Page 55 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

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 with Mondego on 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 with revenge inked 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.

If Hallie knew what he was doing, she’d scold him properly.

He wished she would. He wished she were there to knock the cards from his hands and take him somewhere safe.

Somewhere there wasn’t a war going on. Somewhere they could be free.

Somewhere they could hide away from the rest of the world and simply watch it burn.

He’d nearly done that the last time they’d been together.

He chewed on the edge of his lip and peeked at the cards Eravin dealt him. Not terrible, but he’d need more than luck to win.

Eravin laid out the six galley cards, and Neville started the bidding with three parchment squares.

He’d won the last hand after losing the previous two and muttering two stories about the times he’d cheated on exams in lower school.

Rather boring, if you asked Kase. Anyone worth their salt cheated at least twice in lower school.

The fact that he’d led with three squares didn’t sit well with Kase.

He looked at his own cards once more. He’d need a good blind card, and if the round continued past that, another.

Risky. Maybe he could make an excuse to go to the privy and track down Saldr instead.

He could probably use some of that dust to get rid of the alcohol in his blood. Then he could look for Jove.

A solid plan.

Except that the flask was empty, and Kase might’ve broken his lucky streak.

He signaled for a blind card and threw out a single parchment square; he could no longer concentrate long enough to read what part of the book they were from. Eravin laid another card face down beside Kase. Eravin threw in two parchment squares. Kase had trouble focusing on the galley cards.

He should not have drunk the whiskey.

After a second or two more of squinting, he figured he could use the Priest and a Sevenser, but not if someone used one of those first. He ran a hand through his hair, knocking back the hood of his cloak.

It would probably come down to his blind.

He tapped his cards as Neville passed. Waylan deliberated his next move.

Kase did not want to lose. He had too many secrets.

Why had he agreed to play this game anyway?

Drink fogged his thoughts, and the flask was dry.

He couldn’t numb himself further. He needed to think, but that was near impossible.

Waylan talked through what he wanted to do.

Probably the whiskey rambling. Kase dragged a nail along the rim of the card, and when no one was paying close attention to him, he lifted the corner ever so slightly.

A Raven.

Blast.

It wouldn’t throw him out, but it didn’t help his situation, and he had a feeling he couldn’t count on any galley card. If he went for another blind, he’d forfeit two bids, but if he didn’t, he’d probably scrape out in third position, if not dead last.

Was chance on his side? Luck? If the second blind was the Hanged Man, he was done for.

Waylan nabbed a blind card, and it was Kase’s turn at last.

“What you got left, Shackley? Anything good, or are you ready to spill?” Waylan teased, thrumming his fingers on his knee in a silent beat.

Eravin tapped the worn deck in front of him. “A blind for you? I haven’t seen you look this nervous since you discovered that Lavinia Richter was, in fact, a woman.”

Kase gritted his teeth to prevent him from spilling out something he’d regret. Waylan snorted. “That was a day for the books.”

Kase looked at his cards again, as if they might’ve changed in the last two minutes.

He shifted his weight. His left leg had fallen asleep.

His head was heavy with drink. Should he risk the second blind?

Neville’s face hadn’t changed across any of the rounds.

No laughter, no anger—just numb. Eravin probably had a decent hand, based on his last bid.

Waylan was the wild card. His bids had consistently gone up, but he’d drawn a blind.

If Kase had to guess, Neville had the Nebula, the highest card in the game, but the big bid at the beginning could’ve been a ploy.

If Kase didn’t take the second blind card, odds were he was losing with the Raven. The whiskey had messed with his head enough to know he hadn’t hid his thoughts. They knew he was about to implode.

“Your guards change over in an hour, Shackley,” Eravin said, tapping fingers on his knee. “I haven’t had the chance to bribe them yet.”

Kase had enough awareness to glare. Finally, he tapped the ground twice. Eravin smiled and passed him a blind card face down.

If I survive this round, I’m going to beg off to the privy.

With the second blind, Kase forfeited the next two bids, and that brought them to the end of the game. As the dealer, Eravin revealed his cards first, as well as his galley card choice. His blind card wasn’t great, but if no one had the Nebula, he was winning this round.

Waylan revealed his cards: a flush, what could have been a winning hand if Eravin’s hadn’t been so good. He smiled and chose not to reveal any blinds.

Neville was slow and methodic about his hand reveal. The lantern light glinted off his respectable cards. Nothing too special, and if Kase had any luck left, not good enough to beat himself.

Then Neville turned over his blind.

The cards were old, faded, and probably filched from someone else, but the red eye was still bright against the brilliant blue grays surrounding it. The Nebula.

Blast it.