Heartless

It was a new day in Hearts, and she was the Queen.

“Off with his head.”

‘Why is a raven like a writing desk?’

“How different everything could have been,” she said, “if you had thought to ask me that before.”

Jest.
Mutilated. Severed. Dead.

Another girl accepting that some things were never meant to be.

“If I am not to have happiness, let me at least have a purpose. Let me give you the heart of a queen.”

“You have my heart, Jest. I don’t know if you deserve it or not. I can’t tell if you’re a hero or a villain, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Either way, my heart is yours.”

Raven’s shadow lengthened across the floor, dwarfing the murderer. He hefted the axe on to his shoulder.

‘For the murder of Jest, the court joker of Hearts, I sentence this man to death.’ She spoke without feeling, unburdened by love or dreams or the pain of a broken heart. It was a new day in Hearts, and she was the Queen.

‘Off with his head.’

ng and I do not think you wish for me to overflow on to you.’

‘There was a time’ – Cheshire yawned – ‘when you overflowed with whimsy and icing sugar. I liked that Catherine better.’

‘That Catherine was a fool.’ She whipped her han

rieking, demanding to be released.

She would kill Peter.

She would find him and she would kill him.

She would have his head.