Page 63 of A Simple Truth

“Your Majesty, I’d like to play a game with you in exchange for our lives and freedom,” I uttered, a part of me already regretting the words. The King’s eyes curiously narrowed on me.

“You’d like to gamble?” He almost laughed.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Isn’t today the day of Luck, anyway?” I replied after frantically counting the days, relief rolling through me because today was indeed the twenty-sixth day of the month, and elves considered that number, that day, to be the luckiest day of them all.

Elves were also terrible gamblers.

One, two…three. I frantically counted the seconds.

There, he was hooked.

“I shall grant your request, but I will pick the game,” he replied, turning to walk away from me. The notes of panic sliced through my frozen mind, but I nodded obediently, praying to whatever gods were listening to help me. “We shall play chess,” he declared at last.

I purposely widened my eyes and let the panic show on my face, but deep inside, the anxiety settled a bit.

Chess.

Today was indeed a lucky day.

Because at cards? I was shit. But chess?

That, I could bet my life on.

38

FINNLEAH

Ilooked up at the cold stars, barely flickering high above me in the night sky. The chilly air prickled my skin, and I wondered. I wondered how wrong I could have been about my maid. Everything I had guessed over the years, everything I had assumed about her past, was wrong.

The few elven soldiers carried out a small table with two chairs to the center.

I glanced behind me to see Gideon, his eyes viciously scouting the camp. His face was blank, without a single emotion, but those eyes, gods, they were ready to devour them all.

My chest tightened, aware that he had no reason to listen to me; I endangered us both, I knew that. He knew that, and still, he bent the knee for me. Hekneeledin front of the Elf-King because I asked him to trust me. I couldn’t resist gazing over at him once more. This time, his eyes caught mine, silently asking the same question.

Are you okay?

Yes.I lowered my head in a tiny nod. He blinked in relief.

A little shiver ran through my body from his encompassing gaze, but I returned my eyes to the few curious elves gatheredaround us now; my mind realizing, at last, that I wasn’t about to gambleourlives…but theirs instead.

The Elf-King took a seat first, motioning for me to sit across from him in a similar chair, and I obeyed. He then pulled out a large, exquisitely engraved board with red and black square marks and black and white carved pieces. It was a work of art. Each piece was meticulously cut from bone, some bigger, some smaller. He started placing the white pieces on the board, motioning for me to do the same with the black.

She would’ve loved this set. So magnificent; spectacular.

Whenever Tuluma and I played, we had only ever used rocks, and a few tiny, wooden pieces. We never even had a permanent board, instead we used chalk, or if we didn’t have that, we just marked it in the dirt.

“You know how to play?” The King pierced me with his eyes as I slowly put pieces down, each one of them feeling heavy in my hands.

“I…a bit,” I supposed.

“You speak the language, know our traditions, and play our games. One begs the question of how?” he asked suspiciously.

“I grew up with an elven maid who taught me, Your Majesty.” His long, sharp nose crinkled with dissatisfaction, clearly not liking my answer.

I avoided looking at him, not because he was the King, but because each time I did, a part of me ached with agony remembering that I’d never see Tuluma again.

“One game. Two lives. Let the Luck sway your odds.” An elf refereeing our game motioned the start.

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