After the Storm: A Royal Flush Short

Cardios
The Kingdom of Raleigh
Nicholas’ Chambers
Gilbert, Nicholas

Once again, the meeting with the rest of the three kings was unsuccessful.

Arthur James and Jacques Amadour had nearly ended up throttling each other while Alberto Felipe watched with a clueless, helpless expression on his face. Finally, the Knights had to pull the two Kings apart and Nicholas declared the meeting over.

Nicholas splashed cold water onto his face, furiously rubbing his eyes afterwards. The whole event had (nearly) made him lose his temper; he had nearly forgotten how it was to deal with the rest of the Kings.

It was never a good idea to put Arthur and Jacques together, he ended up thinking, but eitherway, those two would find a way to get at each others’ throats. Nicholas wiped his face with a nearby towel and looked at the mirror, soon patting down his wild mess of black curls. Ruby eyes met the mirror and he made a face, Nicholas soon turning away and moving back into his chambers.

Unsurprisingly, his brother (and trusted Knight) was there, picking at his nails. Frederick Gilbert had his legs crossed, face containing a neutral expression. Nicholas caught sight of the wound on his cheek which was healing up.

“Do you need Isla?”

“Nah. She might tell me off again,” Frederick chuckled dryly and touched the wound, cringing a little bit. “Fuck. Arthur knows how to aim his nails.” Nicholas merely raised a brow and closed the door, which had been left open. “Oops. Judging by the yelling and my new beauty mark, I take it the meeting wasn’t successful?”

“If Jacques wouldn’t bug Arthur and Arthur wasn’t so hot-headed, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Nicholas explained tiredly. Frederick nodded and stood up. “We’ll settle things tomorrow. Hopefully. I’d like to rest for tonight.”

“Got’cha.” Frederick walked towards the door, then stopped and turned to look at his brother, “Should I still check on the three or nah?”

“Don’t bother.” Nicholas ran a hand through his hair and exhaled, “You might just earn yourself another injury.”

* * * * *

Guest Chambers I
James, Arthur

Arthur found himself dreaming.

After the fiasco that was the meeting, Arthur resigned himself to his own area. Al had tried to get him out of the room, but the Blue Knight gave up when Arthur wouldn’t even answer the door.

Soon enough, Arthur found himself asleep – dreaming peacefully – shut away from the rest of the world. It was one of the numerous reasons why he loved to sleep in the first place; it was a way for him to get away from the hecticness from being a King, from being a citizen of Cardios…

From hiding away uncanny capabilities.

His dreams were usually pleasant; Arthur wasn’t like Al who constantly dreamed of abstract things which he feared in the morning – not at all. Arthur’s dreams varied from fantastical to realistic; from mind-boggling experiences to reliving simple memories past. This probably came with being a heavy sleeper on his part.

With dreams came possibilities.

With possibilities came potential.

And with potential, Arthur’s ambition spiked.

He saw brown.

He saw a flash of brown and Arthur found himself stumbling back. The sound of laughter filled his ears. The King of Gorlassar turned and saw four girls laughing amongst one another, the one with long hair and blue eyes catching his attention. The other three, on the another hand, didn’t catch him as easily.

They opened their mouths to speak, but Arthur couldn’t hear a single thing.

Instead, he focused on the lovely girl with the bluest of eyes and watched as she laughed and slapped her other friend’s shoulder. He noticed that they were all hanging in a garden of some sort. The blue-eyed girl was leaning against a tree.

For a split second, the girl looked up.

It seemed as though their gazes crossed.

* * * * *

Guest Chambers II
Felipe, Alberto

Unlike Nicholas and Arthur, Alberto preferred the company of his Knight.

Franco Benenati, Alberto’s shorter yet sharper-tongued Knight, joined him despite initially protesting. Finally, he stayed (while mumbling curses under his breath) to listen to Alberto panic and worry about the events which had occurred.

“They’re all idiots,” Franco muttered. “All of them. Jacques is nothing but a flirting piece of dung, Arthur has a stick up his rectum and Nicholas is the worst of them all. Why you even bothered to come, I don’t know why.” The tan-skinned man glanced at his King, who was currently polishing the hilt of his sword. “Alberto.”

“I know, I know.” Alberto gave a small smile as he put the weapon away, “But I have to deal with them. They’re my co-Kings. We’re in this together.”

“Mushy crap.” Alberto ignored it yet sighed, sitting on the bed. Franco raised a brow. “What’s wrong with you now?”

“All of us are just scared, really.”

“…of what?”

“The next judgement.” Franco looked away and Alberto ran a hand though his hair, exhaling. “Which is why we all met earlier.”

“I don’t like saying mushy crap, but you’ll find her.” Alberto looked up. Franco had his arms crossed over his chest, still looking away. “You will. Soon enough.”

“…thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Literally. Don’t mention it.” Franco grumbled.  

* * * * *

Guest Chambers III
Amadour, Jacques

Jacques kept cloth-wrapped ice to his cheek, eyeing the scenery outside of his room. The disagreement between himself and Arthur earlier in the evening was the prime reaosn why the whole meeting had to be moved to the next morning. A rueful smile came to his face.

He really did need to keep his mouth shut sometimes, he admitted to himself.

His Knight, Xian, had also seemed to have enough. Xian, after escorting Jacques to the room, told him to straighten himelf out. After, the Knight slammed the door as he left, leaving Jacques to himself, stunned and mildly irritated.

As time passed, however, he got over his irritation and later reflected on what had happened earlier in the meeting.

It was all because of a disagreement, really.

The whole meeting had to be called in the first place due to one thing: a warning.

All four of them had received a warning the previous day; all four of them held different reactions to that warning.

Upon seeing the purple-stamped envelope, Nicholas’ face blanced and Frederick nearly tore it out of the King’s hands.

Arthur quietly opened the envelope while Alexander stood by with his sword, fearing that some kind of monster would come out.

Alberto looked painfully confused until he read the full contents’; Franco was cursing so much that his twin brother nearly had to pull him out of the main room in order to calm him down.

Jacques remained calm-faced and stony. Xian remained the same way. Jacques merely treated it like any other letter, then patiently asked for Xian to set up the post owls. And Xian went away, not bothering to ask why.

After much communiation, the four of them had met up in the Kingdom of Raleigh, Nicholas awaiting them all with a somber expression.

The tension had gotten to all of them and it was evident in Jacques’ and Arthur’s fight that it had already gotten to them.

Now, thought Jacques, we really have to be on the lookout.

Jacques wasn’t usually a man of fear, not really. He feared disappointing his Kingdom and letting his people down, of course – that was a natural fear of those who were made King. People kept saying that the fear of disappointment was the only fear the Kings would get to experience.

The King of Xanthos begged to differ.

The four of them feared the violet lace of the envelope from Dmitri Fluschen.