Where there had been the body of a tiger, now lay the naked form of a woman with long, straight, white, blonde hair with streaks of black, flowing down from her head to cover most of her form. At the crown, her hair was red from blood where the stone had hit, for this was undoubtedly Aaricka. There was no sign of a tiger anywhere, and the colour of her hair matched the markings of the tiger perfectly. I walked up to her slowly, not knowing what to do. She was not moving even though I was sure I’d not hit her too hard. I could see the rhythmical movement of her chest underneath her hair, telling me she was still alive. With a fair amount of trepidation, I walked over to her and knelt down beside her. When I got a look at her face, it hit me, what I had done to her. She looked so young and innocent, and beneath those long locks covering her, I could see her shivering in the February air. In this form, she wouldn’t live long in these temperatures. I ran over to the unicorn and quickly pulled off the saddle to get to the blanket underneath.
“I’m sorry boy, but she needs this more than you do at the moment.” The unicorn looked quite unhappy that I was taking his blanket from him, but it had to be done. He could have it back once we found her clothes.
I had to lift her slightly to be able to get the blanket under her to wrap it around her. She was so light compared to her tiger form, although I could see strength in her muscles. I wrapped her up tightly and held her in my arms gently calling her name in an effort to wake her up. I tried not to notice just how utterly beautiful she was because it only made me feel worse for throwing a stone at her and rendering her unconscious.
Her skin was flawless and almost as pale as her hair, giving her an otherworldly quality as though she was almost not there at all. She had the darkest black eyelashes covering what I knew to be amber eyes and a slight hint of pink to her cheeks. Her lips were the only thing that looked out of place on her beautiful face. They were as black as night as though she was wearing the darkest hue of lipstick, although I could tell that this was no lipstick, but her natural colouring.
The stroking of her face was not helping bring her round, but without knowledge of anything else to do, I kept at it, if only to feel like I was doing something to help.
She began to murmur in her sleep, leaving me suddenly ill at ease. Part of me wanted to drop her in the sand and run, knowing that despite her beauty, this young woman was a fearsome leader. Monsatstu only knew what would happen if she woke up to find me cradling her because, despite the blanket covering her, there was no doubt she was completely naked underneath. Yes, the best thing to do would be to lay her back in the sand and leave her to wake up in her own time. I could tell Leo that I hadn’t found her or that I was unable to talk to her.
Thoughts of my father’s disappointed face drifted through my mind, and I knew I couldn’t do it. I’d come out here to prove myself, not to walk away at the first sign of danger and how dangerous could she really be? She was only a girl, probably in her early twenties as I was.
“Where am I?”
Her voice broke me out of my own thoughts. It was much deeper and huskier than I had imagined it to be, obviously taking on the traits of a tiger more than a human.
“I...I... You attacked me.”
As soon as I said it, I felt ridiculous and more than a little bit of an ass to be putting the blame on her.
She looked up at me with the same stunning amber eyes she had in tiger form, like orange glass embedded in white marble. She was so utterly stunning and her eyes mesmerising that I was rendered unable to speak. Or, at least, speak without sounding like a complete douchebag.
“My head hurts.” She tried sitting up, but dizziness overcame her, and she fell back into my arms.
“I hit it with a stone. I’m sorry. I think the bleeding has stopped.”
“Bleeding?” She closed her eyes again, and I worried that she had slipped back into unconsciousness.
A guttural growl came from her lips, and she bared her teeth at me in much the same way she had done in her tiger form. She opened her eyes again, flashing me a look of pure anger. It was enough to make me want to pull back, but I couldn’t without dropping her completely. I needn’t have worried as she sat bolt upright and jumped back of her own accord, the agility of her feline abilities apparent in her movements.
“Who are you?” she growled, circling around me as if ready to attack again. So much for Leo telling me she was perfectly harmless in her human form. This girl was ready to fight.
“I’m Juniper, but most people call me Jay,” I replied, not taking my eyes from hers for a second. I had to twist my body to keep her in sight as she wore a path in the sand around me.
“What is it you want, Juniper? No one comes up onto our mountain without an invitation. If you were a friend, I would know you; therefore, you must be my enemy.”
“I’m not sure that’s how things work,” I replied, confused by her logic. “Strangers can be strangers without being either a friend or a foe.”
“But you threw a rock at my head. A friend wouldn’t do that to another friend.”
“That’s true, but you were attacking me and my unicorn. Friends don’t do that either.”
“Well, I think we have already established we are not friends, so I suggest you get off my mountain before I turn back into a tiger,” she growled.
She was so small, it was almost impossible to imagine her as the huge tiger I’d seen before, and yet she was so scrappy and utterly fearless, standing there with only a blanket for protection. I felt completely lost, not knowing what to do. What would Sage do in this situation? He was so much better at this kind of stuff than I was. He’d probably be his usual charming self, solve the problem, and end the day in a fancy restaurant with her. A pang of jealousy ran through me at my eldest brother’s easy charm. Just the thought of them eating together made my stomach flip which was ridiculous, as they didn’t even know of each other’s existence.
