Page 108 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
He needed to find Jove.
Kase thumbed his nose and inspected the game. One game, then he’d figure out how to make his exit. He just needed to give Eravin the slip. Waylan took a swig of his flask and offered it to him. Kase shook his head. Waylan twisted the cap back on and set it beside him.
With the two cards dealt to each person, he guessed they were playing Hanged Man’s Nebula. He hadn’t played in years; he hadn’t had the time or money to lose. He tugged the hood up more, casting his face further into shadow, and checked his hand.
Decent. A star and an empress.
Depending on the galley of cards laid in the middle to choose from, he might win the hand. If he could get a double sword, he could walk away easy. That would make his final card just extra insurance. Waylan started the betting round with three parchment squares.
Kase threw in the piece withMondegoon it, his eye on a card in the galley of four. Next betting round, he’d buy a blind card, unless someone ended the round before it got back to him. He tapped his cards on his knee, sitting back on his other hand. “Where’d Ellis end up?”
Ellis had been the one to lure Kase into the trap that led to him running from the city. For all he knew, Ellis was the reason they were here now. If Kase hadn’t gone with him to meet One World, the city might’ve still been standing.
But if he hadn’t, he might never have fallen in love with Hallie.
That was a sobering thought.
Eravin upped the bid. Neville passed with a quick tap of his finger. It was Waylan who finally answered, “He’s dead.”
Kase blinked, the tapping of his cards halting. “In the attack?”
No one said anything for a moment. Eravin chewed his thumbnail before saying, “Thanks to you, really.”
“How?” Kase had run. He hadn’t done a thing to Ellis.
Eravin gave a sardonic laugh. “Ellis took it upon himself to spread your secrets all over the city. But alas, he got too cocky and ended up in front of the High Council for his trouble. Perjury. Died when One World and the Cerls took out the Jayde Center.”
Trying to process his thoughts, Kase stared at his cards, though he could no longer see them clearly. Anger started to build. “So you’re saying that if you hadn’t blackmailed me, Ellis would be alive?”
In Kase’s peripheral, Waylan flipped through his hand. “Heard one of his sisters got out okay.”
Kase’s jaw ached with tension. Eravin didn’t lower his gaze, only met Kase’s fire with his own. “You dug your own grave.” He held Kase’s eyes for a moment more before gesturing to his cards. “But what’s done is done. It’s your play.”
Finish the game. Finish the game, then we find Jove.
But he had to get rid of Eravin first.
Kase swiped Waylan’s flask and signaled for a blind card. The whiskey burned all the way down. Kase screwed the cap back on and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He threw another book page square in the middle—the one withrevengeinked on its fibers.
Maybe he could get the others drunk enough they wouldn’t care if he wandered off. It was as good a Plan A as any.
The game continued with little conversation after that until someone lost. Kase won the first hand out of sheer luck. He’d only just edged out Eravin. Waylan came in last and regaled them with the tale of his first time at the Houses, when he’d overpaid extravagantly. Eravin laughed and said that the only good thing about the recent attack was that Waylan wouldn’t make the same mistake a second time. Waylan took a swig of his flask and passed it to Eravin, who put the edge to his lips but didn’t drink.
Blast. Kase needed him to drink.
He passed it to Kase. “The winner of our round needs a little boost, it seems.”
Kase snatched it from him. Maybe if Eravin thought he was drunk enough, he’d follow suit.
The next two swigs burned less, but made his head swim a little more. He didn’t drink whiskey often, and it would probably show. But for the first time in a while, the anxiety waiting at the edges of his consciousness faded. He could still read the cards in front of him, and no one had two heads. All positives.
Jove drinking to excess after Zeke died made sense. Kase had only ever been drunk three times in his life—that he remembered. The first was Ana’s Burning, the second had been with Lavinia Richter, and the third…well, the third had been the night he and Hallie had decided to run away.
Not a great track record, if he was honest with himself.
He played a few more hands, each time managing to avoid spilling any secrets. He and Waylan passed the flask back and forth. Kase’s muscles relaxed, and he found himself laughing at something the other man said. Shocks, he hadn’t laughed in ages. Had it been with Hallie? Her face swam in front of his eyes. He took another go at the flask.
Maybe he wouldn’t be able to sneak away and find Jove tonight, after all. Instead of rescuing him, he’d probably fall headfirst down one of the holes without meaning to.
