Page 6 of Power
“You can’t have her.”
“I’m not asking.”
“She isn’t yours.”
“Oh, but she is.”
I take a step further into the office, flicking the light off as I enter, submerging us all into an all-encompassing darkness. Owen follows me silently inside.
Laura’s breathing goes heavier when she realizes I’m intimidating her. She won’t be easy to take down, but she will comply.
“Gryphon wants her protected,” Laura says quietly, knowing that what we are about to discuss isn’t for outside ears to hear.
“I will protect her.”
She scoffs. “You will destroy her.”
“That is the plan. But once she is all alone, stripped bare in the darkness with no one else to turn to, that is when she will become who she was meant to be.”
“No,” Laura says. “That isn’t how it’s done.”
“It is now. I am the King, I say how it goes.” My tone has gone cold. “Her initiation into Solitaire will go one way, with her not having any other choice but the one I give her. Are you prepared to get in the way of that? Because if you are, I will take you down without a second thought. Do not think he protects you. No one is protected from me.”
I hear her gulp back her fear. “I understand, my King. But know that she isn’t ready for this. She only graduated from Manchester University this summer. She wasn’t aware of the Society, she still isn’t. She isn’t ready to be your Alice.”
“Then we make her ready,” I state in a normal tone now that I’ve gotten my way. “Ensure she is transferred over to my office first thing. In fact, do it now so you don’t forget.”
“Yes, my King,” she murmurs and takes a step forward.
I stand to the side, allowing her to pass, knowing she will now do as I ask without question.
She knows she cannot defy me. She is an underling—a card in the House of Hearts. The Manchester chapter of Solitaire, a global organization which originated hundreds of years ago. Only the privileged can be initiated, hand chosen by the Court. The King of Hearts – me, the Knave – Owen, the Mad Hatter – Finn, who is also our enforcer, plus three others who are not connected to me on a personal level. These include the Duchess, the Dormouse and the Gryphon.
We cherry-pick four each year at any given time to join. The absolute elite, the crème de la crème of society.
We live charmed lives, helped along by the Society, which is kept secret from the rest of the world. Only those in the Society know about the Society. Everyone else just thinks we are lucky and blessed. Once in, you are made for life, and you are in for life. There is no way out but death. The truth runs deeper and darker than anyone could possibly imagine. We run on favors asked and owed. Once a year, you can request a favor or have one requested of you. Use it wisely or lose more than your standing within Solitaire.
Alice, or ratherBailey, is a late harvest. She should’ve come through with the new recruits at the beginning of her senior year, but we were waiting to isolate her, as decided by the Court. She thinks she is a nobody, but we have been watching her for a very long time. We ensured she received the scholarship at the university, where we could keep a close eye on her activities and whom she befriended or dated. Owen is closer in age to her, being only two years older. I’m six years older than her, and so I missed her study, but I was watching.
Always watching.
She was guided to apply for this position, and Laura James was supposed to hand her over the second she walked in here on her first day. Going against me and placing her in the admin pool has forced me to intervene and show my hand. Laura will pay for this. I don’t care what her instructions were from her superior chapter member,mywishes come first, and Bailey is my wish.
“What do you want to do about her?” Owen asks quietly.
“I haven’t decided yet. This was a betrayal, even if she had no choice in her instructions, she should know better than to cross me.”
“Hmm.”
“What?” I turn to my brother in the darkness of the office.
“I'm not sure,” he replies. “There's something about her that's special, I can tell. Something that would make her a good fit for Court.”
“That’s the idea,” I say incredulously. “Keep up, brother. You know better than to lag behind.”
“No, I don’t mean as Alice. I mean as the Queen of Hearts.”
I laugh softly. “It’s like one mind.”
