The Eluvian Syntax

The Night Before

Pages stack against the wall in my suite next to the burn pile toppling with letters sealed with the viscount's mark. I've shuffled the deck three times and not once tried to cheat. At this point, I'll be digging into the mattress for coins the way Lady Hawke plays. Either her sharp intuition or the striking resemblance is dulling my senses, but I've explained to many participants throughout the years that it's not about winning or losing. The way she's enjoying herself, he's winning anyway.

"You've been with my daughter for how long?" she asks.

I deal as she eyes me across the table, over the wine carafe, and into my soul.

"Don't know, milady...lemme think..." I can't think with that look. "...Four...three years, maybe?"

"Four years. Hm. That's a long time." She takes her hand and fans it evenly. She examines the faces, then shoots a look over the cards. "You must be quite the gentleman, waiting all that time."

I discard a serpent of avarice. My hand hovers over the stack—

"For what?"

"For the perfect moment."

—and I pick up a song of temerity. She lets me cook in the burn and I nurse it with a goblet of wine. I breathe in a blackberry aroma and taste a spicy blueberry blend of Rivaini origin; Leandra brought it with the rest of her interrogation tools. It has a kick as I swallow, clenching my teeth, and sighing. Leandra discards and picks from the stack without a flinch of smugness, or disdain. A hard woman to read and even harder with the wine.

"Or was the cave not enough?"

The wine intensifies the flare in my cheeks and I feel the sweat on my back cling to my tunic. I dare not take my coat off to give it away, that whatever she's doing to me is working.

Before I can respond, she says, "The Viscount has a lovely collection of paintings. Some of them quite surreal."

I discard my serpent of deceit for a knight of dawn and finally gain another pair. She does the same, then looks up, and places the angel of death on the stack. I show her my hand—three knights, two songs. She shows hers. Angels and the serpent of sadness. Death included.

"You sly minx," I say, though I'm not sure if I'm talking about the game, or both.

"I'll give you another chance to win," she says. "What do you say?"

"I'm all in if you are." I gather the deck. "What say you, Mother?"