The light flooded in between her open curtains the next morning as soon as the sun rose on her side of the palace. She jumped out of bed as soon as the light reached her eyelids and dressed in an equestrian outfit: tight brown pants and brown riding boots, a white blouse, and a black blazer. She stuck a green hat down over her hair, and tucked her signature flowers into a small saddlebag instead of putting them in her hair in order to maintain her cover.
She proceeded out the doors of her chambers and down the back flight of stairs out onto the dewy green grass that surrounded the palace stables. Many army officers, including the minister of defense, were waiting for her at the stables. They bowed politely to her as she approached, and she smiled and nodded in acknowledgement.
"Good morning, gentlemen," she greeted as she entered the stables to find her favorite riding horse, a strong black mare named Piroska. She petted the mare's muzzle affectionately before putting on the brown leather saddle and other riding equipment and jumping onto the horse's back. She trotted outside to join the military men, all dressed in civilian equestrian clothes.
"Let us go," she said, turning Piroska in the direction of Klubok and snapping the reins.
They galloped for hours across the rolling green hills of the Clubs kingdom, Sector Ace disappearing behind them in the distance. Streams ran through the valley in between large hills, and the horse path was beaten-down dirt surrounded by expanses of green. A dark forest loomed to the east, towards Hearts, which defined the border. No one ever dared go into the forest; it was said that evil spirits lived in the deepest depths among the trees. Elizaveta knew that the forest was primarily safe; she'd spent much time in a meadow several yards inside the trees with Gilbert everyday since she was six until she was sixteen and he was stolen. They had never ventured further inside than the glade, however, but she could not believe truly evil spirits would live in such a beautiful place as the forest.
The dark forest bordered the town of Klubok on its western and northern sides, and the riders followed the line of the forest until they could see the stone-walled city after they cleared a tall hill. Elizaveta stopped her mare for a second and examined the large city before taking a deep breath and plunging over the steep hillside at top speed like her companions.
They came upon the doors to the city soon after, the gates guarded by a soldier on either side dressed in green military outfits with swords strapped around their waists dangling on their left sides and a gun holsters on their right sides. The defense minister rode in front as the group trotted up on their horses to the locked gates. The guards stood tall as the minster stopped his horse and dismounted.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen. We are journeying from Sector Ace to Sector 2 of Klubok."
"Papers are required," the guard on the left explained. "I need to see everyone's papers before I can let you through."
"But of course," the minister said, producing a thick stack of papers sealed together with a wax seal of the king. "I believe you should find everything in order."
The guard popped the seal and examined each of the documents, occasionally raising his head to compare the pictures to those of the group in front of him. Finally, he nodded.
"You're clear." He pushed a lever down on his side of the gates, and the gates swung open, exposing a long pathway into the heart of Klubok.
"Thank you, and good day, gentlemen," the minister said before remounting. The troupe trotted inside the gates, which swung shut and locked tightly behind them. They rode down the stone-walled path to the center of the town. The walls were a good twelve feet high, and none of them could see over the walls.
The center of Klubok was a round plaza with a fountain in the center. Water bubbled out of a tall Clubs emblem and splashed into the pool below it. A marble column stood behind the club emblem, and on that column was the clock that chimed each sector's curfew. Twelve gates were evenly spaced around the plaza, and an armed guard stood alert at each gate. The first ten gates led to a sector, each of which was walled into a pie-slice shape to form the perfect circle of the city, and elegantly written numbers declared which number sector the gate led to. The next gate led to the factory sector, where many people from sectors 8, 9, and 10 found work; the final gate was guarded by two guards and led to the outside. The only way to get out was the have a pass from someone living in the rich sectors or to be from the rich sectors. That gate was one Elizaveta had passed through everyday of her childhood to journey to the meadow. She remembered that she had first seen Gilbert at that gate, his face dirty, tightly gripping the pass he'd earned from a man in Sector 4. She had waited for him on the other side of the gate, and the two of them had been best friends ever since.
