“We had a plan. They’ll regroup in another spot.”
It never occurred to me that I had spoiled their plan. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise.” My heart sank at the thought that she would ask me to take her back.
“That’s ok. I’ve come up with a much better plan.”
“You have?”
“Yeah. You said yourself that it wouldn’t take a whole group of us to get the computer chip. You and I can do it ourselves.”
She popped a slice of bacon into her mouth nonchalantly as though she hadn’t just asked me to break into a second factory with her in as many days. Actually, she hadn’t asked me at all, she’d just told me that’s what we’d be doing.
“We can’t!”
“Why not?” She arched a brow at me.
“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m a prince. I can’t just go breaking into factories all over the place!”
“You did this morning,” she reminded me.
“Yes, but that was a small factory in a small village in the middle of nowhere. Do you even know where the Heart factory is that makes the computer chip?”
“Of course, I do. Do you think I was going wander around the Heartlands asking people?”
“No, but...”
“What else can we do? There’s no way I’m going home now, not until I’ve got the computer chip in my hand.”
“I was kinda thinking you could come home with me?”
Coffee flew all over the table as she snorted at my suggestion.
“And let everyone in my village starve to death? Are you serious?”
“You can hardly go back. You attacked a guard.”
“You are the one who shot an arrow through his leg,” she reminded me, mopping up the coffee with a napkin.
“Yes, but he doesn’t know who I am.”
“You are a Club Prince. Most people know who you are!”
I mopped up my plate with the last slice of bread. She wasn’t going to be backing down any time soon; that much was evident.
“What do you plan on doing with Nikka, or had you forgotten about her?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She flashed me a look, but I sat back and waited for her to prove me wrong.
She folded her arms in a huff, which pretty much answered my question for me.
“I’m taking her back to my home,” I said. In the absence of any other plan, it seemed like a good idea.
“No, you are not!” Anger flashed through her eyes.
“Hear me out. I’m taking you back to the castle. It will take quite a few hours on the Unicorn, but once we are there, we can have a nice meal, a good sleep, and then tomorrow we’ll set out to the Heart Kingdom. Just you and me. Nikka can stay home and play with my sister Iris. Then, when we’ve got the computer chip, we’ll pick up Nikka, and I’ll fly you all home. How does that sound?”
“I’ll get to sleep in a castle?” Nikka’s eyes widened.
“You sure will!” I said, ruffling her hair.
“Will your sister agree to look after her?” asked Aaricka, her features softening.
“Let’s just say she owes me.”
“Ok, fine, you’ve got a deal.” She held out her hand, and I shook it. Nikka grabbed both of our hands.
“Yay! Does that mean I get to be a princess?”
“You already are my princess, honey.”
The journey back was long and arduous. It had seemed so much shorter when I’d flown into the Spade Kingdom on the Urbis Express. This time, I had two girls and a unicorn that needed frequent stops. It was almost nighttime before we finally landed at the castle gates.
“Before we go in, we need to get our story straight,” I said, pulling Aaricka down from the unicorn. If either of my parents gets even a whiff of us going to the Heartlands, we will be stopped. After my sister, Star, was held captive by the Queen, Father has all but prohibited us from going there.”
“So what do you want to tell them?”
“I think we need to pretend that you are my new lover.”
She snorted with laughter before realising I was being serious.
“Think about it this way; what other reason would I have for bringing you to the castle? I can’t really think of one.”
“Ok, gorgeous.” She winked, once again making fun of me, but I didn’t care. It was nice to finally see a smile on her face, albeit a weary one.
Nikka had fallen asleep hours ago, so it was pretty easy to carry her into the castle.
I headed straight for Iris’s room and knocked on the door. She’d better be here and not back in Yelpish.
The door opened a crack, and my sister’s eyes grew wide when she saw me.
“I thought you were going to be gone for a week. It’s only been a few days. Did you stop the Spades?”
“Not quite. I kinda need your help with that.” I stepped to the side, allowing her to see Aaricka and Nikka.
“I told you to stop them, not bring them back to the castle!”
“Will you let us in and I’ll tell you all about it,” I hissed. I didn’t particularly want to get caught by either of my parents. Iris blushed, and I wondered what was going on.
“Erm, now isn’t a good time.”
“Make it a good time,” I countered and pushed on her door. There in her bed was a man. If he was surprised to see someone coming into the room, he didn’t show it. I, however, couldn’t say the same for myself.
He was tall with the longest, straightest hair I’d ever seen on a man and with slight stubble forming on his chin.
“Iris!” I exclaimed in shock. I really didn’t know my sister at all.
“Juniper, this is Quinn. Quinn, this is my big brother. He was supposed to be in the Spadelands now!”
The man waved and smiled cheerily. He wrapped a sheet around his obviously naked body and disappeared into the small en suite bathroom, presumably to get dressed.
“Does Father know that he is here?” I whispered, once the bathroom door was closed.
“Not exactly. Does he know about those two?” she said indicating Aaricka and Nikka behind me.
“Not exactly,” I repeated back to her.
“You’d better come in.”
