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“You earn fifty bucks and Oleander and I will leave you in peace.”
Heath scratched his chin, and then raised his voice, addressing the men around him, “What you think, lads? Should we let the little autumn faerie play our ‘silly’ game?”
The men laughed and cheered enthusiastically. That was clearly a ‘yes’.
“We have a deal, milady,” he said, extending a grimy hand to shake mine. Once that formality was out of the way, he gave me a push towards the table. “No cheatin’.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Now, what are the rules?”
“Ah, we’ll need a real master o’ the game to go over those,” he said before whispering something to the man behind him. The man sat down a moment later, facing us.
While he was rough like the others, he wasn’t as repulsive as Heath. He was tall, with a wide-brimmed hat obscuring his face. All I could see beneath the tilt of his hat was a layer of dark stubble and a strong jaw. He wore a billowing, dirty white shirt that was unbuttoned down to the middle of his chest. He’d tucked his worn trousers into black work boots and had belted a dagger at his waist. When he removed his hat, I was surprised to find he was... handsome, albeit dirty and unwashed. He had long brown hair and eyes the color of moss. His nose was long and hooked, crooked at the bridge with a cut beneath his eye. He looked like a man who got into a fair number of bar fights. And won them.
“The lady wants to learn how to play the game, Loch,” Heath told his brother with a conspiratorial smile. “Since you’ve taken more money from the men in here than their wives’ll ever know, who better to explain?”
Loch smirked at the pair of us. “I don’t like to play games I know I can win—takes the fun outta it.”
“Ah, sit down, ya cocky sonovabitch! You’ve yet to hear the lady’s terms.”
Loch tilted his head. “Now why do I got the feelin’ those terms include gettin’ the shit beaten outta me by some Autumn lord’s guards when this is all over?” He pointed at me. “She’s clearly some noble’s daughter here to marvel at our misfortune.”
Heath heaved an impatient sigh. “Damn it all, just play one game, will ye? You’ll be outta town before they even catch wind that the kids snuck out. They just want conversation with you if they win. If they lose, we earn a fifty. You know what the exchange rate for fifty American dollars is here?”
Loch sighed, and the smell of whiskey nearly bowled me over. He shrugged before passing me a cup with five dice inside. Oleander hovered at my elbow, almost buzzing with anxiety.
Loch placed a cup, bottom up on the table in the center. I did my best to play dumb. The truth was that I’d watched my cousins and Darla play this particular game all summer. I knew the tricks, the bluffs, what worked and what didn’t. I listened to Loch’s rules, making it a point to ask lots of questions. Heath’s exultant smile let me know I’d succeeded in convincing them I was a total idiot.
“Not so silly a game now, is it?” Loch asked smugly.
“I think I get it,” I told him. “But remember, you’re agreeing to help us if I win.”
“And what sorta questions could a good little schoolgirl like you have for a man like me?”
I pressed a finger to my lips and mimed twisting a key. Loch chuckled when I threw the imaginary key over my shoulder.
“Can you live with being in the dark, or do I need to find another man to play dice with?”
“We already got us a deal. Now let’s roll those dice, shall we?”
We went around the table and placed our bets. I had three fours, a good hand, so I bid high. Loch matched me. I raised while his brother passed. Loch and I revealed our hands, and he only had two threes. The center pot had a four, so I won.
Loch raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Now where did a young Academy lady like you get so good at gamblin’ games?”
“That would be telling,” I said, winking again.
Loch leaned back in his seat, seeming unbothered by his loss. I was betting he’d have been irate about the deception if we’d been playing for money, not secrets.
“So, who is it you’re wantin’ to know about?”
“Vampires. There have been more of them than usual running through town, right?”
Loch’s eyes darted around the bar, fingers going white around the handle of his tankard. “Ah, so you wanna know about that business?”
“I do.”
He nodded. “Fine. We need to get outta here though—go somewhere with less ears.”
Chapter Nineteen
