Starting from this point, it HEAVILY hints at non-con and BL activity. Nothing explicit, but you've been warned
Ch 3: The Heiress
He was suffocating, barely able to breathe. Greedily, he panted for air. Burning, burning, he was being smothered by the heat and weight pressing on top of him. Arms curled around his body. Hands he thought that would take away his life, desperately, urgently held him close. "Yao, Yao, Yao," In a voice that begged and commanded, his name was fiercely whispered into his ears. "Please," It was a needy cry filled with hopelessness. "Love me." Something wet touch his shoulders. Without seeing what it was that trickled down his skin, he already knew what it would taste like. After all, tears tasted of salt, didn't they?
Yao opened his eyes to find morning light streaming in. Lying quietly in bed, his eyes searched the room and found himself alone as usual. Tentatively, he sat up and swung a leg to the side of the bed. When he felt no soreness or pain, he stood and began walking towards the window.
A cool breeze blew by, bringing with it the crisp smell of snow. Days melted to nights; weeks had gone by and still, Spring has yet to visit the Kingdom of Diamonds. Yao couldn't tell if only a month or if an entire season passed. After a week, he no longer kept count.
He should've died that day. Instead, he was alive only as a pleasure slave to his enemy. Was death a better, kinder fate denied to him?
Watching a snowflake drift down to the window's ledge and melting, Yao wondered what was it he was supposed to feel. Bitterness? Anger? Or perhaps since he had been violated by a man, he was supposed to feel ashamed?
Yao felt nothing but mild curiosity.
The "woman's position" was something he never expected himself to experience. It was odd and generated sensations that he never knew he had before. In his younger days, days when he still lived in his homeland, he had taken women lovers. He'd always tried to take their needs seriously, but now he realized he never understood pleasure from a woman's perspective. The strange feeling of when part of another person is put inside you, the weight of their body on yours, their desperate expressions…it was discomfort, pain…and pleasure separated by a fine line. Nevertheless, he found no great enjoyment from the act, but neither was he disgusted by it. In the end, he simply didn't care.
Night after night, his captor hugged him tightly as if afraid he would struggle and escape. Yao didn't understand why since he had never even attempted it. Whether he lived or died, it made no difference. He fought for his kingdom because it was his duty. Beyond that duty laid nothing.
The name "Heartless Jack" was a perfect was to describe him. Emotions that he once knew and felt were lost to him now. Apathetic to most things, immortality had robbed him of feeling. For years that bled into decades, he was a warrior that knew no pain or suffering…and lacked the warmth of love or happiness.
However, since the nightly visits began, a single question plagued him, made him curious for the answer.
Why…did he bring him here…to only cry for it?
His idyllic thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. Yao barely had time to glance to his right when a long, blond haired woman stepped in.
At the sight of Yao's nakedness, the woman paused in her step for a slight moment, but recovered quickly. Without an invitation or a word, she sat in one of the dining chairs and motioned for the servants to begin setting the table for breakfast. Maids streamed into the room, bringing in steaming food one by one. Fabrics rustled, forks and plates clinked. Other than the noise produced by the maids, there was no other sounds. Yao and the mysterious woman gazed at each other in unbroken silence. As the last servant closed the door with a clink, the woman neatly folded her hands on her thighs and impassively regarded Yao. "Shouldn't you be dressed?"
"Why?" Yao asked, "When night comes, it'll just get torn to shreds."
Not a flicker of emotion passed the woman's face; however, the oppressing silence that followed his answer was enough for him to know she was displeased.
"Careful in how speak to me, Jack of Hearts," she replied with a snap. She threw him a white robe she found discarded on the floor. "They may be your last."
"Who are you?" Yao asked, catching the piece of clothing in midair.
Contemplating on how to answer, the woman watched Yao slowly get dressed. By the sheer size of the robe, it was obviously Ivan's. Her nails unconsciously dug into her palm at the blatant reminder on where Ivan spent his nights.
Certainly the man could be considered beautiful in an exotic way. He carried with him an aura of mystique that those not native of the Four Kingdom possessed. However, if it was beauty Ivan was after, she would lose to no one. If it was devotion and love that he asked for, then she would be crowned the winner. But no, Ivan needed something else. Something she could never give.
