper class. However, both of our families have reputations in the dark.
"And I have missed you! It's lovely seeing you again. Isn't it terrible, what happened to the Jack of Clubs?"
The Jack of Clubs? What on earth could have happened to him? Oh, of course, he must've been the one who... passed away.
"Oh, yes, well, it was going to happen to him sooner or later. Had a knack for making enemies, that one."
"And they've replaced him already. Hopefully the new one won't be as insufferable as the last."
That was... Odd. Calla's not usually one to talk about people like that. Yes, she calls people annoying and perverted, but she's not the kind of person who regards people with such loathing.
Ah well, I imagine I'm just overthinking things.
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I watched Evelyn's face, her eyebrows furrowed. She was thinking something over. She does this often, zoning out of a conversation, lost in her own thoughts. We weren't even deep into the conversation, just small talk.
"Bored you already, have I?"
"Oh! No no no, I was just pondering. Is it just me, or does the room feel slightly too empty?"
I looked around. She was right. The room did feel empty.
"Not everyone can be here yet. It's still... Well, someone might be held up by something or other."
"No, Spades is over there with the other Aces. He always welcomes people in by the door, and he's still be there if there were people who hadn't turned up."
I couldn't help but start getting flustered and frustrated.
"I don't know! Maybe someone couldn't turn up! Maybe it's just the dark foreboding thought that someone was killed and it could be nearly anyone else next!"
Evelyn looked at me, and even under her mask, I could tell she was surprised.
"Sorry for snapping. I'm just..."
Stressed? Anxious?
Scared of being accused?
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YOU ARE READING
Queen of Diamonds
Historical FictionEvelyn Hyde. She is an orphaned Victorian noblewoman. A Victorian noblewoman with serious trust issues. So, when suspicious murders start appearing all over London, trust becomes more precarious by the hour. At first, the victims are Evelyn's enemie...
