Chapter 6

I was shocked when she put the tattoo on my back. The first few moments I got alone, I stared at it in the mirror and had to suppress a shiver. I had told her a bit of my past and what I got was something that I would not be able to get rid of. The K stared at me unmoving and I resisted the urge to tear it off. It wasn't supposed to have happened this way. I was only to get into the system and close to her but then she had to go and be more perfect than anyone I had ever met before. It was...so unfair. An English teacher getting more power in the world than anyone we've ever known, it was laughable but I would follow her. I had been captured by the very person I was supposed to catch.

"You're doomed by Kyle's standards," Nil told me nodding at the new marking. I shrugged my shirt on again but didn't button it up.

"I'm doomed? I'm not the one going around behind her back to talk to her shadow," I pointed out settling in a nearby chair. Mina had wanted some time to herself and I had given her that. I wouldn't want to look at myself at the moment either.

"Shadow? Can you really still call yourself that even though you're not a Card? What makes you think that the Aces will let you stay by her?" He questioned leaning against the wall. A slow smile spread across my face as I watched him. He wasn't being defiant. He wasn't even challenging me. Hell, he wasn't he informing me of what could happen. All he was doing was staring at me the same way I was looking at him, an examination of a foe that could kill you within seconds. He knew how to kill me from his birthright. I knew how to destroy him from my training. Two peas in a pod on a vine separate from the plant, so to speak.

"What makes you think that I'll be taken from her?" my voice betrayed me with my emotions getting in the way. I had lived for thousands of years and my greatest weakness was my speech. He moved, slowly, to the chair opposite mine that had held the Queen only a few hours before.

"Her nightmares are getting worse," Nil stated. It was a sentence without emotion but held together with a deeper meaning.

"I can't touch her mind without her knowing. I can touch yours," I replied not veiling the threat.

"I don't have issues about dying so if you hurt her, I will come after you. Your own personal Armageddon will come by my hands. Kyle's passing all of your past onto me. Believe me. The Cards will have their revenge...but only if you harm her," He stood up and straightened the tie in the suit he had taken to wearing. The boy had grown up in the short period of time that he had been a Royal. Accepted the fact and put it into play. The perfect thing to do and he did it with such grace too.

"She's perfect and she loves me. She'd make me king at the simple crook at a finger but I've already got a Kingdom, Spade. I don't need another one," I told him tapping the skull on the side of my neck before it faded away. His eyes didn't move from mine.

"Castor beans are extremely poisonous. It only takes eight to kill a fully grown human and even less for a child. I've been searching through the archives that some of the old Aces had saved and they talked about a race even older than ours, one made before humans. Castor beans won't kill you will they? Not that it's any of my business but the texts do say how to annihilate your species. Remember that. I've passed the information off to all of the Royals. The Numbers won't know so consider yourself lucky. They'll only strike if I give the say so. You can think of me as your self-destruct button. Only you don't push it," he warned me standing in front of me with eyes like ice.

"Idle threats don't kill me either. I hope you have the stomach to do it," I informed him but he didn't so much as blink. The kid was smooth. Sighing at the ending of a great game, I leaned back and nodded at the mirror on the wall.

"The texts are wrong. My people deliberately gave that information to the Aces in order to gain their trust. They even had to kill someone although it wasn't so much as what they did as what they didn't do. Consider this, only Cards can kill Cards. So what can kill me? Do you think you can? I'll let you in on a secret. The only person that can kill me is the very person who I'm protecting. My past is the past of many. If you look in those texts you'll find the story of the first King and Queen of my people. Look at how long they've lived and then consider if they're still alive. I know that you're not someone for scavenger hunts but it'll pay off," I told him motioning to a book on my shelf behind him and a small one flew over. Its front cover was falling off and the pages were extremely brittle to the touch. He carefully took it and a small section of the front cover broke off.

"I was given this on my fifteenth birthday by a man who was like me. He was my mentor for many years before he died. When he did, I read it. It'll tell you the history of my people. You can take it if you want but be prepared for the consequences. You'll either die or become even more powerful but it's your choice. I'm not one to bicker about such small things," I said considering the pure hunger on his small face. He knew what knowledge was and he wanted it more than most people could ever want anything. It was that information that made me hand it over. Something like that can't be taken away from somebody, especially someone like him.

