It was then, Frey informed me, “You should probably know, my wee Finnie, that Ruben, Thaddeus, Frederick and Ulysses have been dealing you excessively good hands on purpose. The only one not essentially giving you his coin is Laurel.”
My eyes got wide and I swung around to look at the men at the table.
“No,” I whispered, Thaddeus winked at me again, Ruben grinned slowly and Frederick and Ulysses were smiling flat out.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Laurel asked, pushing slightly back in his chair and looking around at the men, his expression disgruntled at being left out.
“Because you’re unskilled at stacking a deck, Laurel.” Ulysses pointed out. “The last time you tried, Gerard broke your arm.”
“Yes, well, that was cheating to win coin for me, this is different and our Winter Princess obviously would never notice,” Laurel returned.
“She’d notice when you dropped the cards on the floor or pulled them out of your cuff, just like everyone notices when you drop the cards on the floor or pull them out of your cuff,” Frederick stated then looked at me. “He’s very bad at trickery, your grace.”
Laurel’s torso shot back in clear affront, his mouth opening to deliver his retort but I got there before him.
“I should hope so and you all should be ashamed,” I declared only to see slow blinks and eyebrow raises all around, all filled with mild shock, even Laurel.
I thought this was strange until Frey’s mouth came to my ear where he said quietly, “It’s the measure of a man, Finnie, how good he cheats. No game is played without trickery. It is the man who can best cheat who wins not only the game but the respect of his opponents. Many complain during the game of being swindled while they themselves are swindling. Others keep aloof and let the cards speak for themselves. And if you’re bad enough and get caught, you may catch something else, like a challenger’s ire. It’s all part of the game.” Then he paused a moment before saying, “I’m sure you know that.”
My body jolted slightly and I whispered my lie, “Of course, I was just trying to be funny.”
“Of course,” Frey mumbled, sounding like he was suffocating a chuckle and his mouth went away from my ear.
I took in the table seeing all the men were still looking at me and I shifted my rear in Frey’s lap as I hurried to cover what was clearly a gaffe. “Obviously, you don’t know that princesses, being princesses, and thus royal, are taught to be fair and trustworthy in all endeavors,” I lied through my teeth. “Therefore I’ve never been taught to cheat. It would reflect badly on the House of Wilde.” I smiled at the group even as I felt and heard Frey lose his fight against his chuckle, something I chose to ignore. “So now you’ll need to teach me.”
“Excellent,” Ruben muttered, grinning at Frey.
“You need look no further than the man at your back, my princess,” Thaddeus stated and my eyes went to him. “Frey has the quickest fingers I’ve seen. You married the master card sharp. I’ve played many a game of tuble or meerkin with Frey and never won a single hand he dealt nor could I ever make out how he does it, bottom dealing, false shuffles, stacking –”
Ruben cut him off to say, “How about all of those and add culling, center deal, second dealing and slight of hand.”
“The Drakkar can’t do them all,” Laurel breathed, his eyes huge. “Not without detection. No one can.”
“By the gods, he can,” Ruben told Laurel, tipping his head to Frey. “Though I’ve never seen it, I know it to be true.”
“If you’ve never seen it, how do you know it to be true?” Thaddeus asked Ruben.
“Because I have never lost a hand to him and I am a far better cheat than you,” Ruben returned, bragging shamelessly about cheating.
“Then why did I walk away with the entire contents of your purse two nights ago?” Thaddeus shot back.
“Because when you’ve had much ale, you never give up, you keep at it no matter how drawn your purse, you won’t let a man leave a table until yours is gone or his is gone and I had a wench waiting for me whose company I preferred to yours. It was either risk standing from the table and you pulling your blade, and I didn’t feel like drawing your blood or dragging your carcass home and dressing your wound, or let you have my purse so I could get to my warm, soft bed and my warmer, softer wench,” Ruben replied.
Oh dear, I wasn’t sure but those seemed like fighting words to me.
Thaddeus’s eyes narrowed and his body got visibly tight. “That is simply not bloody true.”
Ho boy. There it was. They were definitely fighting words.
“If it’s not, then why did I win back my purse and half of yours last night?” Ruben returned what I thought was a fair point.
Thaddeus’s mouth got tight and he granted the point but changed the direction of the burgeoning argument. “Even full in my cups, you could never draw my blood.”
Ruben sat back, a bright, white smile on his face, he leveled his gaze on his friend and challenged, “Care to consume a bottle of whisky and test that belief?”
“Wench! Whisky!” Thaddeus accepted instantly, shouting yet not taking his eyes from Ruben.
Laurel, Frederick and Ulysses inched their chairs back from the table.
I didn’t move a muscle and stared in fascination.
Frey threw his cards face down on the table and muttered, “I think this is my cue to get my bride home.”
Then he stood, lifting me up with him and setting me on my feet. When I was standing, I turned to him and laid my hand lightly on his abs, my neck bent way back to catch his eyes.
At my touch, he bent his neck way down and he gave me his gaze then I whispered, “Shouldn’t you do something about that?” Then I jerked my head at the macho Raider stare down still in process at the table.
Frey answered immediately. “Thad could drink two bottles of whisky while still consuming ale and not be full in his cups. If Ruben waits for Thad to get arsed, it will be a long night. And if Ruben has the patience for Thad to fall full in his cups and Thad’s fool enough to challenge, his blade work will indeed be shoddy and Ruben will have his blood.” My eyes got big and Frey kept talking. “Don’t worry, wee one, Ruben will be certain to stick him so he makes his point but doesn’t do damage because he knows we set sail in two weeks and he doesn’t want to court a knife fight with me, which is what he’ll get if he sticks one of my men badly enough to lay him up prior to a voyage.”
I blinked up at him but said no words.
Frey leaned in so his face was close to mine. “This will not happen, Finnie. And it won’t happen because that warm, soft wench is still in Ruben’s bed waiting for him. There is no chance he’ll sit around here waiting for Thad to get tossed. We won’t be halfway home before he’ll be at his cottage just down the street, joining his woman.”
I knew this was true mainly because of the confident way Frey relayed this information. It was clear he knew his men, he read the situation and there was no cause for alarm.
“All righty then,” I whispered and he grinned.
Then he lifted a hand to the side of my neck and gave me a squeeze before he urged softly, “Bid farewell to your friends and let us get away home.”
I nodded, suddenly liking the idea (very much) of “getting away home” with my husband. That meant making out (or better) so I accepted the cloak Frey threw over my shoulders and fastened it at my neck as I moved to Ulysses, Frederick and Laurel to give them all hugs and cheek kisses, thanking them for teaching me tuble and spending time with me.
“Until you return, your grace,” Frederick said on a squeeze during our hug.
“It was a pleasure, Winter Princess,” Laurel muttered, holding onto my upper arms and smiling at me.
“Honored to do it and will be honored when we do it again, Princess Finnie,” Ulysses murmured in my ear while proving his arms were indeed very strong for he squeezed the breath right out of me.
When I pulled away, I smiled into his eyes and wondered if I’d be back this way before I went home. Then I looked through the three of them and hoped I would. I didn’t know them well, just like everyone I’d said farewell to that day in the village, but everything I knew I liked so it would be cool to know more.
