Page 110 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
“Holding out on us, I see,” Eravin said with a laugh. He turned to Kase. “Doubt you beat out anyone, so just get on with it.”
Kase nearly threw the cards at him, but maybe he could still scrape out something. He flipped his hand over. Waylan laughed. “Sorry about the Sevenser, mate.”
Kase tapped the Priest card in the galley. Depending on his blind, the Priest put him over Waylan.
Eravin clicked his tongue. “As if you had a different choice.”
Kase needed to choose a blind to flip. If he by some miracle got the Dagger, he’d tie with Eravin, and they’d go to a shootout. Flipping the Raven card on his right guaranteed a loss.
He chewed his lip and concentrated on the two cards in front of him. If he lost, he’d need to tell a secret. He played with the edge of the second blind with his thumb. But what would he tell about? Could he make something up about his childhood? He glanced at Eravin, who hovered on the line between bored and agitated. He’d pick out the lie in a heartbeat.
“I think I need to visit—” Kase started, but Waylan interrupted.
“Don’t be a blasting dulkop. Flip your card.” He punched Kase in the shoulder good-naturedly. “It’s just a game.”
Except Kase had too many secrets no one needed to know.
He closed his eyes as he flipped the second blind. He opened one eye a crack.
The straggly bearded man hung from the gallows, his blank eyes staring straight at him. Kase rubbed his hand down his face. The Hanged Man.
Waylan laughed too loudly again, drawing the attention of a nearby group of men passing around a pipe. “Sorry about that, mate.”
A right sincere apology, of course.
Eravin gave Kase a slow clap. “A spectacular finish, really.”
Kase rolled his eyes and set his cards in front of Eravin. “I’m done.”
“Not yet, Shackley.” Eravin gathered up the other cards and passed them to Neville.
“Didn’t you say something about my guards changing? Probably should head back if I’m to make it.”
“You lost. Pay up.”
Kase shook his head. “The biggest secret I had, you already spilled to the city—courtesy of Ellis Carrington.”
Eravin’s eyes went cold, and Kase knew he’d crossed a line. But his old friend no longer had the benefit of Kase’s good will. What more could he expect from Kase?
“Exactly what was your relationship with Lavinia Richter?”
Neville asked the question slowly, as if he knew Kase wouldn’t hear it properly with the tunnel noise and his wits scattered with drink. It was the first time all night the man had bothered to address him directly. Kase met his gaze.
“Doesn’t matter.”
Waylan nudged him with an elbow. “Come on, spill. It’s not hurting anyone.”
Neville spoke louder. “If we’d been playing with real sums, you’d be 200 gold tenners in the debts.”
Kase fiddled with the ties of his borrowed cloak. “Nothing. She was nothing to me.” He twisted Ana’s ring around his fingerand felt the shame burning his neck. “She was just a way to get back at my father.”
“And Lucy Doyle. My mother, may her soul rest among the stars, was convinced you were the father of her child,” Waylan said with a raised brow.
Skibs. Kase was going to be sick. He hadn’t eaten much that day, only a portion or two of the rationed pork and hard tack. The whiskey was not settling well among such scant fare. He shook his head, and everything moved sluggishly with the drink. “No, not Lucy. I’ve onlybeenwith Lavinia, but she’s dead, and it didn’t matter because Loffler, not Richter, was the one the Cerls wanted—”
Waylan laughed sardonically and clapped him on the shoulder. Kase realized his mistake too late. Neville looked as if he were about to reach across and punch Kase’s lights out. Eravin cleared his throat, “And the redhead? Hallie, is it? She your next conquest?”
Waylan stopped laughing for a moment. “Are you talking about Hallie Walker? Think Neville and I had a course with her last spring.” He eyed Kase appreciatively. “Quite the looker for a lowborn if you ask me. A few of the guys had a bet on who’d be the first to sleep with—”
