When I got to the main entrance, I was surprised to see my mother, Iris, and Quinn, along with Aaricka and Nikka. I was even more surprised when my mother hugged Aaricka.
Then she came over to me as Aaricka and Nikka hugged Iris and Quinn. She kissed me on the cheek and handed me an envelope.
“There is a letter in there that you’ll need to give to the conductor. It’s too late to have a messenger bring the tickets here, but if you pass this to him, he will give you your tickets. There is a horse and carriage waiting for you outside.”
“Thanks, Mother.”
One of the servants opened the door, and the three of us trooped out and into the waiting carriage. I held the door open for them and then hopped in, sitting on the seat opposite. When Nikka saw me sit, she jumped up from the seat and came and sat on my lap.
“Are you ok, sweetheart?” I asked, looking at Aaricka with confusion.
“Yes, I just wanted to sit with you because I’ll miss you when we get on the zeppelin. Why aren’t you coming with us?” She looked up at me with innocent eyes, and I wished everything could be that easy, but it wasn’t. Aaricka and Nikka had their home, and I had mine.
“I only have two tickets, sweetheart, one you and one for your mommy.”
“Will you visit us?”
The coach stopped abruptly, nearly sending Nikka to the floor. The door opened, and the huge zeppelin seemed to fill the whole sky.
“Wow!” said Nikka. “That’s a zeppelin?” I thought it was a kind of flying horse.”
Aaricka smiled and took her daughter’s hand in hers.
We were running late, and so I only had time to give them both a quick hug before they got on the zeppelin. I handed the envelope to the conductor, telling him what it was and he nodded.
“Are you getting on, sir?” he asked after skimming the letter, his hand on the door handle, waiting to close it.
I looked at the pair of them through the window. I wanted so desperately to get on that zeppelin, but I had my family to consider.
“No,” I said sadly.
He nodded again and closed the door.
Nikka had her little face pressed up against the window, so her nose was squashed against it. I could see Aaricka behind her.
Looking into her eyes was nearly killing me. A whole world of pain echoed how I felt. If only I’d had the chance to tell her how I felt, but I hadn’t. The signal had already been given, and the zeppelin was beginning to rise. Through the window, I could see a tear fall down Aaricka’s cheek. I’d not been sure, but I knew in that moment.
“Stop!” I said to the man I’d handed the tickets to. “Make them stop the zeppelin.”
“I can’t. Once it’s taken off, it won’t land until it reaches its destination.”
“But you have to make it stop!” I cried desperately. They were rising higher and higher, and I could barely see either of them now.
“I love you!” I shouted, but they were already gone.
“Excuse me, sir.” The guard, or whatever he was, handed me back the envelope. “But I think this is for you.”
“No, I gave it to you, remember. It had a letter from my mother about the tickets.” I was feeling miserable enough without some idiot guard forgetting what I handed him only five minutes earlier.
“No, I took that letter out. There is another one addressed to Juniper.”
I didn’t need to ask how he knew my name. Everyone knew all the royal family around here. I thanked him and took the envelope. He was right. There was another letter in there. I pulled it out and began to read. It was written hastily in my Mother’s handwriting.
My dearest Juniper,
I’ve known you long enough to know that you have feelings for that girl. I could see the pain in your eyes when you asked me to book two tickets and not three. I know you are loyal to our family, but sometimes, you have to know when to grow up and live your own life. Being a prince is a title of privilege, but it doesn’t have to be one of imprisonment. Go with them. It is time. I’ve ordered three tickets instead of two.
Good luck, my son.
H.C.
I crumpled the paper in my hands, anguish filling me. Above me, the zeppelin flew further and further away. I rounded on the guard.
“Why didn’t you tell me there were three tickets before you shut the door,” I shouted angrily.
“I asked you if you were getting on. You said you weren’t. How was I supposed to know that you didn’t know you had three tickets? I’m not a mind reader.”
