“No,” I said. “I gave you my answer. You can either accept it, or we can show everyone some blood.”
“What an odd way of putting it,” the Pharaoh murmured.
But it wasn’t really, because I was actually letting Leticia know that if she kept pushing, I’d tell everyone she’d been cheating. I was tempted to do it anyway, except that I didn’t really know how things would go if I gave the others an excuse to turn the game into a brawl. Leticia and Gimble had partnered up, at least for the purpose of eliminating me. Wotan didn’t like me, and the Pharaoh had already messed with me once. Queen didn’t owe me any favors, and was busy with her eggs. I could see myself getting ripped apart by three or four monsters at once, while the others just sat and watched.
So I hoped Leticia would back down.
And, after looking into my eyes for another moment, she did. She gave me a sultry no-hard-feelings smile and purred, “We could always punish her together. It could be all sorts of fun, even for her. Think it over, and let me know.”
“No doubt he will,” the Pharaoh said. “But for now, if your little dispute is resolved, Queen and I still need to settle ours.” Taking a fresh cheroot from the gold case in front of him, he turned back to her. “I believe you were proposing to spill some of
Queen glared. Then she said, “I withdraw. And I hope you rot away to nothing, as you should have a thousand years ago.”
The Pharaoh smiled. “It’s actually more like four thousand, if we accept the validity of your premise.”
Queen struggled up out of her chair, which gave me a better look than I wanted at the bottom half of her. The two maids helped her gimp away from the table, leaving her chips and snack jar of groggy roaches and centipedes behind.
“And then there were five,” the Pharaoh said. “And if the fellow who claims to represent their host could prevail on the servants to wipe off the table and fetch some dry cards, they could resume their game.”
“Right.” I looked around for A’marie, but at some point, she’d cleared out of the room. I raised my hand, and other members of the Tuxedo Team came running.
CHAPTER SIX
It turned out that losing my mind and then getting it back was a motivator. I’d been pumped to do some damage even before Leticia started yanking my chain. When the game started up again, I was even more focused than before.
Although I didn’t hate her the way I did Wotan and Gimble. Maybe that was her gift working. If you liked girls, you couldn’t really hate her no matter how you tried. But I sure did want to knock her out of the game.
I didn’t. Nobody else went out that night. But, not long after the grandfather clock struck four, I flopped the nut straight, made the kind of big bet you often make when you don’t want a call, and got one from Gimble. He figured I was bluffing, which was what I wanted him to think. He had brains enough to fold when I put him all in on Fifth Street, but the hand still left him short-stacked. So that was progress, anyway.
When the session ended, I stood up, stretched, and looked for A’marie. She still wasn’t in the room. Then Timon grabbed me for some Monday morning quarterbacking. He mainly wanted to yell at me about how stupid it had been to risk his fief over a servant until I filled him in on what had really been going on.
When he finished with me, I went looking for A’marie. I couldn’t find her, and it wasn’t long before I started to drag. I wasn’t as tired as last night-or, technically, yesterday morning-but tired enough to convince me to pack it in.
Once again, I woke to see A’marie standing over me. This time, she had her clothes on, but she still looked cute.
“Hi.” I covered a yawn. “Are you supposed to just come in here whenever you feel like it?”
“I can start knocking if you want.”
“No, it’s okay. I was just thinking that if you want to get rid of Timon, and you guys all have passkeys… ”
“Lord Timon doesn’t sleep in the hotel or anyplace else where we can reach him. And even if he did, we probably couldn’t kill him.” Her silvery eyes narrowed. “Are you really going to punish me?”
Just then, I smelled bacon, and my mouth watered. I wasn’t starving like yesterday, but I was hungry. “Did you bring breakfast?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll let you off with a warning.” I threw off the covers, revealing the shiny green silk pajamas I’d found in the dresser. I thought I looked stupid in them, but even if A’marie thought so, too, she managed not to giggle.
Like before, there was a ton of food, I invited her to share, and she said again that she wasn’t supposed to. The show of reluctance might have been more convincing if I hadn’t noticed the second set of silverware on the cart.
Everything was good. I enjoyed it until, for some reason, I suddenly remembered Wotan stuffing raw meat into his mouth. Then I set my fork on my plate with a bite of ham still stuck on it, wiped my lips, and pushed back from the table.
“Have you had enough?” asked A’marie.
“I guess so. Except for another cup of coffee.”
“I’ll get it.”
As she poured, I wondered what to say next. I decided to go with the obvious.
“Thank you,” I said. “And I don’t just mean for bringing this. Thanks for helping me during the game.”
She swallowed a last bite of guava-and-cheese turnover. “You’re welcome.”
I hesitated, and she sucked the sugary stickiness off her fingertips. “I just don’t understand
“Lose,” she said. “Not die or go crazy. And I was afraid that was what was happening.”
“So was I. But are your friends mad at you for what you did?”
Now it was her turn to hesitate. “Kind of.”
“I’m sorry.”
“They’ll understand after they’ve had a chance to think it over.” She frowned. “We’re
“I don’t think that,” I told her. “You know, I looked for you last night, but you’d disappeared.”
“I had to leave the room to burn the handkerchief, so no one could use it against you anymore. And then I figured it would be safer to stay away from Leticia for a while.”
I sipped my coffee. “That was probably smart.”
“If you really do feel grateful,” she said, “will you do me a favor?”
“Sure,” I said, feeling cautious, and not liking myself because of it. “If I can.”
“You can,” she said. “I just want you to meet some people. They’re already here in the hotel.”
She waited while I brushed my teeth, shaved, showered, and pulled on a clean knit shirt and khakis. Then she picked up a candle in a silver holder and led me to a set of service stairs.
It was black in the stairwell, and almost as creepy when we reached the ground floor, even though there were a couple hurricane lamps burning. A spider web blocked the top half of a doorway, and the bride and groom figures from a wedding cake lay on a little round table. An upright piano on casters stood against a wall. The dust in the stale air tickled my nose and tried to make me sneeze, and roach droppings crunched under my feet.
“We don’t use this part,” said A’marie. “The kitchen and laundry are over that way.” She waved her hand to show which direction she meant. “So I was pretty sure that if I hid people here, Timon wasn’t likely to come across them.”
That little comment didn’t make me feel any happier about what was happening. But I kept following her
