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“Call and beck and wander around—You’ll always find your way back to sin somehow.”

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It towers above us, the points topped with ebony hearts; the same shapes cover the body of the castle as well. In the windows, on the doors, on the stained glass and smooth stone that made the thin, lithe body of Ecstasy. It is large, though it is not; the air around it is thick and charged with an unfamiliar feeling I have yet to name. But whatever it is, it makes my heart race and my mind whirl out of control.

Control—my control.

I snap out of it and turn to see my guard, Levan, staring up at it with amazement in his eyes and a smile on his face. “Marie would have loved this,” he says quietly.

“Who’s Marie,” I almost ask, but shut my mouth the second awareness comes back over me. It’s probably his sister, or his lover of some sort. Let’s not ask questions that would make the both of us uncomfortable.

“Let’s head inside,” I say instead. Levan nods and grabs the reigns on the horse as we start our walk to the castle gates.

Traveling through the city, it was packed, filled to the brim with Hearts—and the occasional Diamond, though it was a rare sight. Loud, loud, loud, is all I can use to describe it. Thankfully, I was in the carriage and didn’t have to deal with the mass of bodies and foot traffic on the ground; the horses did, and they are rather good at making a path themselves. Now, on the road heading towards the Prince’s domain, it is quiet, and the only people we see are guards and gardeners who work tirelessly in the grounds lining the two sides of the road.

I don’t wish to speak, not that I have many things on my mind as I stare at a gardener who is hurriedly painting a white rose black while his companion darts glances at a nearby guard and holds the paint can for him. They must have planted the wrong flower. I shiver, remembering the rumors surrounding the Prince and his love for Soulless Roses.

It was said his mother started the tradition, cooing over the flower after a visit to the Great Forest one year while the Prince was still young. The Queen was known for her obsession of flowers, Grandma told me once, as she even named her children after the different types she favored. She liked this particular flower, this Soulless Rose, because it reminded her of herself. It was black, like her hair, and had pollen the color of her brown eyes. Thorns wrapped around the stem and every leaf of the bush it rested upon; it guarded itself well, and fed on the remains of creatures it called to it with its sweet scent.

With the story unraveling in my mind, I look around to see many, if not all, of the gardeners wearing a protective mask that looks to be thick as they cut and prune the sharp, dangerous edges of the of every part of itself. How can one, even a Heart, Want something such as this.

Why would one, such as a Club, have so much Greed and overwhelming Wants? A calm voice asks me.

“Oh, stab the Hearts, this place is messing with my mind.” I grit my teeth and focus on the path ahead.

Levan chuckles. I jump, forgetting that he was there and still right by my side, as well at the clattering carriage.

I glance up at the castle, narrowing my eyes at it as we get closer and closer. I have a goal in my mind, I say to it, and I will not let Ecstasy drive me away from it. My Grandma is on the line here, you damn thing.

Then I sigh. Am I really that lonely that I talk to a castle instead of an alive male, who seems more than happy to talk to me, that is walking next to me?

Of course, I know the answer before I ask myself this.

“You probably don’t want to say that when we enter the castle—unless you yourself want to be stabbed?” Levan tilts his head at me and grins, inviting me to continue the conversation.

I do. “Ah, so even though I’ve come to represent my country, I myself cannot express how I have lived there for all my life? Curses and all?”

“Not unless you want War to come to us Clubs. And have your head chopped off by the Prince of Heart himself; I hear he does that now.” Levan frowns and turns serious. “I thought it had been outlawed after his mother died, but it seems he’s found a way to bring it back up.”

We lapse back into silence after those words, Ecstasy’s large, Soulless Rose covered gates approaching into view.

Quickly, quickly.

Money, Yant, money that you need.

But sadly, this doesn’t reassure me as we step in from of the palace guards and are taunted by the overwhelming smell of vile roses.