He was right, but it didn’t stop me from being angry. The problem was, he wasn’t really the person I was angry at.
“I’m sorry. When is the next zeppelin to Notston?”
“Next one is tonight at seven o’clock, but it doesn’t connect to Charlesville like this one does. You’ll have to wait overnight in Notston and get the next one from there.”
“Thanks!” After instructing the driver to drive like the wind, I hopped back in the carriage and formulated my plan.
“Mother!” I wheezed breathlessly after racing through the castle and barging into her room unannounced.
“I’m surprised to see you back here. Had I read the situation wrongly?”
“No, Mother.” I crossed the room to kiss her cheek. “You read the situation perfectly. It’s me that’s the idiot. Can I borrow your phone, please? It’s urgent!”
She smiled wryly before passing over one of the two phones we owned as a family. Portable phones were Heart Technology and, therefore, extremely expensive. Hence, we didn’t all have one. The only other person I knew with one was the one person I wanted to speak to.
I dialled the number and waited for Orion to answer. He picked up on the third ring.
“Hi, Aunt Heather,” he said in his poshest voice. He was such a loser sometimes.
“It’s me,” I replied, taking the phone out of earshot of my mother.
“Where the fuck have you been, and, more importantly, why are you calling me when I’m in bed with Solstice?”
What the…?
I heard her shouting distantly. “Ignore him. He’s an idiot. We are at the restaurant in the hotel.”
“So you and Solstice have made up then?” I don’t know why I was surprised. Yeah, they hated each other’s guts when I left them nearly a week ago, but Orion usually got the woman he wanted, even the ones who hated him.
“Sure did, Cuz! How come you are back home anyway? I thought you were flying off to the backwoods of the Spadelands somewhere.”
I could hear giggling in the background. Knowing Orion, he was probably doing something obscene in the middle of the restaurant.
“I was. Listen, I need you to do me a favour.”
“For you, Cuz, anything.”
I explained the details of everything I needed him to do, leaving out nothing. Surprisingly, he agreed without using it as an excuse to make fun of me.
Leaving the phone with my mother, who gave me a knowing wink, I left the castle to start the wheels in motion for my new life.
By the time seven o’clock came around, I had done everything I needed to do, and I was on the zeppelin ready to take off. Could it have only been a few days ago that I sat in the very same seats travelling to the Spade capital with Orion and Solstice? It was unimaginable, and yet, it was true. It was even the same flight attendant that offered me a beer.
I refused, wanting my head to be crystal clear when I got there. My heart was thumping, but this time, with a joy I had not known before. The zeppelin couldn’t go fast enough.
I imagined the joyful reunion at the Notston station. She’d be standing there on the platform waiting for me, her arms outstretched. Nikka would be dancing up and down. I’d hand them both a bouquet of flowers I’d bought and then after a night in town, we’d catch the Zeppelin to Charlesville where we would be greeted like heroes. We’d insert the computer chip, and the village would go back to its former chocolate-making glory.
These thoughts that kept me com
pany the whole journey. As we neared the landing area, I pressed my face on the window in much the same way that Nikka had. I couldn’t see them, but it was getting dark.
Orion greeted me at the door of the zeppelin, and in that instant, I knew.
“I’m sorry man.” Orion pulled me into a hug. It was a first for Orion. Come to think of it, I think it was the first sentence he’d ever uttered that didn’t have the word ‘Fuck’ in it. He was either ill or in love. Judging by his face, I’d go with the latter.
“What did she say?” I wasn’t sure if it even mattered. The fact that she wasn’t here spoke volumes.
“She said that she’d always treasure her time with you, but she had to go back home.”
“Did you tell her that I was going to come back home with her?” If Orion had told her only half a message, there was still hope.
“I did. She said it was something she had to do alone. She said that you two were a world apart and she couldn’t ask you to give up everything you have for her. Let’s face it, man. She does have a point. Why move out to backwards village nowhere when you have it all back at home?” He picked up one of my bags as we made our way through the crowds of people to get to the hotel.
