“Whoop-dee-doo, welcome to the club,” she raised a glass at him, which he clinked. And then, to her surprise, she asked, “How do you feel about it?”
“I don’t know.” He swallowed audibly. “All my life, I was nothing special, you know? Everyone in my family was. And my mother told me every day how I wasn’t.” Bitterness coated his every word.
She dropped her hand to her side, then changed her mind and placed it over his. “I’m sorry she made you feel that way. A mother should support and love her child.”
“She did love me, in her own way. She just pushed me a lot. To be as good as her other clutches. But I didn’t have what they had. Couldn’t excel in school or even find a skill I was good at.”
She bumped her shoulder to his. “She was proud of you, she said so. And you heard the things she said. At the meeting with the elders and then that morning at the briefing.”
“I suppose.”
The gears in his head seemingly continued turning, though he remained silent. Perhaps for the first time in her life, Liora wished she had Zara’s emphatic powers, so she knew how he felt.
Maybe he needed time. But now, he also needed a distraction.
“Say,” she began. “How about we blow off some steam? Have that fun you missed out on during your misspent youth?”
“Fun? What do you mean?”
“I mean…” She took a furtive glance around them. “Use your powers.”
“But Brontaios said?—”
“He said no more gambling and don’t use magic to cheat.”
“But—oh.” It finally clicked in his brain. “What do you suggest?”
She grinned at him. “Follow me.”
They worked their way around the den, searching for their first test subject. They decided that their first guinea pig would be a minotaur at a dice table who suddenly felt compelled to announce that he’d once cried at a bard performance.
Then, a stoney-faced card dealer admitted that he’d named all three of his pet rabbits after his favorite soap opera stars.
After that, two minotaurs who had been glaring at each other across a game table for the better part of an hour suddenly decided they were best friends and began loudly toasting to their new brotherhood.
They planted little pockets of chaos here and there, not enough to get caught but just enough to send themselves into fits of uncontrollable giggles, even after the effects of their first drinks had worn off. They didn’t need anymore alcohol to get that giddy feeling, after all.
Just when they thought they could get away with it, Maldenis made one serious mistake: messing around with harpies.
They crept up behind a group of them as they played the roulette wheel. Maldenis tapped one of them on the shoulder and as soon as they made eye contact, whispered a suggestionto her. She suddenly slid her entire stack of chips onto a single number in the middle.
Of course, Maldenis and Liora had no idea that this was something the harpy would not normally have done. And so when the wheel spun and the little ball landed on a different number, she let out a shriek that shook the brass fixtures on the wall.
Liora couldn’t help the chortle that escaped her lips.
Then six pairs of blood-red eyes trained on them.
The jig was up.
“Stairs,” Maldenis whispered.
He did not have to say it twice.
They dashed across the room, toward the stairs and went up fast, spilling out of the bakery. Maldenis grabbed her arm, pulling her down a narrow alley alongside the building, the sounds of shrieks echoing down the back lane. Liora pressed her back against the stone wall and Maldenis stood beside her in the dark, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
They stood there for what seemed like eternity. Liora’s knees were stiff from standing, but she didn’t dare move or make a sound. Eventually, the shrieks faded.
They locked eyes, and silently, mutually agreed they were safe. Maldenis gestured for her to follow him to the other end of the alley, which opened up onto a cobblestone lane that wound away from the main street, sloping gently downward toward the edge of town. She trailed behind him.
