37. Wildcard
"Hallo," Shirleen said over the phone and waited for Angela to break the awkward silence.
"Since I am sure you are not calling me to say hi and find out how I have been doing. I am guessing this has to do with your fight against the queen that is coming up?" Angela asked.
"Yes," Shirleen sighed defeated, "Do you have any advice for me?" she asked softly and Angela was quiet for a few seconds, "The reigning queen has a very weird fighting technique. She attacks ferociously without any specific technique. She was born with the natural talent to fight and her fighting skills were not taught to her they were skills that she picked up. Her skills lack finesse but they are brutal and flawless," Angela said in answer.
"What do I do during the fight?" Shirleen asked politely. "Angela I really want to win this crown. I really want to be queen." Angela was quiet on the other end for a full minute maybe more and Shirleen thought she had lost connection. "I will do anything you want if you help me."
Angela laughed bitterly, "Since you are my stepdaughter, I have no choice but to help you," she said just as bitterly. "But I want you to promise me one thing. When the time comes and you get the chance to kill me I want you to promise you will let someone else do it on your behalf. Promise me neither you nor Adrian will take my life with your own hands. Have someone else do it," Angela said softly.
"I swear I will have someone else do it and won't kill you myself," Shirleen said with conviction.
"Good," Angela replied. "During the fight I want you to change your fighting style as frequently as possible. When I saw the queen fight during the last tournament, I realised she watched her opponent and somehow mastered and predicted their movement thus could block attacks quite easily. It is more like the way most people have the skill to count cards and anticipate the next card. She is basically doing the same thing in a fight. So I want you to keep her surprised and unable to anticipate your next move. Mix it up and change it up as much as possible and you might have a chance. If you win take off your mask because at that very moment you will already be the undisputed queen. Your identity would no longer be a problem and everyone in the underworld would want to be able to recognise their queen."
"Thank you, Angela," Shirleen said relieved.
"Don't thank me yet little one. You have to win first," Angela said, "And just so you don't have to call me again if you win you will have to win over the assassins under the queen's direct command. They won't follow you blindly just because you won the crown. If they challenge you you will have no choice but to kill the challengers. You should give them two choices just like you gave your opponents before, yield or die, choose." With that Angela switched off the connection without waiting for her response not wanting to continue the discussion. The fact remained Shirleen's existence was still a torture to her even if Angela had started seeing her as a person with ambition and a will to succeed.
Shirleen looked up to find Stacey in her room watching her. "You should stop contacting her and trying to sweet talk her into helping you when you hate her," Stacey said softly. "You think of her as nothing more than a person to use to get to the goal you wish and as the woman who killed your mother. But your very existence is a reminder of the life her daughter should have lived. Her daughter would have been the one participating in the queen's blade. It would have been her daughter asking her for advice on what to do and not you." Stacey left the room leaving Shirleen with thoughts swirling in her head, thoughts she had never really thought of. She had tried to block out the thought that Shirley's and Shirleen's existence had pushed Angela to a point she miscarried her child and due to the complication during that time she became barren. They had caused a woman to turn bitter and grieve the reminder of her life. She had somehow forgotten that both of them had suffered due to the existence of the other and both had lost the people they most loved. Just like Shirleen avoided to look at Angela every time they were in the same room. So did Angela avoid looking at her. The anger towards Angela still remained and she didn't think it will disappear considering Angela was a direct result of Shirley's death while her existence was an indirect result of Angela's dead child. To her there was a difference but both women held anger towards each other, anger that will not dissipate.
"Maybe, just maybe we deserve to live long lives by each other's side and torture each other to death to pay for both our crimes," she thought out loud heading to the balcony so she could stare at the sky full of stars. Crimes that were began by someone else's greed but led to the result they faced at that moment. Somewhere in her heart she learned that she hated her father for what he had begun without thinking of the result and consequences. She didn't want to dwell on the ifs because nothing came from that but her mind kept drifting "What if he…". So instead of finishing that thought she silenced her thoughts and decided to immerse her thoughts into winning the queen's blade. Losing to her was not an option.