Sir Gorrann watched her closely. “I’ll tell yeh what I know, what I saw that day. On the day that you fled—Wonderlanders now call it ‘The Morning of Sorrows’—all of the Cards were woken by their commanders in the early morning with the surprising news that the Princess had murdered her own brother in cold blood, his servants, and two Heart Cards.”
Two lies and a single truth, Dinah thought. I did kill two Heart Cards. I lanced one through the heart from behind, like a coward, and hit the other in the head. Wardley killed another in the stable. That was three Cards. The blood on her hands was growing thicker. The Spade continued, ignorant to her whirling guilt. “As the sun rose outside, we were instructed to put on our armor and march out to meet the Princess in front of the gates and to capture her, eh you, dead or alive.” He gave a cough. “Our Commander, the great Spade Starey Belft, made it clear to us that dead was completely acceptable, due to the nature of yer crimes.” The Spade cleared his throat. “I knew it to be a lie. The scar on my cheek said otherwise. The passion which yeh had defended that silly wooden toy for yer brother had shown me that yeh could never do such a thing. I asked myself in those seconds, as I pulled on my armor, what did yeh have to gain from the unspeakable crime of fratricide? Yer brother was never a threat to yer crown—it was yers for the taking, or so I thought. No, the only person who stood to gain from yer brother’s murder was yer father. This all raced through my head yeh see, as I strapped on my armor and headed out to secure the gates. None of the other men seemed to question it—they were hungry for conflict, for battle, for something. The Spades have been dormant too long.
“We marched outside to take position by the gates, while most of our battalion followed the Heart Cards into the castle. We waited. The army of Cards returned and began to sniff around the stables. Then I saw yeh, a terrifying vision if there ever was one.”
Dinah tilted her face, confused. The nightfire reflected off of the Spade’s face, making his eyes glimmer like coins in the darkness. “What?”
“Aye! A terrifying vision. I saw yeh, Yer Highness, straddled across that massive black steed of yours, tearing out of the stable labyrinth like the devil himself was chasing yeh. I saw the wood exploding out from yer steed’s body, a sword in yer hand, yer other hand clutching his mane, the cloak trailing behind yeh. I watched in awe as yeh plowed over helpless men without blinking, bent on revenge. I couldn’t begin to fathom what yeh were doing, but yeh were terrifying. As yeh were sprinting to the gate, the other two Hornhooves came out behind you, killing and maiming any man they came across. Do you know they killed at least ten men?”
More blood, thought Dinah, more death because of me. The Spade gave a light laugh. It bounced off the rocky land around them.
“Wonderlanders are still talking about it—they are calling you the ‘Red Queen.’”
“But I’m not the Red Queen. That’s not me,” blurted Dinah. “I was terrified. I was fleeing for my life. I didn’t even fully understand what was happening. Wardley put me on Morte and sent him running for the gates.”
“Yes, but the townspeople don’t know that. They only know what the King tells them and that’s very little. Because of The Morning of Sorrows, they hate yeh, but more importantly, they fear yeh. To everyone in the kingdom, it seemed like an attack, a last vengeance on Wonderland after killing your brother—a wild act, filled with fury. They believe yeh wanted to kill as many Heart Cards as you could before deserting the castle and leaving yer father to mourn his only son.”
“That isn’t true. I would never….” But you would, said a voice inside of her. You did kill innocent Cards. You can and you have. The Spade threw another bunch of branches onto the black flames of the fire, which leapt even higher, their invisible smoke choking Dinah’s eyes. He continued.
“Yeh looked like a blood-thirsty warrior that day, Princess. I saw that wild fear in yer eyes when yeh passed through the iron gates, the look of a child, desperate to survive. I’ve seen it many times in battle. But that’s not what the kingdom saw. Trust me, it will be to yer advantage in the future.”
The future? Dinah pushed herself off the rotted log she was perched on. “I don’t understand what this has to do with Wardley. Tell me about Wardley.” She was getting annoyed.
“Ah sorry, I’m getting there, Yer Highness. Because everything that happened to your stable boy—”
“WARDLEY,” snapped Dinah. “His name is Wardley.”
“Everything was a result of your actions that day, you tearing out of the castle like a mad bear let loose. I stayed there long enough to see yer father and his small cavalry pass through the gates in pursuit of yeh, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a man so bent on the destruction of another. He longs for his vengeance and he will never stop thirsting for it.”