“Who is he?” I hissed. I’d never known Iris to have a boyfriend before, but I thought she had a major crush on some weird old guy in her village.
“He’s a Spade,” said Iris and Nikka at once.
“He’s my boyfriend,” added Iris.
The three of us trooped in as Quinn emerged from the bathroom. Thankfully, he was fully dressed. He was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. I could see his well-defined muscles through the thinness of the fabric, and judging by the soppy faces of Aaricka and Iris, so could they.
“Ahem!” I said to try and get the attention of the strange group. When I was sure they were all looking at me, I continued. “Everybody, this is Aaricka, and this little bundle of cuteness is Nikka. The Hearts are playing dirty when it comes to trade...”
“We know,” Iris cut me off. “That’s kinda the problem.”
“The Spades are being hit the hardest,” interjected Quinn. “The Diamonds will always be ok because of their magic, and the Clubs, at least, have the amazing water that brings life to everything. We can’t survive without the technology of the Hearts. Yes, a lot of Spades are miners, and we have a good fishing industry along the coast; but apart from that, we are manufacturers. We have many factories, but they are closing down all over the Spadelands.”
“Yeah, well that’s why we are here,” replied Aaricka “The Hearts have sabotaged my village’s factory and then increased the prices of the parts tenfold, so we can’t afford to run it anymore.”
“I know about the Hearts increasing the prices of technology to anyone but other Hearts, but I didn’t know they were dirty enough to sabotage the factories,” said Quinn, pacing the room.
“I can’t prove it, but a computer chip that worked perfectly before, suddenly broke after a visit from some Heart engineers. Jun
iper and I are going to fly into the Heartlands tomorrow and steal another chip.”
“Let me come with you,” Quinn said eagerly. “I want to help! The Spades have been doing the same thing in my village too. Our industry is dying. What did your factory make?”
“Chocolate.”
“I should have guessed. I’ve been doing a lot of intelligence on the Hearts lately. Confectionery is one of the areas where they are trying to gain a foothold. There is a new candy factory in the capital city, Cosmea. They are producing all kinds of candy using the Royal Heart insignia, but I know chocolate is a big part of their business. I want to come with you. We need to bring them down.”
“No!” I said firmly. “We aren’t going to any candy factory. We are going to the place that makes parts for the factory.”
“Hang on a minute,” said Aaricka. “Quinn is a genius. The candy factory will have a mixing room just like ours. If we steal their computer chip, it will not only mean that we have one, but it will put them out of action.”
I was seriously beginning to dislike Quinn.
“Is it any worse than what they have done to us?” continued Aaricka, sensing my discomfort. “The Hearts sabotaged our factory, why not do the same to them?”
“Because that makes us as bad as them,” I replied. “I have no qualms about taking a computer chip if you are sure they broke yours. It’s only taking back what is rightfully yours. Shutting down a completely different company just because they are in direct competition with you is wrong.”
“Oh god, you are right. I’m becoming as bad as they are.” She held her hands up to her face. I pulled them gently away and looked at her.
“You are not as bad as them; that’s not what I meant. You are the most amazingly brave woman I’ve ever known.” I held onto her tightly, wishing that Iris and Quinn weren’t in the room.
“I agree,” said Quinn, after a couple of minutes. “I still want to come and help you, though. You can ride on my back.”
“You are a horse shifter?”
He nodded.
“I’m coming too, then!” Iris stood and put her arm around Quinn’s waist. It looked weird for my sister to be with someone so completely normal looking. But from the sickly sweet expression on her face when she looked at him, I guess that was something I was going to have to get used to.
“Actually,” said Aaricka, detaching herself from me, “I was hoping you’d look after Nikka for me while we are out.”
“You want me to babysit? Oh, I’d love to!”
“Great, it seems like it’s all settled then,” I said, standing up. “Iris, I think it’s best if Mother and Father don’t know I’m back, which means you’ll have to keep Nikka out of sight. And as for you two,” I said, turning to Aaricka, “you can sleep in my room tonight. The bed will hold both of you. I’ll sleep in my brother Tarragon’s bed. He’s at Urbis University, so he won’t know.”
I walked through the castle to my room with Aaricka. She held Nikka as I carried their bag of new clothes. Aaricka placed Nikka down on the huge bed and covered her with the blanket. Her thumb immediately went to her mouth, and she curled up in her sleep.
“Thank you for this, Juniper. No one has ever gone to so much trouble for us before.” She came over to me and kissed me. It wasn’t a kiss of passion, but it was definitely more than a peck on the cheek. I leaned forward into the kiss, but she pulled back with a shy grin on her face. It was a grin I would replicate all the way to Tarragon’s room.
9th February
“Juniper!”
I nearly jumped a mile out of my skin when I heard my name called as I crept through the castle at the crack of dawn to sneak some food from the kitchen for Aaricka and Nikka. I didn’t need to turn around to see who it was behind me. I’d recognise my mother’s voice anywhere, especially the angry tone it now had.
“Mother,” I said turning to her and kissing her cheek.
“I didn’t know you were back. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I got back late last night and didn’t want to wake you.”
