#jofdiamonds

If he had a watch he would’ve checked it and sighed. Instead, he adjusted his mask and looked around.

The Kings and Queens were deep in conversation. The next phase of the games was still away but they were talking about the regular games, discussing ways to make them more interesting. The Jacks were standing at a polite distance, waiting for their turn to speak. 

Vessel didn’t like any of them in particular. He didn’t dislike them either, but he didn’t feel compelled to be friendly or approachable in a place like this. He let his eyes linger on the tall broad figure leaning on a pillar at the far side of the room, almost as if he were imitating Vessel’s posture.

Aki. The Jack of Diamonds. Vessel would have respected him much more if he hadn’t overheard Aki mocking Spades games. But he didn’t want to fight, what was the point? That had happened some time ago and since then, Aki seemed… different. Vessel couldn’t quite tell why but there was something off. Vessel knew, because there was something off about himself, too. Could it be? 

Airi far prefers the Court of Spades. Not only because it is less meddlesome than her own or better outfitted than the Court of Clubs, but also because she actually likes the royal family. The Queen and her siblings had welcomed her not just out of royal duty but with genuine warmth.

Days go by pleasantly enough while Airi learns the workings of a court. The comings and goings of the counselors and courtiers. She wonders when it will be her turn but she’s in no hurry. She knows well that when she’s crowned, a great burden will be placed upon her, along with impositions she won’t be able to shift away from. When the time comes, she wishes she can be like Cass, sharp and independent. But until then, she watches and learns.

The princess meets envoys from the other courts, it’s part of the protocol. Airi smiles and bows politely and tries to remember a hundred names in case she needs to recall them one day. 

One of those new acquaintances occupies her mind more than the rest. Airi shouldn’t have met him at the Queen of Spades’s court. But logic is scarce in the Underland, and so she does meet him. The Prince of Diamonds. 

Apparently he’s on some diplomatic mission there. He has private audiences with the Queen and her siblings, who are her main royal counselors. But in between, he seeks her out. 

It starts out innocently enough. Their eyes meet across the room in the throne room, while sitting at opposite sides of the dinner table, while Airi is taking a turn around the garden with the other ladies and the prince is walking with his knights. 

Airi is good at reading people, but Aki she can’t pin down. He’s polite, charming and flirty, yet his genial smile rarely reaches his eyes. It’s as if he carries something with him, and Airi can’t help but wonder what.

And so, the dance starts. Stolen glances lead to stolen moments, stolen kisses. And like everything that is stolen, this is forbidden.

In a dark corridor they find each other. Unexpectedly? Who could say? Does he know she likes this particular hallway because of the glass double doors that open into a balcony where she can go out and see the stars? Did she make sure he knew?

Under cover of darkness she takes his hand, he pulls her near. She stands on tiptoe and he leans down to close the distance between them. Whispered words as their lips are about to touch: “It won’t mean anything to me, and it will mean even less to you.” A promise that was broken the moment it was uttered.

She kisses him without holding back, he returns the kiss desperately but when they break apart to catch their breath, she can tell there’s something on his mind. He looks as if he wants to say something to her but he just shakes his head and takes a step back.

What is he not telling her, Airi wonders. There’s something like melancholy in his eyes. She would give all she owns for a brief insight into his mind, into his heart. 

Airi knows she has no right to ask. He shouldn’t even be there, they shouldn’t have met. But they did, and now what?

The slow, maddening dance continues. Both of them too tangled in it, never straying too far. Eyes alert, always looking, looking, looking, until they find their prey.

It’s just a game, she tells herself. Something irrelevant, inconsequential. But then why can't she step aside?

They don’t see each other for a few days and Airi is about to go mad. Suddenly her mind is made up. So what if it’s just a one-time thing. Another broken promise. She doesn’t care, her Heart is half lost already.

Midnight brings them together on their balcony. Neither of them planned it and yet here they both are. 

“You said you wouldn’t care.”

These somber thoughts clouded her mind, making her toss and turn in bed until she gave up on trying to sleep and got out of her room to… what? It didn’t matter, she just needed to get out, she would know where she was going when she got there.

It was very late, but the concept of time at The Beach was askew at best, nonexistent at worst. Airi knew that as long as she kept clear of the executives and the militants, no one would ask her why she was wandering around. 

The pool wasn’t as full as she expected. It was that strange hour that could not be called “night” anymore but wasn’t really “morning” either, both too late and too early for most people. There were only two other people there and they seemed to be too engrossed kissing each other to pay her any attention. She walked to the other end of the pool and sat down. 

A shadow materialized out of nowhere and hovered over her. Airi turned around and up to look. Aki was standing behind her, tall and imposing. 

Airi smiled at him and Aki returned her smile. He raised his eyebrows at her, and even without him uttering a word she knew he was asking what was troubling her. She shrugged her shoulders and sighed in a wordless response meant to convey everything around them, and shook her head as if to say “but it’s all fine”.

Aki nodded and crouched down beside her, and they both sat in silence for a minute. The next minute, Aki grabbed Airi’s hand and, before she could register what was happening, he jumped into the pool, dragging her with him and startling the lovebirds on the other end. 

Airi emerged very much shocked. Aki was always so proper, so self-possessed, so elegant. Maybe he had lost his balance, grabbed her hand to try to steady himself and he’d fallen in anyway? She looked at him but the expression on his face was unmistakable, he didn’t even need to say it, he’d very much done that on purpose, why? 

The game she had joined, the Four of Spades, had been… well, very physical and she was exhausted. When she cleared the game, she’d thought she’d grab a drink when she got to The Beach, but now that she was there, she realized she just wanted to get away from everyone and go to her room.

I should have waited outside a bit longer, she thinks, only just able to contain the urge to roll her eyes. As if to mock her annoyance, someone’s elbow hits her ribs. Her first instinct is to hit the person back, but she knows it was an accident and she doesn’t really want to create a scene and have the militants come running–and shooting–to “fix” it so she lets her half-raised arm fall back to her side. 

Just as she manages to reach the stairs, she turns back around, as if there was something calling to her. Someone. She scans the room and finds him in a second. Hard not too since he towers over almost everyone else in the lobby. Aki is standing across the room, watching the mass of people move around him.