“Would you do the same if it were Solstice?” I asked. There was a noticeable change in him, and I think I knew why. He seemed happy. It was unusual for him.
“In a heartbeat.”
“I’m happy for you. Solstice is a nice girl.”
“She really fucking is, isn’t she?” He grinned.
My heart had left me to be replaced by a stone weight in my chest. All those wonderful feelings I’d had only hours before had crumbled to the ground leaving me feeling bereft. I’d never see her again. I’d never see Nikka again. When we got to the hotel, I went straight to the Royal Suite and flopped on the bed. Orion placed the bags on the floor and then sat on the bed next to me.
“What are you going to do now?”
“I guess I’ll go home on the Urbis Express with you and Solstice, the day after tomorrow. What else is there to do?”
“Shouldn’t you go and see Leo and tell him what’s happened?”
“Fuck!” I’d totally forgotten about Leo. I’d left his unicorn at home too. At least, I’d be able to give him the good news that I’d managed to stop one of the guerrilla groups from going into Club territory and that I’d managed to save a village factory and, therefore, a whole community. It struck me that I’d achieved everything I’d set out to do, so why did I feel like my life had ended?
“Do you want to come down to dinner with me and Sol?”
“No thanks. I think I’m just gonna stay here and sleep.”
“Ok. I’ve moved back into my own room so don’t worry when I don’t come back. Listen, it’s a big celebration day for the Spades tomorrow, some festival or other, and the hotel is putting on a masquerade ball. Do you wanna come? It might cheer you up.”
Dancing at a ball with no partner sounded like my idea of hell. Dances were for lovers, not losers.
“Maybe,” I uttered noncommittally. I don’t know why. There was no way I was going. I’d go and see Leo in the morning and then stay in my room for the rest of the day.
“Good night then.” Orion turned off the light and closed the door leaving me alone to sleep.
11th February
I pulled the duvet over my head as the bedside phone rang for the third time. The first time was probably the hotel’s wake-up service. The second and third were undoubtedly Orion checking up on me.
My stomach churned as I thought of breakfast. My appetite had left me completely, and all I wanted to do was enjoy the blissful emptiness of sleep. I closed my eyes, only to have to open them when someone knocked on the door.
“Go away, Orion!”
“It’s me,” a voice called through the door. For a second, my heart leapt at the woman’s voice before I realised it was Solstice and not Aaricka. My heart dropped like a lead balloon.
I dragged myself out of bed and opened the door.
“Well, at least, you are dressed,” remarked Solstice when she saw me.
“I’m still wearing yesterday’s clothes.”
She scrunched her nose then marched past me into the room. “Orion sent me up here. He said you wouldn’t listen to him. You need to get a shower, go and do what you have to do over at the Spade Palace, and then you are coming to the masquerade ball with us. I’m going to buy you a mask from the shop in the foyer.”
“But—”
“But nothing. I’m not taking no for an answer.”
I ended up agreeing to everything just to get her out of the room.
“Juniper!” Leo cried, hugging me like an old friend when I finally made it to the palace. It was as empty as it had been last time I’d been there with only the occasional servant.
This time, the spread he’d put out was much more modest. A couple of plates of fancy sandwiches and a plate of biscuits sat on the table. I guess there was no need for pretence anymore. I felt sorry for him and everything he was going through. It put my own problems into perspective.
“So, did you have any luck with Aaricka? Did you stop her and her followers from trying to invade the Heart Kingdom?” he asked earnestly. Just hearing her name was enough for me to fall back into a pit of despair, not that Leo knew that.
“You’ll not have any more trouble from Aaricka or her people.”
“You sound glum. Is everything ok?”
He didn’t want to know about Aaricka except to hear that she’d be no more trouble to him. I nodded and tried to look happier than I really felt.
