I woke up to my queen screaming. She had nightmares before but his one seemed to be one of the worse ones. I would have to keep her awake for the rest of the night because if not they would return with a force. Even drugs didn't help her. I was born to be an assassin but this was too cruel of a life that made me want to kill her. She mourned her loss like with the regal of a true Royal but it was those last moments in that building that struck her hard and her giving the speech about it today didn't help. It reawakened old wounds that still festered under the surface that had just begun to heal. I didn't envy her. I remember my own first kill like it was yesterday when in reality it was over five hundred years ago. I was ten.

Shaking the old memories away, I quickly got up and masked the screaming as a simple hum of an air conditioner and checked the minds of the people in the hotel. Luckily, they hadn't heard her. I had been able to check minds since I had first meet the Ace of Hearts, not Victory but another one, the first Ace of Hearts. He had lived longer than any other Ace and he chose to live his life in secrecy. He gave me a small amount of power from him to be able to make my kills cleanly. It had worked. Chiding myself on the drawback of my thoughts, I burst into her bedroom and held her hands away from her face. She had been clawing herself. The scratches healed automatically when I pushed my power into her and she stared at me as if she didn't recognize me.

"You're safe," I told her and she didn't move. Her dark blonde hair was a mess and her gold eyes stared up at me in fear and confusion.

"My name is Aiden, my queen," I reminded her and the fear slowly retreated but I couldn't blame her for being afraid. They all had in the end.

"I saw him," She whispered quietly her eyes begging for something that I couldn't quite place. "He was reaching out to me but then she came and hurt him. She kept stabbing him over and over and I couldn't get to her because I was being held back by you but then when she came after me, you got in the way and I wasn't able to protect you and you went down...you looked up at me and smiled and said, 'live long my queen' and then she reached into your chest and stole your heart and she ripped it to shreds in front of me but then I woke up and I couldn't think, I just kept hearing this high pitched wail and I didn't know where it was coming from and...and I just want to sleep without her hanging over me," she uttered the last sentence with barely a mumble and her arms went around my waist. She had been terrified of the dreams and it seems that I end up showing up in them every once in awhile. She had her knees on the bed and I slowly picked her up off of it and pulled her close. This had happened one too many times and I was ready to get my revenge on Shelia as soon as physically possible. Mr. Withers told me to wait. She needed me right now and I didn't doubt it. Her shaking was enough to warn me.

People had wondered why I followed my queen around and it was simple. I followed her because if I didn't she would search for me. We had been the only two inside that building that wasn't either dead or an enemy and she hoped to relate to me in that sense. I don't mind. It was easier for me to track her down when I know where she is. Her hands gripped my t-shirt and I held her closer setting her down on the couch but she immediately pulled me down onto the furniture.

"Stay with me," She pleaded and I sat down calmly. She crawled into my arms and I held her as she wept. Fury bubbled up in me and I had the urge to hit something. Shelia had ruined our lives and the only way for her to get out of it was for me to do something. I just wish I knew what to do.

She quieted down after she had shed enough tears to soak the front of my shirt and she laid her head on my chest silently.

"I want to kill her," she informed me and I silently agreed with her. It was the best course of action to make this stop.

"I want to hurt her so bad that she screams and then starts coughing up blood with every scream she has. I want her to die slowly and torture her with every instrument known to man. I want to pull her arms and legs off and still keep her alive afterwards to slowly dissect her still living body while she's awake and without anesthetic. I want to pull out her still beating heart and show it to her as she cries out without anyone to help her. I want to humiliate her with every breath in my body but..." she trailed off after that and I felt her pain come back to the surface. She knew how to describe what she wanted pretty clearly. Of course, I could agree with her on every subject. It seemed like a good plan to me.

"Will you let me?" Her voice piped up and I looked down at her. She gazed up at me with dead seriousness and I smiled grimly at her.

"I would help you," I affirmed and she grinned wolfishly back at me. Pulling away silently, she got up and fished out a deck of cards. It may seem terribly ironic but the lass knew what helped her and the concentration of poker calmed her down.

"What game?" I asked and she pulled out the two Jokers and laid them to the side of the coffee table.