"Why are you giving me this?" He was cautious without a cause. He had already made his decision.

"You're my self-destruct remember? How can you hurt me without knowing how? And if I get some roses in the next few days, I'm blaming you. Those things would've killed me when some were sent to Mina a few days ago. Remember? I even touched them. If you want me to prove it to you then bring me some flowers. I don't die that easily...plus, I'm sure my ancestors were mentally deficient," I answered. He left then, without speaking but respect glimmered for a brief second before he was gone.

"That was interesting," Kyle announced appearing from behind the chair I was sitting in. Another sigh escaped and I glared at the small boy grinning at me. Mr. Valentine stared at me from inside the boy's grip and a question struck me that I hadn't thought of before.

"What are you going to do when you finally grow up? You can't carry Mr. Valentine around forever," I pointed out. He looked at me a long moment before bursting out laughing.

"I'm only carrying Valentine around because he fools Mina. She still thinks I'm all unicorns and rainbows," He chuckled and put the bear down on the chair that Nil had vacated. "I don't actually need to look like a kid but she seems to like it. I stay in this size for her. You wanna see what I really look like?" He whispered his grin getting bigger.

"I thought Diamonds could only talk to spirits."

"I'm a Royal and an Ace at that. I can control Spirits too and since the body holds the spirit, I can change it. Easy as...okay so it's not that easy." He admitted and stretched his arms to the ceiling. As he lowered them, he grew matured into a young man. The blond Adonis waggled his perfect eyebrows at me before sliding into the chair next to the bear.

"You know if Mina, or any woman or homosexual finds out about you, you won't be able to be a child anymore. I don't think you'd be able to get out of your room," I mused on his looks and he shrugged.

"That's why my personality is so bad. I used to seduce the maids at the old headquarters and they taught me more than I ever wanted to know. I know how to get information now. Which means that I know who and what you are," he smiled perfectly at me without any kind of malice but his tone spoke volumes.

"Cards really don't like hiding caveats do they?" I muttered rubbing my face. First Nil, now Kyle, who's next? The other unknown aces? They didn't even know Mina personally but...she was important to the system and people trusted her so I understood that.

"Are you going to threaten me too? Nil's already beaten you to the punch. He warned me to not hurt her," I explained nodding at the recently closed door. He scowled at the notice and slumped down at the defeat.

"He's good like that. He's always warning people before I can get to them. I think he thinks that I'm all unicorns too like Mina," he mumbled sounding dissatisfied and I ignored it. I didn't give a damn about the interrelationships between the Royals. My job was to stay close to Mina not them.

"He doesn't know who I am," I said trying in an odd attempt to cheer him up and get him out of my room. The boy-turned-teenager's face lit up and he started muttering to himself about strategies. Pushing myself out of the chair, I walked to the door and glanced back at him.

"You know about the new marking on my back right?" I asked, confirming that he knew. He glanced over at me shrinking back into his usual form before nodding to the question.

"I know. She'd make you king as soon as you let her. She wants to keep you with her but that's not a very good idea. Considering that your atoms would murder her as soon as you two even remotely thought about having a child. Don't tell me you haven't considered the idea because I know from the spirits that you have. Your dreams are very telling. I suggest that you either never have a child or get someone else to die for it. Of course you knew all of this already but I thought that you needed a reminder. After all, we both know what my real personality's like," he yawned before grinning at me.

"That I do," I agreed walking out. My head was full of Nil's search and Kyle's knowledge as I made my way to Mina's room. I didn't need to talk to her but I did need to see her. I just wanted to make sure that she was alright.

My hand rested on the doorknob before I turned it. I considered not turning it at all and just leaving. She wouldn't know that I was gone because I'd make an illusion to last for a few days and by then I'd be long gone. She'd never see me again and I wouldn't have to harm her for anything. She'd be safe and confined in her gilded cage without knowing what was really out there waiting for her. Nil and Kyle would never tell her and anyone that found out wouldn't live very long. I'd be close. A frown formed on my features as I thought out this plan and shook my head at my own folly. I wasn't leaving her. She wasn't going to let me. She'd become the Queen she was meant to be if I did but she'd search for me to the ends of the earth and then cage me in a room, not that I wasn't already captured. I knew that from the moment I saw her. With a sigh, I opened the door.

Voila! You have the next part! Comment and vote! :D