"'You have all passed but you,' he turned to look at me when he said it. 'You are the leader of this group. Poisons need control and you are merciful to your victims controlling the effects to only death. A king should be merciful to his subjects but cruel to his enemies. And that, Castor, is how you are." The name Castor rang into my soul and settled there. He looked at me as he said it. I know him now, only as the Gardener. If he wants something then you give it to him. He hates something then you destroy it. The Poison Five were made for his personal use. The Med Five are our counterparts. We destroy and they fix. If all of us ever used our powers together we would destroy the world we live in but create a new one at the same time at the cost of our lives. I'm the king only by chance. My tattoo was engraved on me with the blood of a Castor seed. I was sent here to find out more about the Cards if not everything. Nil knows our history. I show up every couple of hundred of years pretending to be some other Royal they haven't found yet. I always leave a copy of what I discovered about us and about the Cards. Nil, I'm guessing has read all of it. He knows how to destroy me just as I know how to fully destroy him. The Gardener can destroy all of us. We are nothing without him. He's our master. We do as we're told but then you came along...I don't know what to do," I finished awkwardly. They all glanced at each other. Mina hadn't moved from her spot but she wasn't looking at me either as I watched her for her reaction.
She was the key factor in everything. If she forced me to leave it was likely that the Gardener would have the Royals destroyed.
"Shelia was right," the words came out of her mouth in a whisper as she fell to the floor. I was by her side within a second holding her up carefully. She hadn't fainted but her eyes were glazed over as she thought about what I had just told her.
"Keep him," Nil advised getting up and brushing off his pants before turning out and walking out the door.
"I agree. It'll be best to keep him around in case the 'Gardener' gets a whiff of what's going on. I still have some questions about the Ten," Kyle agreed changing into his older form. Mina didn't seem to notice. She was still considering what to do. Carefully laying her on the couch, I turned to him with raised eyebrows.
"How powerful are they?" His blue eyes drilled into mine with the mild fury of one who'd been lied to. I couldn't blame him.
"Powerful enough to easily take over the Cards," I resigned to the interrogation.
"Why haven't they taken over?"
"The Gardener believes that it would be better to study them about their culture and development before anything happens."
"You've done this for years. Why hasn't he made his decision?"
"I don't know. I'm just a pawn," I shrugged but a firm hand pulled on my shirt tail. Turning around, I eased Mina up as she took in Kyle appearance. She didn't say anything so he continued.
"How can we kill you?" The question hung in the air stirring up a storm that no one wanted to answer. Mina tugged at my shirt again like a small child. She was lost in this one more than the others were. She couldn't handle everything along with this. She was if anything more of a plant than I would ever be. A delicate thing that with one misplaced step could send her to her spiraling down into a pit of confusion I couldn't get her out of. She once again proved me wrong.
"We'll leave that question for another day," she voiced standing up. "What I want to know is why you're grown up." Kyle's eyes widened as he remembered how old he was supposed to look and he turned sheepish.
"Ah...well...you see...I can change my appearance. I'm still the young boy you know but sometimes looking like a grown-up isn't a bad thing. It makes it easier for people to explain what they're talking about when an adult doesn't understand," he pulled out of his ass and I hid a grin.
"Uh huh," she rolled her eyes disgustedly but reached over to hug him. "Stay in whatever form you want to but it'll be a pain in the ass if you stay in this one. I know about fifteen girls out there who are waiting for you to get older. You don't want to go outside looking like that." Her cheerful nature was back smiling and laughing as before. Kyle took her orders to heart and changed back into his younger self before leaving us alone.
"You aren't a pawn," she said stiffly her back to me. Confused, I put a gloved hand on her shoulder to turn her around. Tears rolled in and out of the creases of her saddened face making her older than she was. Reaching out, I held her close astonished by her loyalty to me. I had lied and deceived her from day one but she accepted who I was as easily as a duck slides water off its back. Her hands laid on the tattoo she had given me so easily, so trustingly.
"My Queen, I will forever be a pawn to you," I grinned pulling her face up to mine. "There's one spot where I've never been poisonous."
"Where?" her curiosity mounting as her tears dried.
"Guess," I whispered my smile widening.
"I don't want to guess," she rebelled frowning at me.
"So you don't want to know?"
"I do!"
"Then guess!"
"But I already know," she smiled and reached up to pull my face down to hers. I would never understand how she knew but she did and that's all that matters to me.
Author's note: So they're back!!! YAYS!
Ace of Clubs Ch. 8
Start from the beginning
