My contest entry for  Contests-Rants Colorful Short Story contest.

"Your time is almost up Miss Heart," the Diamond King practically spits at me as he leans his head closer to the bars.

"Miss? Oh, I've been demoted," I reply lazily as I let my pencil dangle from my fingertips while I rest my chin on the top of my hand.

"You killed my wife, of course you'd be overthrown," he growls. His face wrinkles and calls attention to  the red diamond tattoo'd on his forehead, and a smile twists my lips as I wonder if he'll remain allies with the Heart kingdom or if he'll paint his diamonds black.

"That's very true," I respond after his growling roused me from my thoughts.

"How can you be so heartless?" he questions me with disgust on his face.

"You took my kingdom away." A smirk spreads across my lips, which I allow him to see, as I turn my face back to the piece of paper on the table where I am sitting. He says nothing, content to just stand and glare at me as I reread what I have written.  He stays there for a few more minutes before twisting on his heel with a grunt.

"If only you hadn't strayed from your marriage bed," I declare aloud as I watch him pause midstep from the corner of my eye, "then there never would've been room for my husband."

"So if there was room in my bed, why were they found in yours?" he snaps back before rushing  from the dungeon. I let out a small hurumph  and turn my attention to the guards standing across the room.

"Would one of you be a dear and tell me how this sounds?" I call out to them but they remain silent. With a small shrug I pick up the paper, and with a final glance over at my audience, begin to read to them.

"I am the Queen of Hearts, or at least I was until I murdered my husband and the Queen of Diamonds. I am sure that I will be remembered only for those deeds and so as I sit and await my death, I have will make certain that history knows the true story behind my horrid doings.

   When the Diamond Kingdom first approached us, I knew he felt attracted to the Queen. After all they and their people were exotic to us, and the whole kingdom was enamored with them. I was certain that in time the strangeness of their speaking and their darkened skin would be commonplace in the towns and cities so that they would no longer hold that exotic tone. So I overlooked it, that was my biggest mistake.

     Now I will not lie and say that I am justified in what I did. Truth is I simply don't care and I fully expect to have my head chopped off in the typical Heart Kingdom fashion.  I digress.

     So why should I, a Queen, kill my husband and his lover for one solitary act of transgression? The answer is quite simple, it wasn't his first strike. Was it hers? Possibly, but I have already beheaded one of my husbands mistresses and he swore it would be the last. We were quite happy in the few months after that. He turned his affections toward me and I made life as easy and wonderful for him as I could.

    Yes, life was blissful until she showed up seeking a treaty with us. It would not surprise me if she wanted to become allies just so she could seduce him. For, although I did not know it at the time , her own husband had not performed his husbandry duties for some time. I, however, never got to ask them why. No, so overcome by my anger and heartbreak, I took the knife I have always carried near my bosom and plunged it into her heart before carving out his.

      That is where they found me. Covered in blood and cradling my husband's heart as I sat stoned faced on the bed with corpses on either side. So it seems my mother's warnings were right. Anger left unchecked can be deadly."

       The guards stare at me with wide eyes and pale faces once I finish my speech but none speak. I press my lips into a thin line as I let out a huff of air through my nose and let my gaze drop back down to the paper.

"Is it really that bad?" I question them, "I mean I know I'm not a poet but surely it'll do right?"

"Lady if you can't see what is wrong with that then you really do belong in the asylum."

     My eyes cut over to the man who spoke harshly to me as I stand from my seat and quickly, but no so much to make him think I cared about his opinion, made my way to the bars to get a better look at him. "I doubt an asylum could've done nearly as good as watching people get their heads chopped off."
   
      Their eyes widen even more so, I was not aware that they could grow so big, but before they could say another word the dungeon door swung open and the Diamond King appeared.

"It is time."

    The guards nodded to him before unlocking my cell door and dragging me out.

"Ah fresh air," I declare once I'm lead out into the open courtyard.

"How can you be so cheerful?" the King mutters as he forces me to kneel before the guillotine.

"Oh that's simple," I practically giggle before lowering my voice, "I want to die."

      He remains quiet as he shoves my head into the hole cut into the wood and the last thing I see is my husbands bloody heart with my name carved into it and as the knife comes soaring down towards me, I laugh.