The Kingdom of Cards

Prologue

Gilbert smiled wickedly as he looked up at the Spade Palace. He knew the meeting between the Kings wasn't going well, it never did. Peace was something that everyone wanted, but no one could agree on. Although, the queens always seemed to get along, drinking tea, talking about the latest events and gossiping. And of course, the jacks, enjoying their monthly poker game, were savoring each other's company.

"Can we go now?" The younger of the two, Peter, begged, pulling on Gilbert's sleeve.
"You've been staring at that castle all morning."

Gilbert looked down at the boy and, after hesitating for a second, nodded.

And, with that nod, the two Jokers disappeared, just in time for the palace doors to swing open and the Spade's escort to lead the other royals out to their carriages.

                              Hearts

"How did the meeting go?" Kiku, the Queen of Hearts, asked. King Ludwig just groaned.

"They'll never see sense Kiku, they're always spouting ideas that will only lead to destruction."
"You won't know for sure until you try."
"Of Course! Then we try and our kingdom ends up paying for their failure."

Kiku leaned over and put his hand over his husband's.

"You can't be starting fights because you think that your idea is the best. You must listen to other people."

Ludwig mustered up a small smile.

"What would I do without you?"

Kiku didn't respond, he just leaned back against the cushion and looked out the window, watching the carriage that contained their Jack, Feliciano, and their two most trusted knights rumble next to them lazily, laughing.

                              Diamonds 

    King Francis took his queen's hand, helping her into the carriage. "So, my dear," he said soothingly, "how did your tea go?"

    She smiled sweetly, "same as always," she took her seat, and Francis sat across from her. She looked outside the window thoughtfully, "but the queen of clubs, seemed...." she pursed her lips, bringing her brows together, "restless..."

    Francis stared at her. He kept a curious face, but his heart seemed to be squeezed inside his chest 'if she's restless, will she be able to control the king?'  Francis shook at the notion, "In what way?"

    Lili shrugged, "she was just... looking for a fight.... I mean, she always is, but it was different this time..." After a slight pause, she turned to him, "So, how did your meeting go?"

    France sighed, "they just throw their powers around to try and gain control, it's like no one knows how to sway without magic anymore... I've never needed power to gain control... and they are on the brink of abuse."

    Queen Lili laughed, which earned her a look like she had gone mad, "don't look at me that way." She spurted. His quizzical face only brought more laughter from her.

    She smiled patiently, "Has it never occured to you, that you have the greatest power of all?" he continued his blank stare. She carefully stepped over to him and held his hands softly, "Honey, you're immune to magic. They can't break you, they can't corrupt you, you're a diamond."

    He snuck one of his hands out of the nineteen year old's soft grasp and held her face lovingly. She blushed, trying to look away from his admiring stare, "Behind every king is a greater queen," he kissed her gently, and held her her tightly.

                              Clubs

The Queen groaned as she sat back in the carriage, angry and wanting to battle, as usual.

"Those queens, I swear! Arthur isn't to bad, but Kiku barely talks and Lili is always WAY to kind. I can't stand being around such boring and polite people." The king looked the queen up and down. The Clubs kingdom was known as a cold hearted place, the only kingdom where the queen and king married strictly for business instead of love, the Queen was the young aunt of the Jack of Hearts after all, and Elizabeta had already had her eye on a childhood friend, a blonde palace cook. But just because they didn't love each other didn't mean that they didn't care. Over so many years, they had formed an unshakable friendship. 

Finally, the king laughed, "Would you prefer enemies?"

Elizabeta growled, "I'd rather fight. It's been so long since I've gotten to challenge someone!"
"Well, you may not have to wait very much longer for that."

That caught The Queen's attention.

"Now, Ivan, tell me you didn't just do something that you'll regret."
King Ivan just smiled. "I thought you just said you liked to fight."
The Queen tilted her head slightly to the right. "Yes, I do, but just because the other queens are boring and nice, doesnt mean I want them dead. They are among my only true friends."

Ivan seemed to think about that for a second.

"Please, just..." Queen Elizabeta reached forward and grabbed her husband's hand, "Don't do anything stupid... just TRY to keep the peace, okay?"

King Ivan looked down at her hand then back up at her. He looked into her eyes for a second before giving her a slight nod. Elizabeta sighed and leaned back. Crisis averted... for now.

                              Spades

   King Alfred smiled and waved as the last carriage drove out of sight. He then let out a breath that he had, unknowingly, been holding. Next to him, his queen laughed.

"What?" Alfred asked, turning towards him.

"You just seem so worn. Was it that bad?" Queen Arthur asked, a slightly worried smile on his lips.

"They just try so hard to be controlive, especially Ivan. And of course, when Ivan got started, it just got Ludwig mad and they argued about what was best for our kingdoms without even so much as asking me and Francis about it, who by the way, barely got a word in." Arthur's smile turned sympathetic and he turned to look Alfred in the eye.

"Love, as much as you don't want to, you need to take control. You're the king of Spades, the most powerful king of the four kingdoms, you must at least try to keep the peace." Alfred sighed and tried to muster a small smile.

"You're right, it's just so hard to do so."
"I know." Arthur whispered, leaning in for a quick kiss, which Alfred gladly accepted.

"Pardon me." Alfred pulled back then looked back at Yao with a smile.

"I didn't mean to interrupt."

"No, no. What's going on Yao?" Yao smiled, pushing a piece of hair that had fallen out of his ponytail back and glanced down at his clipboard.

"Dinner will be in an hour, and you're eating with the new knights tonight, so you can't be late."

Alfred smiled and nodded. He grabbed Arthur's hand and they both followed Yao through the large double doors of the castle.
————————————————————————Hey! Thanks for deciding to read this story. If you've read my other book (it's a Hitman Jones x Assassin Kirkland story) then you already know the drill. But if you haven't, Hi. My name is Jay and me and my friend Wolf (it's her favorite animal) tend to write these stories together. If you haven't quite memorized all of the human names for the countries (I can't blame you there are a lot) they will be listed down below. Once again thank you for reading this story and I hope you enjoy.

Names you need to know:
Gilbert- Prussia
Peter- Sealand
King Ludwig- Germany
Queen Kiku- Japan
Feliciano- Italy
King Francis- France
Queen Lili- Lichtenstein
King Ivan- Russia
Queen Elizabeta- Hungary
King Alfred- America
Queen Arthur- England
Yao- China

See you later 👋🏼