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Prince of Cards

ackermanmood
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Chapter 1 - Chapter 001

Gabriel Marquez swung his feet as he sat at his small wooden desk. It was painted a dark brown, like the cedar trees in Rusa, a neighboring kingdom. He was chewing the end of his ink pen, the feathers had detached over the years of its usage. Slamming his pen down on the table, he stood up abruptly at a knock on his door.

"Yes, father?" He bit out, stepping away from his desk and pushing the also wooden chair in. King Mallard of Wolfclaw burst into his room, three guards behind him. Gabriel rubbed his eyes, sighing as he exited the room.

The guards went through his room, searching for something. What that something was, Gabriel had no clue. He didnt care, either. He knew that his sisters rooms would be check thoroughly as well, it wasnt a game of favorites. His thoughts began to wander, turning around slowly and made his way down the hall into his sisters room.

The door was open, meaning no knock would be necessary. "Scarlet," he said, watching as she sat criss-cross on her bed. "What are you reading?" His sister, Princess Scarlet, turned her head to him at the call of her name.

She smiled, scooting over and patting her bed. "An old tale mother and father would tell us. You must remember it? Someone called," she flipped to the cover, "Winthrop Hargravee wrote it. The one about dragons and misfortune?" Scarlet inquired, tilting her head to the right ever so slightly.

Gabriel gave a nod, watching as she flipped through the pages to find her spit again. The text was big, written in ink and messy. Some ink had been spilt across the pages, bleeding into the ones below it. Scarlet didnt mind, she knew it was an accident by the publisher.

"You know dragons arent real, correct? Its billions of years of fairy tales mixed together to make a dragon. A scaly, fire breathing monster," he shuddered at the thought, peering over at the book to read some of it.

Scarlet sent a glare his way, never a fan of his negativity. "Father said so. Father said they'rereal." It was Gabriels turn to glare.

"Father talks nonsense, Letta. He doesnt know his left from rights, north from south, east from west." He stood up, clenching his fists and walked back to the hall.

His father and the guards had cleared his room, but as soon as he entered Gabriels name was yelled from downstairs. His shoulders slumped as he turned around, walking to where his father was.

Gabriel noticed a pretty lady next to his father, and another man next to him. His bow was short, hesitant. Unsure who the man was and why they were there.

"Prince Gabriel, I assume. This is Lily Fynsen, my daughter, surely you know who we are. Rulers of Santok," the man spoke loud and confident, but it rang no bells for Gabriel.

He stared at them, nodding instead of admitting he was stupid and didnt do his research. The girl, Lily Fynsen, stepped up and curtseyed. "Hello. Thats my father, King Elenes. I believe we are to marry each other in a few days," her voice was soft, comforting.

Gabriel cleared his voice, but that didnt stop his voice from coming out raspy. "That's very.. pleasant. You seem like a nice young lady," he complimented, but it came out sarcastic and rude. If you looked close enough you could see steam coming out of King Mallards ear, it was hilarious if you asked his son.

"A word, my son," the king said, turning the steam into something not-so-hilarious. The two males stepped into another room, instantly being met with a harsh slap to the face. It stung, more than it usually did. His cheek faced a few more rough hits until his shoulders were grabbed.

Gabriel looked into his fathers eyes, and he swore his pupils looked like skeletons of all the people he'd beheaded over his 50 years of ruling. "Get your act together or I swear to you.. you won't live another day." The threat seemed sincere, but right now he was the one getting the positive publicity, not his sisters or parents.

If he was gone they'd be dethroned.

King Mallard and Gabriel stepped foot into the other royal family's view, smiling. If they'd noticed the red marks, no one mentioned it. Lily's father nudged her forward, telling them to go chat in another room while the grown-ups talked. The two had no complaints, going up into Gabriels room.

Silence is usually awkward, but it was comfortable right then. Maybe getting married wouldn't be so bad, if it was to her at least.

"Im not marrying you," Lily blurted out. She looked up at him from where she was sitting on the ground, lanky build leaning onto the walls.

"Me neither," Gabriel responded nonchalantly. He looked at his nails, examining them to see if they were getting any longer. Well, now that that was out of the way, no more marriage thoughts were allowed to come into his head. He had better things to do, like figure out how to not get married.

After thinking for five minutes, only one thought kept repeating in his head.

*Run away,

Run away,

Run away,

Run away.*