Heart's Revenge [On Hold]

Ch. 4: King of Spades

The throne room was too bright. Naqam squinted against the sunlight ricocheting off the white marble. His sensitive eyes burned and blurred for a half second before he blinked and his vision adjusted.

In surprise, he looked around at the empty throne room. He had half expected there to be bunches of people come to gawk at the new Ace of Hearts. With a frown, he swept his gaze around the great hall, relaxing slightly when he found what he was looking for.

Or, rather, who he was looking for.

The King stood with his arms crossed, leaning against a slim pillar of brushed black metal, gazing out one of the many windows. Naqam blinked again, then once more just to make sure he really was seeing the King.

He was wearing simple clothes: a dark shirt of finely woven cotton, pants similar to the ones Naqam had been given, made of a tough but flexible material and boots that came a little above his ankles.

The only thing that gave him away as nobility was the heavy ring of dark silver and obsidian on his right index finger. Naqam stared at the gryphon screaming at him from the piece of jewelry. It seemed to be daring him to do what he had really come here to do.

He stiffened when a small door at the far end of the throne room cracked open. A willowy woman in a simple, floor-length dress of deepest black slipped inside, settling herself silently onto the left-hand throne.

Without sparing a glance at Naqam, Killian turned from the windows to smile at his wife. The expression intensified his classically handsome features and seemed to strip years away from him. It was almost possible for Naqam to see the young man who had murdered his Queen.

The King strode across the hall, boots hunter-silent on the stone floor. He grasped the woman's hand, pressing her fingers quickly to his mouth before he settled into the other throne.

Naqam stood on his toes to look over the unnecessarily tall guard in front of him.

The illustrations he'd been forced to study did them no justice. The ink lines didn't show the regalness in Killian's face, or the steel in his gaze. They couldn't show the mystique of Queen Alice's blue eyes or the soft blondness of her hair.

Naqam couldn't stop staring at the Queen. It was her. It was Alice.

The Real Worlder who had overthrown the Heart Queen, Mavros, and sent the Hearts into their exile. Her's was the face he'd been trained to hate since he was born. Perhaps even more so than the King. She was the one who had reduced his people to nothing, when once they'd ruled over Wonderland entirely.

As she looked at him, Naqam couldn't help but think that her blue eyes were as frigid and cruel as the northern ice.

There was a rustle of clothes, then he watched in astonishment as the majority of the guards left, pulling the doors closed behind them. Looking around with curiosity, Naqam came to the surprising conclusion that he had been left almost completely alone with the royal pair.

The only other person with them was the captain. Not even Lady Adira was present.

Naqam stood quietly in the center of the spade on the floor. It would be so easy to kill them here, now. But... luckily for them, that would not be enough. He had been sent to destroy the Spades; to tear them down from the inside. Their deaths alone would not suffice.

Killian finally turned his attention back to Naqam, who shook himself free of his thoughts, bracing himself for the King's pronouncement.

It was almost astonishing how quickly his dark eyes went from warm and loving to cold and guarded. This was not someone who trusted easily, just as Naqam had predicted.