Four Suits (Book 1)

Day 39-10: Pawn

A sharp gasp escapes her as she breathes, desperately, to refill her deflated lungs with air. Then, she stabs her fingernail into his chest.

"I want to flee and forget this ever happened. Eat an enormous buffet, drink the night away, and swim in a pool of gold coins and wads of cash. But, I need you. At this point, I'll be damned if it isn't you. Ditch becoming king. Come back to Edaps with us."

Avel's mouth flutters opened and closed, grappling for his voice; coherent words.

"Curly-head. You're alive?"

Valentina is the first to come to her senses.

Leda cranes her head to address her. "Sorry. Were you in the middle of something important?"

She titters, although her amused smirk doesn't wane. "Extremely. Might I ask you to revive at a later time?"

"I'm sick of waiting around in this nightmarish kingdom, unfortunately, so no. Besides, I'd rather gouge out my eyes than witness the conclusion to this gross ceremony."

"I was so sure I chopped your head from your damn neck!" From the back of the room, Paola steadies her stance. Unbeknownst to Leda, her and all the idling Numbers who've scrambled inside, bare their unadulterated bloodlust. "Are you seriously attempting a coup d'état on such a grand day? Give me three seconds, Your Highn—"

"Stop."

"Your Highness!"

Avel ignores their distraught glances. Possibly because the Queen of Hearts hasn't yet made a formal appearance, none in the room stand to object his direct order.

"Leda, you're alive."

"As if I'd bite the bullet when I have a bone to pick with you." She gauges his frown. "Would you have been happier I stayed as a head?"

At his silence, she slumps her shoulders.

"I had a feeling. When you saw me hanging there, part of you seemed disappointed, but also relieved. Almost as if you were glad... you didn't have to kill me yourself." She half-heartedly smiles. "Our fates were sealed from the moment we got here. Sooner or later, your mom would've had you kill us. So you—"

"You're wrong." Avel's tone is gravelly; calm. From the moment they met, he hasn't been without his smile. Yet, now, his ruthless gaze and voice resembles the rumours that have tickled her ears time and time again. "When I learned a human was on board the Spade ship Paola and Uno attacked, I made preparations to bring you to the palace. From the moment you entered Straeh, I was deceiving you to kill time until I became King. I had no intention of keeping our—"

"Proof of our promise is alive as we speak."

"Only temporarily," he snaps. "Mother's goal has to be realized. That's the reason I've lived to today. To be the perfect King, I have to be prepared to do anything to ensure Straeh remains the invincible nation that it is."

"Straeh, huh?" she drawls. "You made that antidote for Ro, a Spade, when your Mother wanted every last one them decimated. You helped hide me and Orian in the palace because you couldn't bear telling us the truth about Nixon. You even asked me to marry you, as creepily as you did. Was that for Straeh too? No, it wasn't. All of it went against the Queen's wishes. They were all born of your selfishness, weren't they?"

He grits his teeth. "You don't get it, Leda. What I 'want' isn't an option. My goals and aspirations, my emotions, they belong for the sake of my mother. They always did. They always will. She wanted you dead from the get-go. Have you, a human, hung as a head on her wall. You were never going to be mine to begin with. I can never have anything of my own. Everything I love has an expiration date. Because I loved Father, I had to kill him. Because I love Mother, I have to say goodbye to Val. Even if I do love you or want you, you'll die by my hands someday. A Heart's affection is poisonous. Maddening. It'll kill you."