Whatever Sage would do, he wouldn’t back down. I pulled myself up to my full height and faced her. I was surprised to find that she was so much shorter than I. Whatever it was that enabled the spades to shift from one form to another, it was truly magic over matter. No science could have replicated it.
The difference in our height and size now gave me the advantage over her, but if she was scared, she didn’t show it.
“Don’t come any closer!” she demanded, getting herself into a fighting stance, which would have worked if she wasn’t also holding up the blanket around her.
“Look, I think we have gotten off on the wrong foot. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m a Club Prince, the Seven. I just came here to talk to you. The Jack of Spades is worried, and he thought that I could help.”
“A prince? You think that’s going to impress me? Leo is a nice guy, and I’m surprised he felt the need to send someone else, let alone a Club to do his dirty work, but I’ve told him, and I’ll tell you, I will not stop this war until we all have jobs and can feed our children.”
“You have children?” I didn’t mean to ask, but I was so surprised. She seemed too young to have children; she was barely more than a child herself.
“That is none of your concern. Are you going to leave on your flying horse, or do I have to make you?”
“It’s a unicorn, and, no, I am not leaving. Leo tells me you are leading a group, and that there isn’t enough food to go round.”
“We could eat you and your unicorn,” she pointed out, cutting me off.
“Yes, and then what? You’ll all be hungry next week instead. I am only here to help you, but if you don’t want it, I’ll let you starve to death.” I walked away from her, towards the unicorn that had been keeping his distance throughout the whole thing. I was just about to jump on his back when I heard another voice. I turned to see a tiny young girl standing next to Aaricka. She couldn’t have been more than four or five years old, but she had the exact same hair as Aaricka.
“Mommy, who is he?”
“You do have a child!” I said.
> “And I told you, it’s none of your business!” she growled back at me.
One look at the little girl told me that she was malnourished. She was nothing more than skin and bones. I opened one of the saddlebags and rooted around. Inside, there were a number of parcels covered in brown paper and tied with string. I pulled one out and untied the string. Inside, was a sandwich and an apple. I held the sandwich out in front of me and knelt down, so I was at eye level with the little girl.
“Nikka, No!” Aaricka said to her daughter, but it was already too late. The little girl was bounding towards me, arms outstretched. I handed her the sandwich, which she took greedily and sank her teeth into it as though she hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks, which she probably hadn’t.
“What did you do that for?” Aaricka flashed her eyes at me angrily, but one look at her daughter eating softened them.
“I had some food, and she looked hungry,” I replied, trying out a cheeky grin.
“It’s yummy, Mommy. Do you want to share with me?”
My heart went out to the tiny scrap of a girl, who was willing to share her sandwich when she was so obviously starving. I cocked my eyebrow at Aaricka, and she sighed.
“No, honey, you eat it.”
“I have a few more sandwiches.” I pulled another out and threw the parcel at Aaricka. She looked at it hesitantly before ripping through the brown paper and devouring the sandwich.
“So I can come and talk to your people then?” I asked as she finished her sandwich and started on the apple.
“No!” she replied fiercely.
“Fine, we’ll all stay here then.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I'm not gonna leave here until you go, and if you go, I'm going to follow you.” I gave her my most charming smile while she looked back at me in exasperation.
“I don’t think so,” she growled. “You’re different from us, and we don't like different on this mountain. My people will crucify you.”
“Well, make your choice then because I'm coming with you whether you like it or not.”
She grabbed hold of Nikka’s hand and turned around, storming back up the mountain. I grabbed hold of the unicorn’s reins and followed her on the unsteady path, keeping about ten feet between us. The terrain was uneven with rocks jutting out on either side of the muddy path making the going difficult for the unicorn. We walked uphill for about ten minutes before the land flattened out and we came to a rocky outcrop. From here, I could see for miles all around. The mountainous terrain below us, a valley with a small picturesque village with a river running through it and beyond that, the plains I had flown over to get here. Evidence of life was all around, from a massive campfire that was still burning to the piles of small animal bones left over from meals.
“Guys!” shouted Aaricka, her voice filled with a trepidation I’d not seen in her before. I stood near her as people appeared from caves scattered around, all looking as thin as Aaricka and Nikka and each of them with a scowl on their faces as they saw me. With my pointed ears and diminutive height, it was impossible to pretend I was anything other than a Club.
“Who the fuck is this?” growled a huge man at my side.
“He's a Club Prince. He says he wants to help us,” replied Aaricka, giving me a look that could only be described as hostile.
“Like fuck, he does!” The man grimaced and headed towards me. He was at least double my height and three times my width and looked like he might be either a rhino or an elephant shifter, and with the look in his eyes, I could tell he was angry.
“He's a spy. Who sent you, spy?”
I knew that if I backed down now, all would be lost. Even though he would be able to pound me into the ground, I still had to show strength.
“I'm not a spy,” I said, pulling myself up to my full height, which barely reached his belt. “I am Juniper Club, The Seven of Clubs. I'm here to help you.”
“Right, Tiny. How do you think you are gonna help because it seems to me that the only way you can help us is if we throw you on the fire and eat you. Even then, you are so small, that you’d barely be more than a snack.” He bent down and growled right into my face.
