CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER  6

 

 

At breakfast, Heara was excited. Really excited. The whole court was happy about that.  But she was excited for a completely different reason than the court thought. 

“I am glad you are finally accepting the idea of the Prince.” the King said over the table.

“Yeah…” Heara stared dreamily into her bowl.  It was full of sweet milk and perfectly heart shaped, red chocolate covered corn-flakes.  But then she woke up.

“What?”

“The Princes are coming over for tea.” the King continued. “It will happen in the House of Cards.” 

Heara stared back gloomily into her cornflakes.  It was going to be great….

Also, the prince she had in mind was different from any prince in the whole world.  

 

*  *  *

 

Later that day, at 5 o’clock Sharp, Heara was at the front of the Card House, with her father, cousins and uncles. Everyone in the royal family was here. Heara and her cousins had some cute White and red or black dresses, each with the correspondent symbol. They were waiting for the princes arrival. Then, suddenly, loud trumpets were filling the air. Caro checked her hair one last time, Picka and Trefla looked excitedly at each other and Heara didn’t even bother. The princes made their arrival. They were pretty short, and by the looks of it, all cousins as well. Each wore a set of shining armor, and bonnets of the colors of the girls normal dresses, which seemed very suspicious to Heara. Also, each of them had a thin moustache and was carrying a spear. They stopped elegantly in front of the princesses. Caro stretched her hand out perfectly, like a proper princess. Picka and Trefla each sent their hands out at the exact same time, like invisible wires were connecting their arms. Heara stretched her hand out, yet a bit disgusted. Then they went into the House of Cards.

It was a little house in the centre of the town surrounded by a patch of grass, and inside, there was grass as well.  The whole building was made of cards that had portraits of great kings and queens, and great people in general.  Inside there was one big room and in the middle, for the occasion, a big white table had been set.

 

The next hour was pure torture for Hera.  The Prince wouln’t stop talking about himself and when he did stop, he’d ask Hera questions about her personal life, which of course she didn’t answer.  So she decided to stuff herself with as many scones as posible, so that she couldn’t speak.  After the hour was over, she excused herself and trotted back to her tower.  She sank on her bed and swore to never get up again.  But then something flew in the room, that brightened up her whole day.  It was a beautiful white card with a black pattern, and a red J on the back.  On the front was the following message: 

 

Dear mysterious girl,

I don’t know if this got to the right person, since I didn’t know your name.  But if it is you, then I want to thank you again for helping me out.  I thought I was doomed.  Anyway, maybe we could meet up somewhere?

Kind regards,

James

 

So that was his name.  Heara smiled and held the card to her chest.  She swirled around all the way to her desk.  She took a pen and wanted to start to write, but then her hand sank.  She wanted to tell him, but she didn’t know how.  “Sorry, but I’m a princess” sounded a bit rude.

Then she knew what to do.  She took out one of her special royal cards and wrote her message.  If was half as Smart as he was cute, he would get the trick.  She stepped to the window and let the card fly in the wind.  She could only hope.

 

*  *  *

 

James was laughing heartily with his brothers.  They had just made a great prank.  Even though they usually had costumes on, for secrecy purposes, everyone knew it was them.  Some people even secretly hoped the Jokers would come to their town, just for a good laugh.  But inside, James had other thoughts.  He really hoped the girls had gotten the card.  It was one of the special cards they had from their father, the Joker.  They didn’t have many, and it was the last thing they had from him. 

Then, a card came zooming in the little street.  It flew right past Jack and Joey, and landed in James’ lap.  He picked it up eagerly and read it.  It said: 

Dear James,

I would love to meet up with you.  Maybe at the Card House tonight?  See you there if you can,

Heara

 

“So that’s her name!” James said. “It’s beautiful!”

“Slow down, Romeo. There’s something else written there.” Jack said.

And there was. It was under the message:

 

(Turn around)

 

James did so, but didn’t notice anything, so he turned it around again.  But Jack and Joey, who had been reading over his shoulder, had noticed something.  They just didn’t know how to tell him. Little Jack was on top of some boxes, and he didn’t have the heart to tell James.  So it was up to Jack. 

“Turn the card again, mate.”

“But why?”

“And look at the sign carefully.”

James did so and then his heart fell to his knees.  He’d seen that sign before. It was a heart, surounded by a… crown.