The group of riders halted in front of the gate that had a scripted 2 written on the front door. The guard saluted them respectfully and glanced at their papers one final time before allowing the gates to swing open into the sector. Women dressed in the latest fashions walked slowly in groups, many gathered under delicate parasols, looking in the windows of boutiques and expensive, imported food shops. After they had cleared the shopping area of the sector, large manors began to line the streets, tall, wide buildings with dozens of black-trimmed windows and perfectly landscaped lawns. Elizaveta halted Piroska in front of a large, five-story white house with white pillars supporting the porch roof and a fenced patio area on top of the porch roof that was accessed by a door on the third floor. A medium-height wrought iron fence surrounded the perimeter of the property. She dismounted and looped Piroska's reins around a post in the iron fence before opening the gate and walking up to the front door of her parent's home.
She knocked once on the door and waited. A minute later, a thin, older woman with long black hair and amber eyes opened the door.
"Yes? Oh, heavens, Miss Elizaveta!"
"Nickolett!" Elizaveta exclaimed happily and pulled the woman into a tight hug.
"I didn't know you were coming, your Highness!"
"Please, Nickolett, Elizaveta is fine. You raised me, for God's sake."
"As you wish, miss. How is life in Sector Ace? I imagine it must be so different than it is here, especially in Sector 8!"
"Well, Sector Ace is…"
"Nickolett!" a shrill voice pierced through the air, making Elizaveta wince. "Who was at the door? Did you even answer it, you stupid eight? For the love of God…oh, Elizaveta. You did show up."
A woman emerged at the top of the stairs. She was heavily caked in makeup in an attempt to disguise her slight wrinkles and wore a pale green shift dress. "It's so wonderful that you're home, Elizaveta."
"Yes, yes, it is," Elizaveta muttered in reply and looked away from her mother, whose lips formed a tight line.
"Elizaveta Csenge Héderváry! Did they not instruct you to not mutter in the palace? You were raised better than that. And queens do not avoid eye contact whilst muttering, do you understand? Really, act your place, Elizaveta. You are not a child."
Elizaveta clenched a fist at her side and raised her green eyes to meet her mother's disapproving brown ones. "Sorry, Mother." Her voice was laden with distaste and sarcasm, but her mother ignored it.
"That's better, dear. Now, Nickolett, why on Earth are you just standing around there? Honestly, we pay you too much. Get to work on dinner, why don't you? Just don't make paprikash; you know Elizaveta hates it."
"Actually, Mother, paprikash is my favorite. I've liked it since I was little. Nickolett knows that."
"Oh," her mother sniffed. "Well, make something she likes, Nickolett. And bring us some tea in the sitting room."
"Yes, Madam Brigitta." Nickolett curtsied and left the room in the direction of the kitchen.
Brigitta approached Elizaveta and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Let me look at you, darling." Elizaveta put on a pleasant smile as her mother surveyed her. Brigitta's smile fell into a frown.
"Have you gained weight?"
"What?" Elizaveta looked at her mother in slight shock, her pleasant smile faltering.
"Have you gained weight? You look like it."
"No, I still weigh the same as I did when I left, Mother."
"Oh. Well, it must just be that dreadful outfit of yours. Who picks out your clothes?"
"I do."
"Oh, well, then it's a good thing you have ladies-in-waiting, isn't it, dear?"
"Yes, I suppose it is," she murmured as her mother patted her arm and motioned for Elizaveta to follow her into the sitting room.
"Erik, Elizaveta came home."
The man looked away from the paper and over the top of his reading glasses at Elizaveta and sized her up. "Why are you wearing pants?"
"We came on horseback, Father."
"Oh? They let the queen do that? Honestly, what sort of society is this? Don't you have a carriage? Some guard you have." He shook his head.
"I carry a weapon. I can defend myself."
"Ha! Very amusing, Elizaveta. Women are weak creatures and need to be defended. I'll have to send a letter to Alfonso up in Sector Ace and let him know you should not be carrying a weapon and need a more able guard."
Elizaveta clenched her fists tightly, her fingernails digging harshly into her skin. Her teeth clamped down on her tongue as she resisted the urge to scream at her father. It'd been three years, and her parents were still degrading bigots.
"Sit down, Elizaveta. You look like some blank-minded imbecile just standing there."