It was then I realised I didn't have any kind of plan formulated. I’d kidded myself that I’d just be able to come up here and stop them marching through The Clublands when it was extremely apparent to me that I wouldn’t even be able to stop them having me for lunch.
Hundreds of angry eyes looked at me, waiting for me to come up with some amazing solution to their problems, but my mind was blank.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
The man picked me up by the scruff of my neck and carried me all the way down the hillside the way we had come.
“Get out of here loser,” he growled as he threw me back towards the lakeside where I fell back in the sand.
I watched his retreating form as he marched back up the mountain path to the rest of the group.
“Well that went well,” I whispered as I pulled myself up into a sitting position and dusted the sand from my hair.
It was then I realised that I had left the unicorn back up on the rocky outcrop.
“Shit,” I said to myself. “Shit, Shit, Shit,” I shouted out again. I could not have done a worse job if I had tried. Not only had I failed to make any kind of impression with Aaricka's group, but I had also lost my only means of transport home. I was in a completely foreign country, half way up a mountain, lost, and totally alone.
“Fuck!” I knew I had to climb back up to get the Unicorn if I wanted to get out of this place alive, but the thought of coming face-to-face or face-to-belt with the rhino or whatever he was again made me feel sick. I was still wondering what I was going to do five minutes later when I heard the steady clip-clop clip-clop rhythm of the unicorn making its way down the mountain path. I looked up to see Aaricka holding his reins and guiding him down the path. She’d also dispensed of the blanket and was now wearing clothes.
“I thought you might want him back,” she said holding out the reins for me to take.
“Thank you.”
“Look, I'm sorry about the way that Ulix treated you. We are all just very angry. We have no ill will towards The Clubs. It’s the Hearts we have the problem with.” Her words were nice enough, but the manner in which she said them hadn’t changed.
“I just wanted to help,” I replied defensively.
“Yeah, well, you've not done a very good job of it. You came here with no plan whatsoever and thought you could just help us? What exactly were you trying to achieve?”
I knew it was time to be honest with her. “I just don't want you going through the Clublands. Some of your people have already destroyed one of our villages. We do not want to fight you, but if you come through, you leave us no choice.”
“You didn’t come here to help us at all. You just wanted to stop us upsetting your people!” She was pissed, and I couldn’t blame her. I’d be pissed at me too.
“The Clubs are not part of your war, but if you come through our land, you are making it our war,” I said, trying to make her see reason.
“So you are taking her side?” she spat at me, her anger apparent. Folding her arms across her chest, she gave me a look as if challenging me to dispute her. The only problem was, I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Whose side?” I asked, genuinely confused.
“The Queen of Hearts. Who else?”
Why did everything always come down to the Queen of Hearts? I sighed. Everything that had happened in the last few weeks had been because of her. Why should this be any different?
“The Queen of Hearts is a bitch who tried killing one of my sisters and imprisoned another one. I hate the woman.”
She smiled for the first time. It illuminated her whole face. She was truly stunning without all the anger, and yet, she retained a look of fiery determination. An overwhelming feeling of wanting to taste those black lips of hers came over me.
“
We are going to kill her.”
“What?” Her words brought me back to my senses. “That is your plan? You are going to kill the Queen of Hearts?” It was crazy and yet, one look at her told me she was not kidding. “You do know she has a thousand-strong army and hundreds of guards, right?”
“We’ll find a way,” she replied, dismissively.
“You don’t know what you are doing, do you? You are sending your group into the Heartlands to kill the queen, and most of you don’t look like you’ve had a decent meal in weeks. When are you planning this amazing feat?”
Her smile had disappeared to be replaced by the look of anger I was beginning to recognise.
“We set out in a few days. Maybe you should fly home to your daddy and tell him to let us have safe passage, so you don’t have casualties too.”
She was so brave and scrappy and yet so utterly naive.
“Our army is small, but we are skilled and have weapons. You’d not get anywhere near the Heartlands. Most of your people would die of fatigue or starvation, so we wouldn’t even need to fight you. Let me help you come up with a better plan.”
“You said yourself that you don’t have a better plan.”
“That’s true, but, at least, give me time to think about it. I really don’t know how you are going to kill The Queen of Hearts, but I might be able to think of a way to get you safely through the Clublands without anyone getting hurt.”
“You could do that?” Hope sprang to her face. I could see it on her, almost feel it, and yet, I still lied to her. I had no way of expecting my father to allow them safe passage, but at the same time, I had to figure a way to either stop them from carrying out their plan, a plan that had no chance of working, or come up with another solution. In the end, I simply said “Yes.”
All the hostility she had harboured towards me dropped away from her, and she ran towards me and gave me a hug. I could feel her warm skin touching mine and her breath on my neck shooting goosebumps up and down my spine. Without thinking, I put my arms around her and hugged her back, feeling treacherous about giving her false hope. She was so small in my arms, despite the fact that I was smaller than a lot of Spades, her muscles betrayed just how delicate she really was.
Seven of Clubs (War and Suits Book 6) Page 3
