Villainess Of Hearts

"A traitor within your midst,

Place your highest bids,

Make a move, do not stall,

A kingdom shall rise or fall."

The King of Hearts pulled up to his feet and felt the world spin around him. Any other words fell to deaf ears. He held a hand over his face and heard the blood rush in his ears. The words of the Joker left him seeing everything in tunnel-vision, dark spots and circles went around his line of sight and made his vision blur. He ignored the hand that held onto his wrist and shook the Queen of Clovers off, he stepped out of the drawing-room. Frenzied energy sparked in his veins.

Alexander ran.

Where? He didn't know. Left. Right. Words barrelling themselves in his head. A traitor within one's midst? Was the assassination attempt already connected to the Joker's prophecy? It was a prophecy. A warning. Premonitions. He needed to find the Lord Duke—no, the Prime Minister, wait, he needed to find the Queen and make sure she was alright. He was alive and well but it was she that was the object of hate from many.

But where was she?

He opened the door to her office and found it empty. There was no cup of hot tea to even signify her presence. Papers collected over the desk were untouched. His head spun. Her room? Did she decide to rest? Maybe. Alexander ran. He knocked his hands on the double doors and wished for a response. Even any indicator that someone lay opposite of the room.

Nothing.

He peeked inside and found no one either.

If not here nor there? Then where—he could remember something faintly. It happened earlier this morning at his office. The Prime Minister had left him a note in a rush before the man excused himself and ran off. He said that he was late for an important matter. Was it a clue? What did it contain? He shut his eyes. The sound of a paper rustling in his office table reached his ears, the scribbling of a pen and a flash of words—

Alexander Hartsmichdt arrived in the Castle's gardens and carried himself forward.

He had figured it out, where the Queen would be.

It was here.

The Gazebo of Dreams. Even if he was the one who had it commissioned, the Queen used it more often than he, that it should have been named after her. It was a passing thought. His feet took him there, and he pushed forward, rushing—until he collided with someone else. Alexander found himself on the grass, his shoulders had hit against metal.

It throbbed with a dull ache.

"Hey, watch where you're—Your Majesty!" A soldier scrambled up to his feet and bowed. Their earlier annoyance was forced down because it was he who had bumped into the soldier. "Are you alright, Sire?" The man fussed over and offered a hand to help him up.

The man's words fell to deaf ears as Alexander noticed someone else.

A young woman was standing beside him, her head already bowed and with a tray clasped in her arms. Blonde hair, like spun gold, shone underneath the sun. It was an amazing color. And yet, she wouldn't look him in the eye.

Well, nobody did that for Royals except their peers.

But there was something about her—a memory, repressed from somewhere, broke free. The sound of laughter. The blueness of her eyes. A name shouted in the wind. Alexander blinked once and twice. He wanted to reach out and tilt the girl's chin up to be sure. But he was already certain.

This wasn't her.

And he wasn't there anymore.

Alexander Hartsmichdt, the King of Hearts rose to his feet and bristled past the two servants of the Kingdom and continued on his self-imposed task. He needed to see the Queen and make sure she was safe, and then he'll—

"Your Majesty?"

He looked up and realized he was in the Gazebo already. There were three people at the table, but there were four seats. One teacup that still had some tea left cold. A tiny plate filled with crumbles of a pastry. He soon recognized the Prime Minister… and his twin? No, there were some differences between Blyke Edelweiss and the gentleman. A woman sat beside the gentleman.

All of them were greeting him in surprise, confusion—as much as his own.

"Your Majesty, I left you a note in your office—"

"That you would be having morning tea with a relative, a guest of his choice, and the Queen of Hearts." Alexander recited with a brisk smile. "I remember, and I would like to greet the two guests with a warm welcome. I hope that the accommodations are to your liking."

"Thank ye, Y'er Majesty." The woman spoke up with a careful bow. "Everything has been wonderful."

"Yes, yes, it has." The man beside her nodded along, "Your Majesty." He added it in the end, almost forgoing with the honorific.

There was a relaxed look on the man's face, and the Prime Minister looked chagrined about it. But it wasn't them that he paid attention to more.

Out of all the three in the Gazebo, she was the only one who had a look in her eyes—of a mouse trapped in a den of lions. He knew that look. It was similar to what the Queen of Clovers had and mixed in with a brave look. Perhaps she didn't like it here.

...but he had already seen her before? But where? The most recent of them—the stung of a slap reverberated against his cheek, he looked up and saw two figures at the end of the hallway in a courtroom. The scene vanished and melted and he found himself in the Gazebo once more.

These two were friends of the Queen and of the Hatter.

Alexander knew he had a lot to make it up for, he held a hand over his chest. "This tea party may not be perhaps intended for this, but can I invite you two for lunch? The Kingdom of Hearts has committed an error to its citizens, a fault of the King, and thus I wish to amend it—even if with a simple meal."

"There's no need Y'er Majesty!"

"I insist," He said and ignored the betrayed look on the Prime Minister's face. He did not understand the Queen's sudden interest in her people, but there was one thing that he understood. These people were affected by his mistakes and he needed to make it right if that was even possible. "I have to amend my errors for the last time."

The look of mistrust and doubt—lingered on the woman's face. Or was it conflict?

Alexander could only guess.

"Last time?" The relative of his Prime Minister tilted his head. "How long has that been—"

"If His Majesty insists, I suppose there's no choice but for me and Harold to accept it, Y'er Majesty." The woman sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, "But forgiveness doesn't come with a simple meal but it requires—"

"A sacrifice?"

The woman scrunched up her face, "It requires something more sacrificial in costs, but since we are also talking to His Majesty, then I think it can be paid."

"A fine then. That's alright." Alexander sighed inwardly. He wasn't sure if this was in relief. But at least this was something he was familiar with. If he did something wrong against the law, there was a payment for it.

He focused on this with the attention he could afford it, but even then—

"Her Majesty of Hearts left to visit my friend, I think." The woman said, her lips pursed together even as she addressed him.

Alexander blinked and wondered if the saying of women having a better instinct than men were true—he didn't even mention the Queen at all. But perhaps it was also common sense, he smiled. Furtively even and nodded, "Ah, is that so? I hope that he is alright."

Was that the best that he could say?

What was the Queen even doing outside of the Castle so soon? She had her Knight with her for sure, didn't she? Even if he didn't like Julius that much, at least he knew that he would keep her safe.

"Thank you for the concern, Your Majesty. He's fine." It was the man who spoke up, he still had a teacup in hand, the woman called him Harold. He sipped the tea despite Alexander's presence. A contrast to the woman's own actions.

It felt like everyone was treading on eggshells.

Or maybe it was only him. The Joker's words were enough to make a shudder run up his spines. Traitor. Traitor. Make haste, take action. One kingdom shall fall? The Joker had said it with him and his friend's presence together—did it pertain to one kingdom alone, one of theirs or someone else's? Or was it both? Did it matter?

The only thing he knew right now was the unavoidable fact that he should make a move or the premonition would beset him or somebody else. It was a foreboding feeling that loomed over him.

Shadows behind him that weighed and haunted over his shoulders.

"Your Majesty, would you like to take a seat first?" Blyke Edelweiss asked. Underneath his frames, the man's eyes were squinting at him.

Alexander must be panicking again—was his chest rising up and down more obviously? His breath hitched and he forced air into his nostrils and then lungs, swallowing the air in a gulp. He managed a smile and shook his head. "I have never apologized in person to the Hatter, would it be alright if our two guests and the Prime Minister go-ahead for lunch? I believe a meeting is in order."

This was the next step, no doubt about it.