A Game Of Hearts

diamonds

chapter 2| Hibiscus

"That's a weird name"

"Good thing it's not my name then"

"Oh, well then what's your name?" I snorted.

"Calm down Casper-

"Caspian" He corrected. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay Caspian, may I remind you we only met each other less than three hours ago and you've not exactly been the best travel partner."

"You're not exactly a pleasure either Hibiscus" He cursed underneath his breath "Gods that's a mouthful do you have a nickname?" I groaned.

"Call me by my name or don't call me at all" I snapped, but he was already off naming parts of my name in an attempt to make a nickname.

"Hibis?... Nah. Scus?" He glanced at me before shaking his head "Bisc...that ones not that bad actually-

"Hibi!" I blurted out in annoyance. Gods he couldn't find a nickname to save his life.

"Call me Hibi" I sighed in irritation. He merely smiled at me with triumph.

"Okay Hibi" He tested on his tongue "It has a nice ring to it."

We continued to walk in silence before I looked at him with a raised eyebrow "Well what's your nickname Frosty?" I taunted referencing his ice coloured hair. He thought to himself for a second before surprise flashed through his eyes.

"I don't think I've ever gotten one before" I raised an eyebrow.

"You must've had some pretty shitty friends then" I snorted in a joking but he didn't laugh, in fact, his face went hard and solemn. A forced, painful smile graced his face.

"Sorta, I wasn't allowed friends growing up" Guilt slapped me across my face hard but I didn't apologize. Something about the way he was looking away told me that the last thing he wanted right now was my useless pity.

He chuckled "Don't sweat it it's not a big deal" His passive behaviour to me intruding on a clearly painful memory made me feel even worse but I just swallowed it and looked for a conversation change.

I cleared my throat. "So where are you from?" He raised an eyebrow gesturing to his pale skin and light blue eyes. I facepalmed "Right, Hearts...clearly" I mumbled the last part.

Wow Hibi way to make a fool of yourself.

"And you're...diamonds?" He asked, continuing our awkward discussion. I nodded "Why so far from home?"

"Long story"

He smiled "We have time" I chuckled.

"Funny you say that because we're only about five minutes away from the Kingdom of Spades" I grabbed my map and looked over it. Caspian came and looked down at it from over my shoulder. I could feel his warm breath on my shoulder making heat creep up my neck.

I snapped out of it and cleared my throat before focusing back on the map "Okay so we're entering South KOS, we have to go through it to enter West KOS where we'll meet up with my other friends and I can help you out" I pointed out the areas as I explained where we were going.

I dragged my finger to the middle "This is Central KOS, basically Queen Adaora's domain. She's not very fond of me so we'll have to avoid that at all costs" I closed the map and turned to look at him. "Now let's go over the rules" He leaned back into a tree and crossed his arms.

"Rules?"

I nodded "Yes rules" I stated firmly. I pointed in the direction we were going. 

"There? You need to relax" I explained. He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm relaxed" He defended. I walked over to him and changed the way he was standing. I loosened his arms and poked his muscles making him get the message and relax them.

 "You look hostile as f**k, and people there take any wrong glance personally" I used my thumbs to smoothen out his eyebrows that were pulled in a dark gaze that made him look intimidating.

"Don't pick fights, don't start conversations or look at anyone for too long" I started to pace around him, picking off the rules on my fingers.

"The south has an overpopulation problem due to the people that have fled from Hearts. So chances are you might recognize someone there" My face grew grim and I sighed "I might get recognized by some people a few times because I have a..." I coughed "Reputation".

He raised a brow "Reputation?"

I sighed "I'm not very liked round these parts okay? Fights I've picked, people I've betrayed yadadada which is all besides the point!" I pointed out " Point is if you see anyone looking at me like they're about to start a fight run in the other direction, I'll find you afterwards" Probably.

"This place-" I pointed at the ground "Ws trouble and if something happens we either need to run or fight and if it comes down to fight or flight, please choose flight. Starting s**t here isn't worth it"

"People here don't have morals, they don't give a f**k about righteousness or any other dignifying bullshit like that" I pulled up my arm showing a small white scar. It looked pretty small but the way it happened was painful as f**k "If you start a fight with them chances are they'll pull out a weapon in the middle of the fight just to win".

Was I exaggerating just a bit? Yes. But I needed to scare any bullshit out of him right now because I was not in the mood for saving anyone ass today.

I looked him up and down "Now, fitting in" He was wearing a hearts royal suit which I assume he used to fit in with the guards "You need to blend in, lay low. Try not to draw attention to yourself" I looked him up and down "This is going to be hard since you're practically a giant" I muttered.

"I'm 6'7!"

"You're a sasquatch." I deadpanned

I grabbed the pins and all the red things and started removing them. He grabbed my hand, alarmed "What are you doing?"

I rolled my eyes "Red. It's a Hearts colour. Here we wear blue and I can't exactly walk in there with you dressed in that uniform" His eyebrows clenched in genuine confusion. If we weren't in this situation I'd even admit that he looked adorable.

"Aren't the Spades and Hearts allies?" I snorted.

"The Kingdoms are, the people hate each other" I stood on my tippie toes to ruffle up his hair, making it more natural luckily I didn't have to do much considering our fight earlier. "Queen Adaora kept her alliance with the Queen of hearts because with that woman it's much better to be on her good side"

I looked down at what was left of the uniform. How in the four kingdoms are her guards even able to move in these? "I'll be able to get you better and more comfortable clothes once we get to the west".

I tried to steal a glance at him quickly only to see he was already staring at me. I quickly looked away, heat creeping up my neck. His eyes were extremely piercing almost eerie to look at if you stared at them for too long. They reminded me of something that made darkness creep up at the back of my mind but I shook it away.

"Are you done checking me out?" I huffed at the smugness in his voice.

"No" I rolled my eyes "I'm simply appreciating how good I did".

In reality, I was appreciating him. Caspian was to put it short.

A walking Adonis.

In fact, he was so fine it would be criminal for me not to stare. I mean who wouldn't? I was only appreciating fine art. His superior facial features made him look god-like and god f*****g dammit he looked so much better with his hair messed up, small strands of the platinum blonde were now everywhere making him look more childish and relaxed.

I gave him one last up and down look. I seemed to have given his ego a nice stroke as he was now sporting an arrogant smirk on his face. I ignored it and gave him one more once over, this time looking for any imperfections before nodding.

"Okay let's get going".