Chapter 10

The banquet was in full swing with everyone dancing, chatting, and eating until the sun fell from the sky and the moon came to join the party. My queen and I danced and talked with everyone but when we got the chance we always joined up with each other. I was happy, content, and at peace with pretty much everything. I was able to touch her without poisoning her. A god send if I ever knew one. Joy was something I wasn't used to. While I was twirling my queen around the dance floor, I noticed something odd. Nil was sitting next to Kyle reading as I thought he might be but the boy next to him was examining him discretely as if trying to find out if something wasn't right. When I informed Mina she merely laughed.

"Kyle's always taken an interest in Nil. They're together most of the time to begin with. He helps out with Nil's work and, in return, Nil listens his chatter. Mr. Withers helps out on both sides but he's still trying to make sure his wife doesn't get the wrong idea about living here. I did know her as a teacher," she answered thinking over the idea.

"So it's puppy love?" I murmured and she took the opportunity to snort.

"It could be but I don't think it is. Nil and Kyle don't seem to fit that way. If they did I would know," she replied stopping with the music. Applause filled the air as Kieran, the Jack of Clubs, stood to accept the gratitude of the people.

"I met him with Erin and she taught me how to dance while I waited for Jack to get back," she told me suddenly reminiscing.

"Would you like me to play for you my queen?" I offered. She started, glancing at me in deep contemplation; she nodded and gestured towards the stage with a variety of instruments on it.

I knew how to play all of them. It was one of the things I was taught during my stay with the Gardener as he taught me how to be the King of Poison. However, I searched for the one that would bring tears to Mina's eyes and a smile to her face. I finally found it behind the other stringed instruments, the Cello. I had played it once before for another queen when she didn't know I existed or what I was. Taking a seat in the overly plush chair in center stage, I rosined the bow and set up my chosen instrument. Taking a deep breath, I began to play. The depth of the tone flitted across the room, touching and teasing everyone's ears. Their movement stopped to take in the sounds I gave, the emotions playing across the waters of music with the grace of a leaf on the water having just fallen from its tree, brightly colored auburn. Memories of my past and who I was and who I am brimmed my conscious as I sat thinking of everything that I could and couldn't do for the queen standing in front of me with her gaze locked on the strings reverberating the utterances of what had been. My mind fell. I let it go into my experiences with the other queens, the first I had met when I was still forming an opinion about everything in itself. She was my first love. I recalled her eyes simmering in the heat of summer watching the yacht boats skim by with parties and people who enjoy themselves as they would enjoy any other earthly pleasure.

She turned to me knowing I watched her. A smile played on her lips as she glided towards me and gently touched my cheek. A breath slowly escaped me as she drew away only to push my head to the side to see the tattoo resting there. A "K" with skull and crossbones in the background shivered at her touch drawing away from her. A new burning sensation tore into my neck but I didn't move. I was entranced by her smile and the depth of her gaze. A breeze danced around us then left without as much as a goodbye. The burning stopped. Her smile widened when she grazed her fingers across the tattoo she had given me.

"You have a message for me," it wasn't a question but I nodded anyway.

"The Gardener would like to see you," I informed her watching her raise an eyebrow and turned back to the waters.

"Brother! I thank you for the gift but you should have told him," she said to the air beside her. It focused into the man I knew as the Gardener. He grinned at her and glanced over at me.

"He doesn't seem to mind," his chuckle grazed the air around him. "He's more fixated on you than I intended him to be. Don't worry; he's smarter than the others, including your Ace of Spades. This completes your collection doesn't it? I thought I might as well give you someone who would follow you around to the ends of the earth and gladly be pushed off of it by you. He'll love you until the day he dies but then I'll just reincarnate him in another body. You'll have him forever."

What he had said was true, I didn't mind. My eyes followed her as she faced me again, her brother also turning to examine me.

"I wanted to find him for myself," she said mildly her eyes stopping on the scar imbedded on my face. A frown etched itself on her face. Without knowing why, I reached forward and tapped her nose. Just as surprised as she was, I smiled covering up my reaction. Her own surprise had started a smile out of her. I felt a little dance of victory starting in my heart as I watched her smile grow. Her features softened the more she gazed at me and I knew my own smile must have been an overly happy one. The Gardener glanced from one of us to the other and set back on his heels triumphantly.