"Five card draw," she announced after a second of consideration and handed me the cards willingly. I shuffled them in silence and dealt them before I started talking.

"The meeting went well yesterday," I offered and she glanced up at me from above her hand. She had regained her composure and she laid down two of her cards to put in the trash pile.

"More like a sacrificial offering," she snorted and took the two cards I handed her. I knew what they were two aces. The other cards in her hand were a king and the other aces. I always dealt this as a first hand to remind her that the Aces were there for her. She accepted them easily and laid them down on the table without comment. She understood that and accepted it calmly. I passed over the cards and she shuffled the deck.

"I thought it went well. The Twos hung on to your every word," I replied and she raised an eyebrow.

"Right, just like a sacrifice," she rebutted and I laid down my four queens. She laid down her four kings. The next step in the game was to remind both of us the dangers of the other cards. The simplicity of the game went on until the very last hand was shown and we both stared at the four twos in silence. I had two and she had two. We both knew that they were divided between us and I looked up at her from them.

"Its morning," I stated looking at the clock and she turned to see that the device read four a.m.

"It's still early," she shrugged and took the cards from my hands to place them in a solitary solitaire game.

She had told me a story once about a logger who had gotten lost in the woods and the only thing he had on him was a pack of cards and a gun. She said that he spent so much time playing the cards that the animals soon got used to him and whenever they came close he wouldn't stop playing. Well, a deer came along one day and when it did, he picked up the gun without so much of a by your leave and shot the deer. He then somehow created a fire and cooked the deer and that's how his fellow loggers found him, sated and playing cards. I wasn't quite sure what the point of the story was until she pointed out that the only thing that kept him through the experience was a deck of cards. Even now, the entire story is a bit ludicrous because I haven't heard of a logger ever getting lost in a forest. When I explained the strangeness of it, she had frowned at me for a moment and decided to change the logger to a salesman. I then proceeded to point out that a salesman wasn't likely to be in the woods without a cell phone of some sort. Exasperated, she had glared at me and changed the subject. I had learned about the hypothetical analysis after that.

"You should become my dove," she said casually as she turned over a card to find the Ace of Clubs and I stared at her, shocked out of my own speech.

"Where did you come up with that idea?" I questioned after I found my voice again. I said it with only a curious glance and she glanced up from the table to look at me.

"They respect you. They already treat you like the King of Cards. I don't understand why you haven't asked me to be my dove, to be king," she corrected herself and I shook my head.

"It's not the respect that I want because I can get that from anybody I want within a matter of seconds. It's your position. If I undermine it now and take over, people will assume that you are unstable and they'll immediately look to me for help when the real power would be you. You need a dove that will sit quietly in the background," I replied and she frowned at me.

"So you're rejecting the offer because you don't want to be king?" She questioned and I scowled at her.

"What do you mean?" I asked and she rolled her eyes.

"You follow me around without being in the spotlight and you weren't the one to give the introduction at the meeting at all. That was Mr. Withers. You are in the background. Too much so if you ask me," she sighed and I leaned back in my seat.

"Do you really want me to be King because you want an equal partner or so that you can hunt down Shelia and kill her?" I said softly and she put the card deck on the table.

"How could you tell?" She asked and I raised an eyebrow.

"You were talking about murdering her earlier in the most gruesome manner possible. It was hard not to get the suggestion. Do you know why I stay by your side?" I looked at her and she shook her head.

"It's to keep myself and you from doing anything remotely stupid. Like abandoning our Royals and killing Shelia. I would gladly go after her the first chance I got but you keep me from doing that because I know you want to share in the victory of the moment. I promise you that when the time comes to murder Shelia, I will support you in every way possible and that you won't be alone in grinding her blood into the ground," I told her bluntly and she stared down at the game before her for a long moment.

"You promise?" She asked glancing up at me and I nodded my consent.

"With every fiber of my being," I answered and she nodded.

"Do you think it'll happen soon?" she asked and I shrugged.

"Maybe tomorrow, maybe next year," I answered and she sighed and got up, leaving the game unfinished.

Author's note: So tell me how you liked this point of view! Thanks for your support! Don't forget to vote and comment!