diamonds

chapter 42 | Hibi

"Come back soon!"

Cas and I waved her off completely before leaving the cafe. The sun was now low in the sky and it was still quite warm. Diamonds tended to have colder evenings so I was in quite a rush to get back to my home.

Caspian on the other hand didn't seem to be in much of a rush as he strolled at a leisurely pace. Admiring the surroundings. His curiosity of other kingdoms was precious but quickly got annoying as I turned around and realized he was still far behind me.

"Cas!" His eyebrows perked up.

"Hmm?"

I rolled my eyes and stomped up next to him. "Are you planning on sleeping out here?" He smirked.

"Depends, will you be joining me?" I huffed.

"Just hurry up"

He chuckled but started walking a bit faster. "Will you take me to a festival tomorrow?" Caspian asked, a hint of excitement in his tone. I looked back at him and smiled.

"Sure you want to go to one?" He nodded eagerly. He jumped in front of me and began to walk backwards.

"Of course! Why come to Diamonds if I'm not going to experience every little detail?" His excitement and burst of energy lightened up the mood and soon I was walking with a little hop in my step with him.

"Just don't say I didn't warn you Cas" I smirked "You'll learn when you're tired of being on your feet but everyone's pulling you back to the dance floor" He abruptly stopped walking and a cute frown set on his face.

"Dancing? I have to dance"

"It wouldn't exactly be a celebration without dancing Ca-

My face went hard as the joking tone in my voice vanished into silence as something caught the corner of my eye. "Hibi?-

I quickly covered his mouth and dragged him into an alleyway. His face washed over in shock as I slowly removed my palm from his lips. "Are you going to explain what we're hiding from?" I hushed him.

"Look!" We both peeked out of the alleyway and looked in the direction I was pointing at. I felt Cas stiffen as we both caught sight of the glinting red metal armour worn by several men.

They stood in a small circle outside a bar, all talking to one guy who seemed to be being interrogated. The man was seemed to keep his composure as he talked to the men calmy and it was all going well until one of the red-dressed men lifted him up and slammed him into the brick wall next to them.

Caspian and I said nothing as we both slowly turned to look at each other, confirming that we were both seeing the same thing.

There were Heart's guards in Diamonds.

"I don't understand how they caught up to us so quickly!?"

I stared into space and bit my lip "I'm surprised they didn't catch us faster" I muttered. Caspian stopped his pacing around my living room and turned to me.

"How could this have happened!" He turned to me frantically for answers or any voice of reason but the truth was I didn't have a logical answer as to why the Queen of Hearts boyfriends were currently roaming the streets of my kingdom.

"I have no idea, the people of Hearts aren't welcome here" I ignored Caspians annoyed gaze at that comment "None of this makes any sense" I groaned, running a hand through my hair that I'd let down in the heat of stress.

Caspian took a seat on the floor which made my eyebrow but I brushed it off considering the time. "Why would Queen Kotaku allow Hearts guards into this kingdom?" Caspian asked to no one in particular.

"And why this kingdom in particular?" I whispered into space.

"Maybe Adaora snitched?" I shook my head.

"Adaora has way to much pride to ever ask someone else to fight her battles" I smiled slightly thinking about Adaor'as reluctance to ever ask for help.

'If you can't finish it on your own you shouldn't have started it' Is what she used to say.

"Well they seem to be looking for something very important," I thought out loud as I thought of the desperation the guards used with the poor man at the bar. A light switch went off in my head and I blinked "Caspian, was the sash you took really important? Like sentimentally valuable important?"

He stared at me for a few seconds before shaking his head " I-I don't think so, the prince wore it quite often so I-

"Okay! Maybe it was the way you took it!" I searched his eyes for answers.

"I kinda just like, grabbed it off of him and escaped" He explained vaguely but defensively.

Well, that's embarrassing. The Crown Prince of Hearts can't even put up a good fight?

"Did you scar the prince badly or anything horrible enough that his mother would take it really personally?" I prodded.

He blinked "No I don't see why she would take this personally at all".

"Did you take anything else of significance? Even a fucking fork?" He shook his head innocently.

Why in the four kingdoms would a guy skilled enough to steal a necklace off of a prince only take one thing?

I sighed and flopped back onto my couch "And we're back to square zero!" Caspian stayed silent for a minute before turning to me.

"What about you? Maybe she's hunting you down?"

I snorted and put a hand on my face "I doubt it, even when I've committed the worst of crimes in Hearts the guards would never follow me past the borders" I massaged my temple to push back the building headache behind my eyes "Even if we'd both done something horrifying it's just so unlike that woman to chase someone out of her kingdom".

What the hell is she looking for this desperately?

He crawled up to the couch and leaned into it, throwing his head back to stare at the ceiling. I could sense the panic practically radiating from his skin so I put my hands on his head and started to rub soothing circles into his scalp, he sighed and started to lean into my touch.

We sat in a thoughtful silence before he spoke up "At least we know one thing for sure" I looked into his eyes and nodded.

"We have to start being a lot more careful".