Her eyes flickered and caught the Jack of Heart observing her patiently as he waited for her to finish the perusal of his body. She made no excuses at being caught staring. It wasn't her in her personality to apologize. Instead, she raised her chin in defiance and tugged at her neckline, exposing her collarbone and the mark that laid on it.
At the sight of the Diamond's insignia on the woman's skin, Yao offered a shallow bow. "To what do I owe this honor of having Diamond's Queen Candidate in my room?"
"Please, call me Natalia. I'm here because I wish to discuss some things with you." The Queen Apparent indicated the seat across from her. "Why don't we eat while we chat?"
Yao sat, but made no attempt to touch the food. "What is there to discuss? I have nothing to say to you."
"Then you can sit there and listen while I do all the 'discussing'," Natalia snapped.
Calm demeanor gone, she ferociously poured herself a cup of tea. The dark liquid splashed and spilled over the side of the cup, staining the pristine tablecloth. Carefully watching her gulp down three scalding mouthful, Yao coolly poured his own cup. "What is it that you want to tell me?" Yao sipped his tea, quietly noting its' sweeter texture compared to the ones he grew up with.
Natalia resisted the urge to scowl into her cup. Slowly composing herself, she took deep breaths, inhaling the soothing aroma of the tea.
"I came here to ask you a favor," She said, slipping back into her expressionless façade.
"What kind of favor?" Yao questioned lightly.
For a moment, Natalia gazed into her cup before setting it down gently. Meeting Yao's eyes, she said unflinchingly, "I hate you with every fiber of my being, but I love Ivan more than I despise you. So I came here to ask you to abandon your post as the Jack of Hearts and become a Diamond."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Yao replied, "I live only to serve my King. If you ask me to betray him, then you're asking for my death."
"Is there no way to convince you? Riches? Power? All it could be yours if you defect to our side."
"None of that interests me."
"Then what is it that you want? Just ask and if it's within my power, I'll guarantee you'll get it."
Yao cocked his head confused. None of it made sense to him. "I thought you hated me. Why are you so adamant that I stay? If anything, shouldn't you want me dead?"
"I do want you dead," Natalia said without much feeling, "but as I said, I love Ivan too much."
"I don't understand…."
"And I don't expect you, Heartless Jack, to begin to fathom what I'm feeling," Natalia replied.
Not knowing what to say in return, Yao said nothing.
In the silence that resumed over them, Natalia nonchalantly began stirring her tea. The 'clink', 'clink' sound reverberated loudly in the room. As she watched the dark liquid swirl around the porcelain cup, she spoke to her distorted reflection in a soft, but deep bone weary voice. "I was found and brought to the palace when I was little more than four. Torn away from friends and family to be raised by strangers, you can imagine how terrified I was. The entire trip from my village to the palace, I cried myself to sleep every night. Once I got here, though, I had Ivan" A wistful smile graced her lips at her memories. "He was ecstatic that a child close to his age was to live with him. When my carriage finally arrived at the castle doors, he raced up to greet me. I, on the other hand, wasn't so pleased to meet him. I cried and cried and threw tantrums. How Ivan tolerated me, I don't know, but he did. He held my hand every night until I fell asleep. When I said I wanted my mother, he offered me his. You can guess it didn't take long for me to grow attached to him."
"The Queen spoiled us both. Although I knew I was being raised to be his 'wife', as a child, I didn't understand what that meant. Neither of us did. For the two years that we idly spent together, we more or less thought of ourselves as siblings. Ivan was a typical older brother. He put frogs in my bed and hid my dolls. However, when I was truly upset, he was there for me. He would put his arms awkwardly around my shoulders and whisper repeatedly, 'It's okay. It's okay. I'm here.'" Natalia stared hard into Yao's eyes. "That is the Ivan I grew up with. He was a caring boy who hated everything his father stood for."