She obliged and sat down on the sofa across from where her parents were seated in chairs, her eyebrow twitching in anger. Nickolett came in with tea, set the tray down on the coffee table, curtsied, and exited. Elizaveta reached forward to grab a teacup and sipped her tea calmly, wondering why coming to see her parents had seemed like a good idea at all.
"Have you proposed any tax decreases for Sectors 2 through 4, Elizaveta?"
"No."
"And why not?"
"Because you can pay your taxes, while many people in the lower sectors can't even eat every night."
Erik scoffed and shook his head. "You stupid little girl. Liberalism is not popular over here, and you obviously have no idea how the system works."
"I disagree, Father. I am the Queen, and I have learned a great deal about politics during my time in Sector Ace and believe I understand them."
Her father scoffed again and rolled his eyes. "If you actually believe that, you're going to be a terrible Queen."
Get through this, Lizzie. It's just a way to get to Gilbert, she thought.
"So, Elizaveta, do you plan on producing a Jack?"
Elizaveta spit her tea back into the cup. "What?"
"Elizaveta, that was most unladylike. We do not spit. I simply asked you when you plan on having the heir to the throne. You're getting old."
"I'm 20!" she cried in disbelief. Her mother shrugged.
"When I was twenty, you were already two years old. You really ought to think about hurrying up and having a child."
"I don't want a child right now," Elizaveta said, setting her teacup down on the table. "I have plenty of time, and I'll make that decision on my own when the time comes."
Brigitta shook her head at Erik, who folded his newspaper and set it on the table. "Elizaveta, people will suspect your marriage is unhappy if you fail to produce an heir soon. You've been married for three years!"
"You forced me to marry Roderich! This marriage was not my choice, and you practically sold me! You do not control my life, and I'll decide on when I want to have a child, if I want to have a child, and what policies I want to push during my reign. I am the Queen of Clubs, and I will not stand to be manipulated, do you hear me?"
Erik's face turned bright red as he stood, raising his hand as if to slap her.
"If you touch me, I can tell any one of the military officers stationed in this neighborhood, and they will apprehend and execute you for assault on the queen. So I would put my hand down if I were you."
Her father lowered his hand, his face still boiling red with fury. Elizaveta smirked and stood up.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd rather have dinner alone in my room that see your faces again while I eat. You already make me sick enough when I have an empty stomach." She turned on her heel and headed off for the staircase, ascending to the second floor to retreat into her bedroom.
She flopped down on her bed after she shut and locked her door behind her. She stared at her painted ceiling. When she was little, Nickolett's husband had painted a brilliant fairytale mural on her ceiling, a knight and princess running hand-in-hand while dragons poked out from caves, faeries flitted across the skies, and a king and queen watched the kingdom from a peaceful tower of a white castle. The princess had green eyes, whilst the knight had blue.
"His eyes should be red," she murmured and sighed. She pulled the chain out from under her blouse, holding the silver band up and staring at it again, rolling it around between her fingers.
It was a simple band, but she loved it. Gilbert had made it himself with help from a metal smith in his sector, and he'd made a matching one for himself. He'd proposed in the meadow when they were sixteen, and she said yes; they'd planned the run away together to a place where it didn't matter if they had different sector numbers, far away from Elizaveta's controlling parents. She wouldn't have minded if they'd ended up nomads, wandering the country, and she didn't mind if her sector number had to change when they went to a new town. She only cared that they could be together without hiding it for once.
She held the ring up next to her wedding band clad finger. They looked nothing alike, one simple, one elegant, one dulled with time, one still sparkling brightly. She removed the gold, jeweled band and set it aside, slipping the plain silver band onto her finger in its place. She felt better in the ring, like it actually belonged on her finger. Eventually she shook her head and removed the silver ring, stringing it back on its chain, and put the golden band back on. She'd wear the silver ring again someday if it killed her.
Author's Notes:
Err...my formatting got a little screwed up on the way over, so HOPEFULLY it doesn't appear weird on your screen =/ I think I fixed it all.
Anyway, here's Chapter 2! ^^ I hope you all liked it. I know this didn't have a ton of plot progression, but I promise the next chapter will make up for it! Please tell me what you think; I didn't get a ton of feedback last time and I really would like to know what you like and don't like about the story so I can take into consideration during editing and for future fanfictions!