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The garden was peacefully quiet. The wind would rustle through the leaves of the bushes and petals of flowers, the birds would chirp happily from their perches in the trees, and the beams of the sun would shine down and warm the air. It was one of the reasons Prince Amelia Jones liked to take mid-day strolls through the garden’s hedge maze. The large, green hedges would offer a rare retreat from the buzz of everyday court life. Here, she didn’t need to worry about the whispers of court or the critical eye of her tutors. She could simply settle down in the heart of the maze, close her eyes, and soak in the warm rays of the sun.
Unworried and unbothered.
Amelia .
The Prince unwillingly opened her eyes to address whoever had managed to seek her out in the middle of the maze. It was rare for someone to travel that far to find her, the heart of the maze was well hidden and difficult to find, but it had happened before. She saw no one.
She sat up slowly, searching for the person who had whispered her name. Maybe she had imagined it? Maybe it was her sister playing a prank on her?
Amelia.
The woman’s annoyance quickly turned to confusion as the voice whispered her name again.
Amelia sat as still as possible, trying to pick up the sounds of anyone nearby - the fall of a footstep, the brush of a body against the hedges, the giggle of the practical jokester - but was only met with silence.
“Hello?” she finally asked aloud, feeling slightly silly for talking to something she couldn’t see. “Who’s there?”
Do not worry, child. I will not hurt you.
Amelia could feel her heartbeat pick up in her chest. Either she was going insane, or the speaker was using magic to talk to her. She didn’t know which she preferred to be true.
Listen closely to my words, Prince of Spades, and take them to heart. Not long from now, a young witch will travel to Avalon and be arrested on the charge of witchcraft. Her sentence must not come to pass or else the doom of Spades will be sealed.
“W...what?”
Heed my warning. Your fates are intertwined and the future of Spades lies with you.
A light breeze swept through the hedges as the last of the words faded into the air, leaving behind a confused Amelia.
Magic had long been outlawed in Spades, thought to have been used to instigate horrid plagues, famines, and wars and corrupt the succession of the crown. Any who were thought to practice it were quickly arrested and executed, sometimes without trial or evidence. Despite the view of her father and the court, Amelia had never brought herself to think that magic itself was inherently corrupt and evil. Such an assumption could be made with many groups - like the crown itself - and she believed that inherently having power was different from how you wielded that power.
Regardless, though, she couldn’t help but feel that the mysterious witch travelling to the heart of Spades was incredibly foolish. Practicing magic from a distance was far safer than practicing magic in Avalon, where the presence of guards and soldiers and civilians increased the likelihood of arrest tenfold. She supposed the warning she’d received was proof of the danger.
Shaken by the encounter, Amelia rose from her place in the grass and made her way back through the maze to return to her daily duties.
As time ticked by, the mysterious voice’s words continued to echo in her head and the longer she wondered about their meaning, the more questions that arose.
Who was this mysterious witch? Why were they so important to the future of Spades? What horrors awaited them in the future?
She was in her study when a breakthrough finally came. It had been several days since her parents had left the castle in favor of a political visit to the nearby Diamonds Kingdom. Amelia had been left in charge of running the castle till their return.
Madeline, Amelia’s sister and the future Ace of Spades, burst into her study, her face flushed and chest heaving. “Did you hear?”
Amelia was quick, and relieved, to turn her attention towards her sister. “Hear what?”
“A woman was arrested this morning for witchcraft,” her sister said in a whisper, glancing around to make sure they weren’t being overheard.
There was only a single person Amelia had told about the encounter in the garden - her sister. Madeline had always been her closest friend and confidant, and Amelia put her full faith in her.
“Seriously?”
Madeline gave her a silent nod. “A woman named Alice Kirkland. She’s being kept in the dungeon.”
“What’s the probability that this is a coincidence?”
“Not high,” she answered, “but she’s scheduled to be executed at sundown, so you better hurry.”
She rose quickly at her sister’s words and made her way towards the dungeons. As she grew closer to the underground prison, the air grew colder and bit at her skin, despite the summer heat of Spades outside. The bright, warm decorations of the castle faded into the grim gray of the brick walls. The sunlight that normally shone into the palace halls and lit the way on a bright day had disappeared and was replaced by harsh, dim torchlight. The dungeons had never been her favorite part of the palace. The rest of the castle was bright and airy and full of life, while the dungeons were cramped and cold and dark.
The first person she ran into was, in fact, just the person she wanted to see.
“Your Majesty,” said Mathias Køhler, the Head of the Royal Guard. His words were meant as a formal address, but it came out as a surprised question instead. “This is a surprise. What can I do for you?”
“Hello Mathias,” she greeted with a large smile. The man wasn’t cruel by nature, but he was loyal to her father. A loyalty that had certainly led him to blindly follow instead of lead. “I was told there is a prisoner here that is of interest to me and I wished to see them pardoned.”
“Oh?”
“Yes,” Amelia said, trying to make herself look more kingly than she currently felt. “An Alice Kirkland?”
Mathias’ eyes flickered over to her, wary and untrusting. “As in the Alice Kirkland who was arrested for witchcraft earlier today?”
“Was there any evidence of actual witchcraft or was her arrest made on pure speculation?”
“Your Majesty -”
“Was there any physical or circumstantial evidence that Alice Kirkland is guilty? Answer me, Mathias, yes or no?”
For several moments, the two of them stood there, gazes locked as if to force the other in submission. Amelia would not stand for it.
Mathias spoke first. “Your father -”
“-is not here and he is certainly not in charge. I am. You will release her, immediately .”
The man snorted, before seeming to remember who was standing in front of him. Amelia’s opinion of him was changing by the second.
“I cannot change the law, Your Majesty, and you know the punishment for witchcraft.”
“You have presented no evidence to her guilt, Mathias. Punishments are for the guilty, not for the accused. If you have no evidence then she is to be released.”
There was another long moment of silence before Mathias’ eyes hardened and he straightened. “Very well, it will be on your head.”
“Thank you.”
Amelia watched as Mathias turned to go down the long corridor behind him, twirling a set of keys in his hands. He disappeared into the darkness for several minutes before returning with who she could only assume was Alice Kirkland. She hadn’t known what to expect, but a skinny, pale-looking girl with wild blonde hair certainly hadn’t been it. Alice Kirkland followed closely behind Mathias, head bowed, long hair hanging limply over her shoulders. If Amelia had to guess, the other woman had probably been living on the streets for some time before she’d been arrested.
Mathias unlocked the chains that had been placed around her thin wrists before pushing her towards Amelia. The other woman, thrown off by the sudden force, tripped and fell towards her and, without thinking, Amelia dove to catch her.
As soon as her fingers brushed against the raw skin of her wrist, Amelia was pulled into something else entirely. Pictures flashed before her eyes - memories and glimpses of what was to come. There was a grand ballroom filled with noble people dancing, a rushing river in the middle of a lush forest, the booming voice of a priest, the glittering starlight of a moonlit night, and the warmth of a soft, insistent kiss. And there, at the center of it all, was Alice Kirkland, eyes shining a deep, piercing green.
Then, it was all over, and Amelia found herself crouched on the floor with the very same woman in her arms, looking up at her with those same eyes.
“Your father will hear about this, Your Majesty.”
“Good,” she snarled back, helping Alice Kirkland to her feet and leading her towards the stairway, “ensure that he does and tell him that if he wants to take it up with someone, he can find me in my study.”