"When I was seven and Ivan was nine, everything changed. Under the King's command, the Queen and I moved to the southern part of the palace. We were banned from seeing Ivan until further notice. It wasn't until later we found out that the royal tutors were dismissed and the King took a personal interest in 'educating' his son." A harsh chuckle escaped Natalia. "By educate, I do mean the physical kind; the one that involve fists. I remember a time the beating was so severe, the whispers that he wouldn't make it even reached our ears. The Queen begged to see Ivan, but she never even made it past her room. That night, I snuck out for the Queen and Ivan's sake. When I saw him lying still on that huge bed…," She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued, "I thought he was dead. His entire body was covered in wounds and he was bleeding internally. Only his left eye suffered no damage. I heard from some servants, the King kept hitting him and hitting him even when he stopped moving. I wanted to scream and cry at the injustice of it all…." Briefly closing her eyes, she sighed. "I approached the bed and Ivan must've felt my presence because he opened his one undamaged eye…and smiled. With great difficulty, he offered me his broken hand and I took it. I stayed with him that night and it's been that way since. Nightmares still plague him, did you know that? When it haunts him, he would come find me and I would hold his hands until the trembling stopped."
Finding the words, Natalia took a sip from the cold tea. "The King doesn't care about anyone but himself and the kingdom. For some perverted reason, that selfishness earned him the love and respect of his people. Under his rule, we've prospered like never before….Perhaps, the King of Diamond is a good king- maybe even a great one- but he is a terrible father. From the beginning he did not want a son, but a replica of himself. And he almost succeeded, but he did not account for one thing." She paused and pointed to Yao. "You."
Visibly shocked for the first time, Yao recoiled in his seat. "Me? Impossible. I've never even met your Ace until a month or so ago."
"You don't remember…," Natalia whispered appalled.
"Remember what?"
Heartbroken for Ivan, Natalia pursed her lips. "Nothing. All you need to know is that the King wanted a ruthless heir who was willing to do anything to get what he wanted. That is what Ivan became." Natalia did not mention that Ivan was still far off from the King's ideal son. While he was obsessed with ruling as king, Ivan's obsession revolved around obtaining Yao. In recent years, it became obvious that Yao was a distraction Ivan could not afford. The King of Diamond decreed the Jack of Hearts to be executed, but in recent years the power of the throne fell in Ivan's hands. Anyone that dared lay a hand against the Heartless Jack faced the possibility of incurring the Prince's wrath. The old, decrypt King was nothing more than a figurehead.
"Why are you telling me this?" Yao asked when it seemed Natalia was done with her piece. "Does his past justify his actions against me? Am I supposed to feel sympathy for him?"
"No, I did not tell you our past to make you pity him," Natalia answered. Hearing the thudding footsteps getting closer, she stood up. "You do not have to love him. You don't even have to like him. But please…don't hate him."
"What your Ace has anything to do with me, I still don't-"
"YAO!" Slamming the door open, Ivan stood at the entrance heaving for breath, "Yao! Are you alright? Did Natalia do anything? Did she hurt you?"
Natalia glided towards Ivan and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry so Ivan. I can't harm him. I'm only a Queen Apparent remember?"
Worry etched on his face, Ivan glanced back between his fiancée and reluctant lover. "Yes, but he can still feel pain. You haven't done anything?"
From his seat, Yao saw Natalia smile. "I put poison in the tea."
More alarmed than Yao, Ivan paled. "Why? How could you do this to me, Natalia?"
"Relax, Vanya. Since he's not dead right now, he'll survive." His fiancée cooed. She caressed the side of Ivan's face adoringly as she walked passed him. Just as she was about to leave, she glanced back at Yao sitting by himself. "Even if you don't know how the relationship began, you can choose the ending. Think over what I asked."
Yao nodded, but in the end, he understood nothing.
Why Bela's not dead. She took the antidote beforehand. I just thought a more sane Belarus was cool. I guess she's a bit of a mixture of female characters I've read up on who basically wished their true love happiness. Mind you, her relationship with Ivan is still a bit unhealthy. She's still the same ol' same ol' Bela, just toned down.
Secondly, I don't condone rape in any shape or form. However, as a plot device, it helped shorten the story. To compensate, I toned it down and left out the details. Seriously...when I read fics or mangas, 90% of the time, rape scenes aren't even necessary :\
Again, I'm sorry for making Natalia "tell" Ivan's pass rather than show the readers. I'm a lazy writer, I know...OTL