“Her plans to attack the Hearts are no longer needed. She’s got what she wants.”
“Really? What was that?” I couldn’t tell him about the trip to Cosmea, but if I fudged the details a bit, I could tell him what we’d found out.
“She wanted to invade the Heartlands because they had sabotaged a factory in her village. Her followers were all people who depended on it for jobs. That’s why they were angry. I must warn you that it has been happening all over the Spadelands. It’s happening to industries in the Diamond Kingdom and my own too. The Queen of Hearts is behind it all.”
“You are kidding?” replied Leo. I could tell by his face that this was not something he already knew. “How do you know this?”
“It doesn’t matter how I know, I just know. I managed to help Aaricka to fix the factory in her village, but there will be others. This is why people are rebelling. I don’t blame them at all. Your people are going hungry and losing their livelihood, and it’s all down to the Queen of Hearts. It doesn’t affect the Clubs so much because our main export is our water and she’s already tried a number of times to take that from us; unsuccessfully I might add.”
He slumped down in his chair, holding his head in his hands. “I knew something was happening to make people angry, and the number of reports I’ve been getting about problems with factories has been high, but I put it down to coincidence. I can’t believe the Queen of Hearts would do this. Are you absolutely sure?”
“Yes. I’m positive.”
He slammed his fist on the table making the plates of uneaten sandwiches jump up into the air. “We need to go to the Aces. She can’t get away with this.”
“You can try, but without proof, you’ll have a hard time convincing them.”
“But you know right? You must have seen proof yourself.”
I thought back to the letter we had found in the Royal Technology building. The last I’d seen of it was when Aaricka had folded it up and put it in her pocket. The Queen would have found out about the break-in at the factory by now. I afforded myself a wry smile at the thought of her finding out her beloved candy factory had been sabotaged. We wouldn’t be able to do it again. She would make sure that the security was maximised.
“I did, but it’s gone. I’m afraid you are going to have to take my word for it.”
“I believe you, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get t
he Aces to do the same.” He stood and paced up and down, scratching his chin as if in deep thought. I’d done what he asked, but at the end of the day, I’d not really helped him at all. I’d managed to stop Aaricka, but there would be a hundred other groups ready to spring up in her place. I had no idea just how widespread the sabotage of companies was, but if I knew the Queen of Hearts, she wouldn’t do anything by half.
I left the palace and a dejected looking Leo without mention of the unicorn I’d forgotten to bring back. I’d given him enough to worry about without adding a unicorn to the list. I knew Star would look after it well until I found a way to get it back.
Back at the hotel, I knocked on Orion’s door. Predictably, he opened the door completely naked. He wasn’t even wearing a towel. In fact, the only thing he was wearing was a smile.
“Put some clothes on, will you? I could have been anyone. What if it was a maid who knocked on the door?”
“Relax man. I looked through the peephole. I knew it was you. Now, what do you want? I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”
I looked behind him to see Solstice wrapped in a sheet on his bed. At least, she had the decency to look embarrassed.
“So I see. Can I borrow your phone, please?”
“Can’t you use the landline in your own room?”
“No, I can’t remember mom’s number by heart, and I know you have it programmed into your phone. Just give it to me, and then you can go back to doing whatever it was I interrupted.”
He gave me a grin, before fishing around in the pocket of some trousers that had been discarded on the floor, probably thrown there in the height of passion.
“Thanks,” I said after he passed it to me. I left his room and made my way to my own. I’d lied to him about who I was calling. I couldn’t face talking to my mother at the moment. She’d only bombard me with questions about Aaricka and then tell me that she wasn’t the right one and that there were plenty more fish in the sea. I just didn’t need it. It was my father’s number I called.
He picked up on the first ring, which was unusual. Most of the time, he left it somewhere and forgot where, or had it on silent. It must have been on his desk near to his tobacco to be picked up so fast.
Seven of Clubs (War and Suits Book 6) Page 10