The King's Inamorata (A Queen's Tale #1)

Our Deepest Condolences

*Chapter Five Remastered*

Hello everyone! From now on, this novel is undergoing edits. At the top of every chapter, if you see the little stars that means that this part of the novel has been remastered. It will NOT always be faithful to the original. In addition to grammatical edits, there will also be revisions regarding plots, characters, and locations to make this a neater and more coherent story to follow. The blurb has also been remastered. All original chapters will be LOCATED AT THE VERY BOTTOM in case you want to compare changes or reread anything! Thank you so much for your love and support and I hope you enjoy Our Deepest Condolences Remastered!

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One Month Later

Vivia glanced over her cards momentarily to catch a glance at Lukas. He lost the last hand and now it was just her and Tomas. Agna sat across from him, still pouting from having lost the first round, with Tomas to his left and Vivia to his right.

Tomas shifted slightly, momentarily exposing his cards to Lukas. He caught a quick glance and Tomas' hand then held up 4 fingers under the table for Vivia to see. She stifled a giggle.

Agna caught on to their little game around the fifth round and glared at Tomas over the stream of smoke coming from her cigar, practically willing him with his mind to look at her so she could expose Lukas' and Vivia's alliance. However, he remained oblivious and was about to lose his last five copper coins.

Vivia was the best card player Lukas had ever seen. When she played, her eyes had a mystifying quality about them; as if she knew all the secrets of your life and was waiting for you to ask what they were. She was able to guess her opponent's next move and even if she didn't have a winning hand, she was able to weave straw into gold. Tomas was about to put down his ace of spades and Lukas suppressed a wince. Tomas caught this and so instead he put down his queen of hearts. A victorious smile split Vivia's face and she put down her ace of hearts.

"I win."

Agna grinned as a stream of smoke escaped her lips. "Damn the both of you. Had he put down the ace of spades, she would've lost."

Vivia collected the coins from the middle of the table and split her earnings between the both of them. "Pleasure doing business with you."

"Of course."

Tomas went red in the face. "You were looking at my—?" he hit his hands on the table. "The two of you are a rotten pair."

"Rich," Lukas corrected with a smile. "We're a rich pair."

Tomas gave him what would've been a withering glare but Lukas was unfazed. In the few weeks that he'd spent with Vivia and her family, the old man had grown on him. He only pretended to hate Lukas. Why? He wasn't sure.

"You are terrible at cards, Tomas." Agna jeered with a smile. "It's not Vivi's fault she beat you."

Vivia gasped. "The oven!"

"I knew I smelled something funny," Lukas pushed out his chair. "I hope your pastry didn't burn."

Lukas went first to fetch Vivia's gloves as she opened the oven. She put out the fire and he handed the gloves to her. As Vivia pulled the tray out of the oven she lost grip of it and the hot metal made contact with her arm. She cried out in pain and tossed the tray onto the table.

Agna strained to see inside the kitchen. "You haven't burned it, have you? I'll be mighty angry. I've been looking forward to that all day."

"There should be a bowl of dough around here somewhere," Vivia spun around. "I want to put it in now while the oven's still hot."