Ace of Spades- 𝕾𝖎𝖝 𝖔𝖋 𝕮𝖗𝖔𝖜𝖘

11] Show Must Go On

Diena knew that Inej was talented, but she didn't know that she was that talented. The Suli girl was flying through the air with the assistance of a scrap of fabric.

She knew that Inej always did everything effortlessly, but watching her perform without any pressure or stress was on another level.

The crowd cheered as Inej's feet touched the ground and she was pulled into a hug by Marko who looked like he was on the verge of tears, "The Saints must have sent you." He pulled away, "Yes, the show will go on. Now..." He snapped his fingers and someone brought him a colourful leotard, "Can you...fit into this?"

"Of course she can." Diena said immediately as Jesper threw his arm around Marko

"Those are her colours, but the thing is, Inej..." Jesper trailed off as he pulled away and gestured to Diena, Kaz, himself and Arken, "Comes as part of a package deal."

"No free rides." Marko said, but then something glinted in his eyes, "What are your talents."

Diena smiled as she saw Jesper smirk, to Marko, Diena flicked a playing card into her hand from nowhere as she walked onto the stage.

She leaned her head back, putting the card in her mouth, Jesper span his gun around before he fired one shot, firing straight into the card.

Diena was in no doubt that Jesper would hit her instead of the card, he was way too good with his guns for that. She leaned back up and took the card out of her mouth walking back to Marko showing him the card.

Marko hugged Jesper and then he turned to Diena, "Your turn, sister."

When Jesper walked off, Diena turned to Marko, "Marko, darling, do I need a talent, can't I just stick with my brother?"

Marko pursed his lips, "I'm not one to give free rides. You must have some talent."

"I do. I have a talent of knowing when a husband is sleeping with one of their acts without the wife knowing."

Marko suddenly got very flushed, "I'm sorry?"

Diena smirked, "Let me guess. Wife is the lady sitting at the bar and you have been sleeping around with your acrobat, I see looks and I am also very good at running my mouth where I shouldn't."

"Fine. You get a ride." Marko said quickly, he didn't want this Zemeni girl spilling everything to his wife

Diena smiled, "Thank you. Just for your information my talent is that I am a sleight of hand genius." seemingly out of nowhere a Three of Hearts appeared in her hand

She put it in Marko's coat pocket before tapping it, "Nice to talk to you."

Marko gulped before turning to Kaz, Diena turned to Jesper and smiled he just shook his head with a smile, "Stage is yours, sir."

Kaz didn't even hesitate, "I'll make my own way."

Marko then walked away, "This is not fair." Jesper threw an arm around his sister, "You don't even have to do anything."

"I'm the Snake, Jes. I don't have to do anything." Diena chuckled

Inej nodded, "Marko would have handed over his entire circus if she'd asked."

Diena smiled and shrugged, "Not a bad idea. If all this doesn't work and we can't get home then it's a better option then a bar."

"You'd rather own a circus than a bar?" Jesper asked

"I already own a bar. A circus goes to different place imagine all of the people I could get in my pocket." Diena told him

Jesper laughed as he pulled Diena towards him, "Yeah but picture me a bartender. I'd be so handsome."

Diena raised an eyebrow and looked up at him, "You're already a bartender. You work at my bar, remember?"

"He does what?" Kaz asked

Jesper and Diena shared a look, "Idiot." Jesper said in Zemeni

Diena shrugged, "Thought he knew, sorry."

Kaz looked at the pair, "What have we said."

Diena and Jesper both rolled their eyes, "Zemeni on own time." They said at the same time

Kaz nodded, "Exactly."

Diena leaned up against the wall, "But if you think about it, this is our own time. We're just in a different country."

Waiting for the circus to leave Kribirsk to go to the Winter Fete took a very long time, Diena was sitting at a table in the corner of the tavern, her drink on the table.

"Tell me what you know about people in this place."

Diena looked up and saw Jesper sitting down on the chair opposite her, "It's going to take your mind off of thinking about what's going on back home. Tell me what you know."

Diena smiled, her brother really did know her better than most people, "The lady in the very ugly yellow dress is sleeping with her husbands stable hand. Everyone that works for her knows about it but the husband is oblivious to it because....actually can you guess why? "

"I don't know."

"He's sleeping with the same stable hand." Diena smiled as Jesper gave her a shocked look, "I know, poor stable hand. Imagine having to deal with that."

Jesper chuckled, "How did you find all that out?"

"The couple look like they're noble, yes?" Diena asked and Jesper nodded, "They've both got mud on their boots. People who are noble wouldn't want that, plus the guy that's hovering around them, that is as stable hand as I've ever seen. But he doesn't know which one he should be talking too and I have seen a handful of people that work for the couple talking, then looking, then talking again. It's quite simple."

Jesper smiled at his sister, "And I was right, you do have a exceptional brain."

Diena drank some of her drink before setting it back down on the table, "Did you talk to stroopwaffles guy before you left?"

"Who?" Jesper asked

Diena gave him a look, "Stroopwaffles guy? The one that looks like he should never have stepped foot in the Barrel? No?"

Jesper shook his head and Diena dropped it, it must have meant something if Jesper was just flat out not talking about it

Thank you for reading

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