The Queen Of Hearts Novels & Stories

I murmured, half asleep, smiling against his ribs, warm all the way through. "My queen," Malik said, quiet, into my hair, like a thing he'd known for a long time and had only now earned the right to name. "My queen of chaos. If you'll have the crown. If you'll take a gray careful kingdom and a man who's still learning how to be a person and a whole city full of people who used to be ordered to fear you, and stand next to it all, not under it, and make it yours too." I lay very still against him, and felt the enormous thing his voice was circling, and decided, being who I was, to make him work for the shape of it.

she asked casually, as if she were referring to a piece of trash. "Send her to the underground crematorium," I answered without hesitation. "Burn her completely. I don't want a single trace of her left in this world. Dispose of the ashes as well." Eloise, who had once ruled the underground boxing arena as its undisputed queen, didn't even end up with a grave marker. Like a venomous snake hiding in the darkness, she was drained of her last bit of use and turned into a pile of worthless ashes. She had vanished without a trace.

Whispers of servants, viewers of the council, I maintained my position, though my heart sank within me. The council chamber was bigger than I used to know in my childhood. The large ceiling, fancy tapestries, and floors made me feel tiny. Councilors were muttering together, when Rowan gave a signal that I was coming. They all stopped at once with the eyes on me. Formally Rowan announced it: "Her Royal Highness, Princess Aurelia Valeon," and bowed slightly. "Heir to the Valeon Kingdom." I smiled, nodded my head, attempting to make myself deaf to the accelerated beat of my heart.

"Lilibeth, stop making Hank angry. He normally treats you so well and buys you clothes and purses. Just take my place in the shark tank this once and treat this as paying him back. Besides, you scrub and mop the deck all day, so you must have some very steady footing. There's no way you'll slip." The trust-fund kids around us also joined in and started to make a scene. "Yeah, that's right! Why is a cleaner acting so proud?" "Get down there already. Don't ruin the show for all of us!" I looked at all the well-dressed fools around me as I scoffed. If this were a year ago, I would have tied up every one of them and hung them from the mast to let them taste the sea breeze. My name was Lilibeth B

" A single playing card, the Queen of Hearts, and a letter in neat, slanted handwriting were found within. > "Walking away can be the best way to win sometimes. Do not follow me. – L

Her voice was hoarse as she shouted, "Sebastian Grant! Do you even know the difference after all these years?" "What?" She scoffed. "After all these years, have you figured it out? Do you know if what you felt for me was love or just gratitude? If you really loved me, why didn't you ever get jealous when I was with Cameron? For five years, you've been kind to whoever I've been kind to, and you've been nice to whoever was nice to me. So, I'm asking you again. Have you really figured it out?" There was a hint of bitterness and mockery in her last sentence.

“We’ll just go another round.” Then, without a word, I placed the last card on the table. Hearts ace. Royal flush. Silence dropped like a blade. Elara froze. Thorne’s face darkened. And the dealer—wide-eyed, stunned—looked between us, then finally announced, “The winner is... Mrs. Alden.” Thorne’s twisted face was the most entertaining thing I’d seen all night.

The smirk playing on his lips suggested he found the whole scene amusing. The room itself was grand yet foreboding. The walls were hewn from a pale, shimmering stone that seemed alive with faint veins of silver, pulsating gently like a heartbeat. Torches flickered in sconces shaped like blooming flowers, their flames casting long, restless shadows across the polished black marble floor. The scent of crushed herbs and sweet blossoms lingered in the air, an almost cloying reminder of the goddess who ruled this domain. Persephone stepped forward, her voice soft yet edged with irritation. “Mother, if she’s from the modern mortal world, she wouldn’t know who we are. Mortals today are practically

The game seemed to have been caught in his manipulative palm and turned in a single movement that rested me here and now in this chair, unable to blink and not have the drawings collide with my consciousness. Proud, arrogant, belonging to a forgotten and wealthy monarchy, murderer and seductress for the fucking lord. I refused to accept, shaking my head and depositing that notebook on the table while I felt the cold sweat on my neck, on my palms, while the wine with its spicy pinch warmed my insides as reckless as the burning caused by the desire that devoured me. my viscera.