House of Cards

It starts with a meeting of eyes across the crowded room.

The air is filled with the buzz of music and merry-making, and the ballroom floor is brimming with couples dancing. She catches his glance from across the room, and he raises an eyebrow. An invitation. She smiles hesitantly in affirmation, and the two meet each other halfway on the dancefloor.

He places his hands on her waist, while her arms drape around his shoulders, and they move in an all too familiar rhythm. Forwards and backwards, left and right, a twirl and a spin - the dance is ingrained in them from years of attending royal celebrations.

After a minute or so, she lifts her gaze to his eyes. Blue and brown meet, both wary and uncertain. This is dangerous territory; the minefield of court politics is a hazardous one, and neither party wants to fall victim to it. Both from opposing families, a controversial relationship is not something they are willing to risk. After all, we know what happened to Romeo and Juliet.

Yet, despite their better intentions, that night ends with them together, and leads to many more. Months pass, filled with days of illcit meetings behind closed doors and sneaking furitive glances at each other in public. Every time their eyes lock, unsaid secrets shimmer in the air between them.

But in the end, their relationship is a house of cards. Each smile, each touch, is another card meticulously added to the structure, the charade. Until a single blow from one of them is all it takes for it to come crashing down.

They both want what they deem the other to have. Money. Power. Influence. And this twisted game of chess is their way of getting it. Both trying to manipulate the other, in a battle of flirtation and wits where the stakes are dangerously high. The royal court is made up of families that will turn on each other in a heartbeat; they will get what they want, even if it means using their own children to do it.

Because in the end, all's fair in love and war.