"I knew you'd love him. He's made for you. I found him in some back alley town in the middle of nowhere. I was following a lead that a young boy had been murdered in the streets with nothing more than a single fingerprint on him. Shocking isn't it? The poor boy got slashed by one of the others for some unknown reason. It was one of my Meds. She was...taken care of. He won't be harmed any more than you allow him to be," he gestured towards the imperfection. She reached up to touch it again but I caught her hand. I had a feeling of what she was going to do and I didn't want her to do it.

"It reminds me to be careful," I told her turning her hand over to kiss the palm.

"She's dead?" the queen asked her brother.

"Dead as she can be. I'm sorry for not healing him before he got here but I wanted to give him as he was," he offered and she turned on him.

"You should have healed him before you ever killed the Med! How old was he? Did you go on with his training or did you consider that he might've been in pain? Look at him! Because of your stupidity to get him to me, you damaged him!" She hissed raising her hands as if to strike him. I gently caught her wrist and shook my head.

"It doesn't matter now. What's done is done," I stroked her veins running on the inside of her wrist.

"The Med slashed him with her hand," he told her suddenly and she started.

"That's impossible! If you had the top five then he should be dead!" She glared at him but shot a confused look towards me.

"She was the Queen of the Meds. Apparently she got jealous because he was spending so much time with me working on his skill set for you. Of course neither of them knew it at the time but yes, he should have died. I saw it for myself. The boy's face only festered for a moment before it started healing itself. He didn't even so much as blink. He took her by the wrists and she started screaming. Her skin practically melted of her as she fell down in front of him. She was ashes but even those melted and disappeared into the ground. I think he's one of us at this point," the Gardener nodded towards me.

"One of us hasn't been born in over a millennium! How do you know?" she started and glared at him still unhappy about his judgment.

"He's able to withstand any of my attacks. I was training him when I accidently let out too big of a burst of energy. He batted it away like it was nothing more than a fly. I kept testing my theory until he was knocked back by a wave of energy that would've taken out the town but he absorbed it in it's pursuit of destruction. You know my claims are always right. My wife wasn't pleased about it either but she admitted that he might be one of us," he informed her and she slapped him before I was able to stop her.

"You're supposed to call me then! I'm the one who tests them to see if they're one of us! Not you! Don't give me that bullshit you were able to handle it! We both know what could've happened if something had gone wrong!" she yelled at him raising her fist up to hit him again. I caught her around the waist and hugged her tight.

"But I'm okay. I promise that I won't go anywhere without again. I swear it," I said stroking her hair. She slowly calmed down but glared at the Gardener when she pulled away from me.

"You better be damn glad that he was made for me or else I would've killed the entire surrounding area," she ground out. He nodded not looking either of us in the eye.

"I'm sorry. I'll call you next time but I wanted to see if you like him or not before I admitted my mistake," he muttered rubbing the back of his neck. She sighed not wanting to give in but did because she had no other choice.

"Do it again and I'll have no other way to excuse you. Be glad that this is only the second time. Don't do it again," she reprimanded him shaking her head at his folly.

"I won't but the good news is that we have another one of us! Although I don't think he actually knows it yet. I doubt he'll remember this conversation in the future. He's too awestruck by you to even consider it.

"He'll remember. If I die and you have to reincarnate me then he'll remember when he meets me again," she stroked my cheek and ran her finger along my scar.

"You suicidal?" he frowned and she shook her head thoughtlessly.

"No but you're wife is getting angrier at me than anyone else in the world. She might kill me one of these days. You know that," she commented and I was about to speak when he laughed.

"If she does that then I'll kill her myself. I refuse to stand by ideally while my only sister gets murdered," he scoffed.

"Neither of you will have a choice," she whispered as I suppressed a shiver up my spine. I didn't want that to happen.

The tones and colors of the memory slowly faded away as reality came back into view. My eyes focused on the queen in the present and I smiled at her. Her features were still and when she didn't smile back, I threw the cello down and raced towards her. As if in a dream she reached up and ran her fingers gently along the scar on my face.

"You and my brother had no choice. She killed me without any regard and I wasn't going to let you go down with me," she whispered shocking me to the bone as she fell forward. I barely managed to catch her.