Queen of Hearts: The Crown (Queen of Hearts Saga #1)(11)
Back in the stables, Dinah sat down on an overturned bucket with a huff. “I hate him. He’s terrible.”
Wardley dismounted his horse with one smooth kick of his leg and wrapped his free arm around Dinah, the other holding fast to his practice sword. “I know your father isn’t a great father all the time.”
“Or ever,” replied Dinah sullenly. “He’s not the way a father is supposed to be. He’s not anything like your father.”
Wardley gave an understanding smile. Unlike Dinah, he adored his gentle father. “I know. But the King must love you; I’m sure he does . . . in his own horrible way. Ruling Wonderland isn’t for the fainthearted, and the crown weighs heavy, you know that. You are his daughter, his only viable heir, and someday he will see you for the. . . .” He seemed at a loss for words. He patted her cheek lightly, and Dinah stopped breathing. “For the fierce woman that you will become. The Queen of Hearts. A good and just queen, and a doting sister. I see you growing stronger each day, and someday he will see that.”
“Someday,” she grumbled, “is not today.”
Wardley jumped up and drew his sword. “Then you should tell him so. Today! I command it.”
Dinah stood and grabbed a broom handle leaning against the stable door and shook off her black cloak. She took a fighting stance and swung her broomstick at Wardley. He parried and leapt to the side.
“I will! I’ll tell him, ‘Father! You are getting slow and mean in your old age. You are no longer the warrior you once were. Give me my kingdom already, you beast! Then I will defeat the Yurkei, once and for all!’”
Their swords rang together, wood on steel, through the stables and out into the yard. It was a complicated and perfected dance, one they had done thousands of times before. Wardley spun and easily deflected her downswing as Dinah caught him lightly on the hip with the side of the broom handle.
“Ow! That was hard!” he laughed.
He was distracted momentarily, and Dinah swung hard for his head. Wardley ducked and easily lopped off the top of her broom handle with his sword.
“You always go for the head. Always with these ill-planned swings,” he lectured. “It leaves you open. Wait for the RIGHT opportunity, and then go for the strike. Don’t go for it the minute you have any opening. You’re too impulsive. Xavier has been working with me on identifying my weaknesses, and that, my friend, is yours. It will be the last thing you do in a battle.”
Dinah smiled and brushed a string of black hair out of her eyes. “I’ll never be in battle. Croquet is the closest I’ll come to that, I imagine.”
“A queen should know how to defend herself,” Wardley answered, picking up the broom pieces from the stable floor. “Even if all you do is listen to complaints and grow fat eating warm tarts on your throne. The King of Hearts is a seasoned warrior. He might not be a great father, but I know him as a commander. He is every bit the unyielding man Wonderlanders say he is. You shouldn’t be so hard on him. You should hope to be LIKE him in that matter.”
“I’m hard on him?” Dinah flung her broken stick away. “I’m hard on HIM? He looks at me only with disgust and contempt. He treats Harris awfully, and gods know what WOMEN he has up in the mistresses’ chamber every night. . . .”
Wardley pushed his sword into the dirt and grabbed Dinah’s arm. It gave a passionate tremor under his calloused skin. “Dinah, BE QUIET.” He gave her a gentle shake. “You could be put in the Black Towers for saying such things. I know you haven’t had the best time without your mother, but this obvious hatred for your father could get you, or even worse, ME, killed.”
The thought stopped the argument rising in Dinah’s throat. She would never do anything to hurt Wardley. Never. Wardley had been her constant companion and playmate, ever since she could toddle around the castle on chubby legs. When they were younger, Harris and Emily left her frequently with Wardley’s mother, a lady of the court, and the two children would scamper off chasing birds and pudgy hedgehogs that roamed the palace grounds. Wardley taught her how to wield a sword, how to ride Speckle, how to pee outside, and how to eat a tart without her hands. To a child, Wonderland Palace was truly full of marvel, and exploring its secrets together had brought Dinah more joy than any other part of her childhood. Wardley was hers and hers alone, something her father could never take from her. Not that it mattered much. The King of Hearts doted on Wardley and encouraged his fine abilities. He tolerated their friendship and almost encouraged it by his lack of anger toward Dinah when Wardley was around. One day, Wardley would be the Knave of Hearts, the commander of the Heart Cards. And maybe, if everything went as planned, he would marry her and be her King. He would love her.
Dinah turned that last wish in her heart as she scowled at him. She did not like being lectured about her father. “I’m leaving,” she snapped. “I don’t need to be told what to do by a boy with sugar powder all over his face.”
Wardley grinned. “Dinah, c’mon. . . .”
“NO.”
She pulled her cloak over her pale-gray dress lined with red hearts and tucked her long black braid back into the hood. “That’s the last tart you will ever get from me. Who are you to lecture the Princess of Wonderland? No one, a lowly stable boy.”
Wardley pushed his hair back from his forehead and gave her a knowing smile. “Alright, but I’ll still be hungry tomorrow.”