“Orion called your father. He said that you went to the Spade Palace and never came back. I’ve been worried sick about you. Where have you been?” She folded her arms and tapped her toe waiting for me to answer. Without knowing exactly what Orion had said, I thought it would be simpler to keep it to the truth, well mostly.
“Leo is having trouble, Mother. He has been doing his best to keep everything under control, but things are falling apart over there. There are a lot of groups planning to go into Heart territory and fight, but none of them are part of the Spade Army. Leo has no control over anything that is going on. I offered to go into the mountains to speak to one of those groups. I wanted to make sure that they didn’t go across Club land.”
“That’s what Orion said. Did you stop them?”
“Yes.” It was the truth, kinda.
“Good. I’ll let Reed know you are back. He might have another job for you, seeing as you performed this one so well.” She turned to leave.
“I promised I’d go back to the Spadelands and report back to Leo. I really should go and bring Orion back too. You know what he’s like. He’ll stay in the most expensive room in the hotel until one of us goes back and drags him out.”
“Will you be doing that today because I could book you on the Urbis Express?”
“Ah, no. I thought I’d rest up a bit here and go back in a couple of days.” That should give us enough time to get the computer chip. “I was actually just heading to the kitchen to get some breakfast, would you care to join me?” I crossed my fingers behind my back, hoping she would say no. I needed to get food for the girls.
“I’ve already eaten, and I’ve got to help Fern with something. Something to do with a beauty pageant or some such. Only Fern could think of such a thing in times like these.”
“Some other time then.” I kissed her cheek and then made my way to the kitchen, which was, thankfully, empty.
I grabbed some bread, cheese, and a couple of apples for Nikka and a leg of lamb for Aaricka. It was cooked so she would be able to eat it in her human form.
When I got to my room, I was surprised to find only Nikka there. She was jumping on the bed with a huge grin on her face. I could hear the sound of Aaricka’s singing coming from the bathroom.
“Momma is in the bathroom. Iris brought her some hot water, and she’s having a bath. She said I could go in next!”
She spoke with such enthusiasm; it was hard not to grin back at her. When I was a kid, I hated bath night, but I guess I didn’t live on a mountain with no access to running water when I was her age. I threw Nikka the bag with the food and let her get what she wanted from it. She pulled out an apple and bit down on it.
The bathroom door opened, and Aaricka emerged wrapped only in a towel. My heart flipped at the sight of her. Her long, white, blonde hair hung limply down over her shoulders, dripping water onto the towel below. She looked so delicate and small; I could have scooped her up into my arms and never let her go.
“Your turn, Cupcake!”
Nikka let out a squeal and raced into the bathroom, the apple still in her hand.
“I’ll come help you wash your hair in a couple of minutes,” shouted Aaricka through the, now closed door.
“I’ve brought you breakfast,” I said, indicating the bag of food on the bed.
She took hold of the top of the towel around her to keep it from falling and peeked into the bag.
“I got the lamb for you. I hope you like it.” I could barely get the words out with her standing so close, and only having a towel covering her. I’d seen her naked a couple of times before, but both of those had been after she had changed back from a tiger. Somehow, even though I couldn’t see anything from the top of her breasts down to her mid thighs, she seemed more naked than ever.
She was so thin, thanks to the scarcity of food on the mountain, but her muscles were well defined, leaving me in no doubt that she was stronger than s
he looked. Now, as I saw her much more closely, I could see her tiger markings on her body, extremely faint stripes down her arms and legs gave her away as being a tiger. But it wasn’t the stripes or the muscles that fascinated me about her body. It was how utterly perfect she was. Her shape was perfectly proportioned, leaving me itching to see what was under the towel.
“Ahem!” She cleared her throat to get my attention, and I realised I’d been staring at her legs for much longer than was considered appropriate.
“Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you were ready to go. Iris told me that Quinn would meet us at the back of the castle at eight o’clock.”
I’d completely forgotten about him. Monsatsu only knew why he was going along, but I supposed if he was a horse shifter, he would be a useful mode of transport for us.
“Yeah. I’m ready.”
She walked towards me, her towel barely staying on. Another few steps and gravity would take away the only thing covering her unless she pulled it up.
“Thank you for everything that you have done for us. I can see now that I wouldn’t have been able to lead my people so far. I underestimated the distance to The Heartlands from Charlesville, but now I’m here with you, and we can do this together.”
I could barely breathe with her closeness. If I held out my hand just a couple of inches, I’d be able to touch her skin and feel her softness. Her stunning amber eyes found mine, and we just stood looking at each other, not saying a word. I could feel the electricity flowing between us, and yet, something was stopping me from taking the leap. I knew in that moment that I wanted her like I’d never wanted anyone ever before, so why couldn’t I just kiss her. Any second, Nikka would be shouting through the door for her mother to help her with washing her hair, and the moment would be gone. I inched forward millimetres, my heart racing, terrified that she’d back away from me. Then she began to bridge the gap herself. Her eyes closed as her lips touched mine. The kiss lasted only a few seconds before she pulled back, but it was enough to ignite something within me. If it hadn’t been for Nikka just next door, I’d have taken her right then and there.
Seven of Clubs (War and Suits Book 6) Page 7