The First Move

The next morning came too quickly.

I hadn’t slept, not even for a second. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw their faces—the Aces snarling over me, the Joker’s twisted grin, the Queen card burning in my hand. By the time the heavy double doors of the grand hall opened again, my body was trembling, though I forced myself to stand tall.

This time, the hall was darker. Torches flickered against the stone walls, throwing jagged shadows that made the place look more like an execution chamber than a room of royalty. At the center, a massive table gleamed with polished black wood, and on it sat a deck of cards bound with a blood-red ribbon.

The Aces were already waiting.

Spades leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, his icy gaze never leaving me. Hearts lounged in his chair, spinning a dagger between his fingers like it was nothing more than a toy. Diamonds adjusted his cufflinks, smug as ever, while Clubs stood rigid, his fists clenched as if he was one second away from breaking someone’s skull. And the Joker… he was perched on the edge of the table, humming a tune that made my skin crawl.

“Queen,” Joker called, stretching the word out like a joke. “Welcome to your first trial.”

I swallowed hard. “Trial?”

“The Deck doesn’t tolerate weak pieces,” Spades said coldly. “If you can’t survive this, you don’t deserve to wear the crown.”

“And what if I don’t want the crown?” My voice cracked, but I didn’t care. I had to say it. “What if I don’t want any of this?”

The Aces exchanged glances, but it was Diamonds who answered, his smile cruel.

“Then you’ll be buried without it.”

My blood ran cold.

Joker hopped down from the table, the red ribboned deck in his hand. He tugged it free, the cards snapping like whips as he shuffled them with theatrical flair. “The rules are simple, darling Queen. You draw a card, and whatever fate it carries, you must survive. That’s the game.”

“Survive?” My throat tightened. “What do you mean by—”

“You’ll see,” Joker cut in gleefully. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”

He fanned the cards out before me, bowing mockingly. “Pick.”

My hands shook. I wanted to run, but Spades’ voice cut through the silence like steel.

“Choose. Now.”

I forced my fingers forward, my pulse hammering in my ears. Slowly, I drew a single card from the deck.

The Ten of Swords.

Joker’s grin widened so much it almost split his face. “Ah… how poetic.”

“What does it mean?” I whispered.

“Death,” Spades said bluntly.

Before I could react, the floor beneath me shifted with a heavy groan. The tiles slid apart, revealing a pit below—deep and dark, filled with sharpened spikes glinting under the torchlight.

My breath caught in my throat. “You’ve got to be kidding me—”

“You survive, or you die,” Diamonds said, smirking. “That’s all there is to it.”

A narrow stone bridge extended over the pit, no wider than a single step. At the far end sat another card, glowing faintly under the torchlight—the escape.

My legs went numb.

“I can’t do this,” I whispered.

“You can,” Clubs said firmly. His voice carried none of Diamonds’ mockery or Hearts’ teasing. It was solid, grounding. “One step at a time. Don’t look down. Just move.”

Hearts leaned back in his chair, smirking. “Or look down. I’d love to see that expression when you realize one wrong move means you’re skewered like a kebab.”

“Shut up, Hearts,” Clubs snapped.

Spades’ eyes locked onto mine. “Move. Prove you deserve to live.”

My hands were shaking so hard I thought I might collapse, but something deep inside me snapped. If I froze, I’d die. If I begged, they’d laugh. If I ran… there was nowhere to go.

So I took a breath. And I stepped onto the bridge.

The stone was cold beneath my feet, rough and uneven. The spikes below shimmered like a hungry mouth waiting to swallow me whole.

“Don’t look down,” Clubs had said.

I looked down anyway.

My vision spun, my chest tightening until I could barely breathe. The pit seemed endless, pulling me toward it. My legs trembled violently, my arms flailing for balance.

“Pathetic,” Spades muttered from behind me.

“Come on, sweetheart,” Hearts called lazily. “It’s just a walk. Pretend you’re on a runway.”

“Focus!” Clubs barked, his voice hard now, sharp enough to cut through my panic. “You can do this. One step. Just one more.”

I clenched my fists, forcing air into my lungs. Step by step, I moved forward, each second dragging like an eternity. My foot slipped once, and a scream tore from my throat as my body swayed dangerously close to the edge—

—but I caught myself.

The Aces watched in silence, their gazes heavy. Joker clapped his hands like a child at a circus, his laughter bouncing off the stone walls.

“Marvelous! The Queen dances on knives!”

Finally, with one last desperate lunge, I reached the other side. My hands shook as I grabbed the glowing card. The pit closed behind me with a thunderous crash, the bridge vanishing like it had never been there at all.

I collapsed to my knees, gasping.

For a moment, there was silence. Then Spades’ voice cut through the air.

“You survived. Barely.”

Diamonds smirked. “She’ll need more than luck next time.”

Hearts tilted his head, flashing that dangerous smile again. “She looked beautiful when she almost fell, though. Didn’t she?”

Clubs ignored them all, stepping forward and offering me his hand. His dark eyes softened, just a fraction. “You made it.”

I hesitated—then took it.

Joker’s laughter rang out, sharp and wild. “Oh, this is only the beginning. The Queen has made her first move… but how long before she’s checkmated?”

His grin made one thing terrifyingly clear.

This wasn’t just a trial.

It was a war.

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