I dealt the flop. It was the ace of hearts, the eight of clubs, and the eight of spades. That killed both my flush and straight draws, but gave me trips. Which were likely to win anyway.
Leticia bet. It looked like she had an ace to go with the one on the board. I didn’t want to scare her off, so I just called.
The turn was a brick. She checked, and I did, too.
As I started to deal the last card, she gave me a smile that made me feel warm and tingly from head to toe. “Whoever wins,” she said, “it’s been a delight. I’m grateful I had the chance to play with you.”
I swallowed. “You, too,” I said.
I burned a card and turned over the king of spades. Leticia sat and thought for a few seconds, then said, “All in.”
I figured she’d been playing ace-king, and now had top two pair. That’s a strong hand, and even with the eights on the board, you couldn’t blame her for taking a chance on it. Not this late in the tournament, and not when I’d been slow playing. I probably would have done the same, and I actually felt bad for her as I called. A part of me wanted to fold instead.
She turned over her cards. Ace-king, just like I figured. I reached for my hand. I guess my body language told her she was beat, because something came into those big green eyes.
Or maybe I should say that several things came into them. I could tell that she really did like me. That I could have her for the asking, and without needing to worry about her brainwashing me. We were past that. I also saw how sad she was going to be to lose the hand.
But she didn’t have to lose it. I could throw my cards away without turning them over, and that would keep her at the table. I could knock out the Pharaoh first, and then beat her heads up.
Even as I was thinking it, I knew it was all crazy, and a lie. She was taking one last shot at brainwashing me right now, and really giving it her all. Maybe somehow she’d gotten hold of another drop of my blood, or something else that boosted her signal.
But it might not matter what I knew, only what I felt. My hand was frozen in mid-air.
“If you aren’t going to show,” the Pharaoh murmured, “the lady has the right to claim the pot.”
I set the Thunderbird between Leticia and me. It helped. It still didn’t let me turn over my cards, but at least I was able to tear my eyes away from her face. Instinct made me look for A’marie among the railbirds like a drowning man looking for a life preserver.
She was there, looking all worried, and the sight of her shoved some more of the crazy out of my head. I gasped in a breath and turned over my hand.
“Sorry,” I said. “Even after everything you’ve tried to do to me, it was close.”
Leticia laughed. “Well, I suppose that’s something, anyway. I counted, and you have me covered, so…” She pushed her remaining chips to the center of the table, stood up, and offered the Pharaoh her hand. “Good game, you wise old thing. I’ll get you next time.”
“My dear. Always a delight.” He took the cheroot out of his mouth and lifted her fingers to what was left of his lips.
I stood up to shake with her, but she hugged me instead. “Kick his ass,” she whispered into my ear, and followed it up with a flick of tongue.
Then she went to join the spectators. I took one more stab at disliking her as much as she deserved, but it just wasn’t in me. If you’re a guy, you couldn’t have done it, either.
The expression on A’marie’s face changed. Now she was giving me that half annoyed, half-amused I-can’t- believe-what-a-pig-you-are look women give you when you’re drooling over someone they think is a skank. I tried to look innocent and sat back down.
The Pharaoh washed the cards, spreading them around on the felt, then picked them up and did a one- handed weave shuffle. He hadn’t shuffled that way before, or passed the time doing chip tricks, either, and I assumed it was intended to distract me.
“Believe it or not,” he murmured, “I felt early on that it would come down to you and me in the end. I wonder, are you interested in making a deal? Four fiefs for the winner, and two for the runner-up.”
“That doesn’t work for me,” I said, keeping my voice just as low.
“Are you certain? That way, Timon would remain a lord. In fact, he and I would both come out ahead, no matter what.”
“I’m a winner-take-all kind of guy.”
“You could consult with him. I’ll wait.”
“I don’t need to. While I’m sitting here, I am him. Isn’t that the way it works?” I hoped so. I didn’t really know how far I could push it.
“If you say so.” His little smile gave me the feeling that somehow, he knew everything I had planned. If so, it was creepy. But if he wasn’t going to interfere, I guessed it didn’t matter.
A couple minutes later, I flopped quads, two nines in my hand and two more on the board. The Pharaoh looked at me for a little while, then made a big bet.
It was a perfect situation. After busting Leticia, I had a stack that was almost as big as his. And if I went all in, he’d probably call. I could cripple him right here and now.
In fact, everything was so perfect that I flashed the Thunderbird to see if the Pharaoh was using magic to set me up. He didn’t appear to be. Then, hating it, I folded.
Because the situation wasn’t
Not long after, the clock struck three. It was time for a break, and I stood up and stretched. “Are you going to stay close by?”
The mummy shrugged. “I certainly can. As I imagine you’ve realized, I don’t have any biological requirements to address.”
“Thanks.” I headed for Timon, who was waiting for me impatiently as usual, but without Gaspar playing seeing-eye dog. It was a relief to get out of the stinging haze of the Pharaoh’s smoke, but only until I stepped into my boss’s stink zone.
“I have some pointers for you,” he said.
“That’s great,” I answered. “But I may not need them.”
Timon frowned. “Don’t get cocky.”
“It’s not that. It’s just that I’m thinking of throwing the game.”
The frown changed to a scowl. “Joke when you’ve won.”
“I’m not joking. All your subjects want to get rid of you. And even though I’ve only had a couple little tastes of the way you torture them, I see their point.”
“Why do you care how I treat them?”
“Considering everything they’ve tried to do to me, that’s a good question. But I just do. Anyway, here’s the deal. When I win, you give me Tampa, just like you were going to give the underwater part of it to Murk. That’ll still leave you with the five other fiefs I’m going to win for you.”
“Otherwise, you’ll make sure you lose.”
“That’s it.”
He sneered. “You’re bluffing. You’re a born gamester. It would damage your sense of self to do less than your best.”
“You’re right. But it would also hurt it to leave you in charge. So this is the compromise. We renegotiate our deal, or screw you.”
“Are you so stupid that you don’t understand what you’re risking? That night with the skull. That can be every night from now on. It can be your whole reality.”
I remembered Rufino, felt cold inside, but made myself smile anyway. “But I’m betting it won’t. Not if the Pharaoh tells you to get off his lawn, which I think he will. Because when you and I were flying together, I noticed what the permanent part of your version of dreamland looked like. And it wasn’t the whole earth. It was just Tampa. That makes me think you can’t mess with people from a long way off.”
“Then I’ll have to mess with you right now.” He rattled off a string of words in that jaw-breaking magical language I’d heard him use before. Naturally, I couldn’t understand it, but I heard him say “Billy Fox” a couple times in the middle. When he was done, he looked at me and waited. For me to apologize or drop to my knees or
