seamstress. I doubt we’ll be resorting to any blows over wounded pride. In case my opponent is a severely sore loser.”
Kallia rapped her nails against the table at the challenge. “Fine, what do you want?”
For how eager she was to stake a prize, the other girl thought long and hard, conferring with her gang in a glance. “What are you willing to play for?”
Kallia couldn’t back down. A challenge always called to her. The game Ira described seemed easy enough to understand, and Kallia was a fast learner. She was used to mastering games she’d never played.
“Performers,” she declared. “Your musicians perform with me again on the next show night, just as before.”
Canary let out a small laugh. “You mean those top hats haven’t demanded our exile yet for ruining their first night?”
A slow smile played on Kallia’s lips. “If they haven’t managed to get rid of me yet, you have nothing to worry about.”
With a slow nod, Canary accepted the terms. “Fine, but if I win, you have to perform with us when Rayne unleashes the circus onto the streets.”
Whatever chaos that picture implied, Kallia didn’t bat an eyelash. “Deal.”
The flame-eater perked up in her seat. “So, what are we to assemble in this round?”
“Thought you’d never ask,” Ira tsked, looking between them. “I’d like to assemble a royal court. King, Queen, Crown Prince, and Crown Jewel. Dark suits all throughout.”
“And the dark suits are?”
“Look at your cards.”
Kallia lifted her set, fanning them out against her thumbs. She skimmed the corners of her ten cards: a Queen, King, and Servant card with black triangles by their letters; a Knight and a four set against a red square; a Prince, a five, and an eight adorned with red circles; a single star, and a black star card with a seven.
“They say the hand you start out with in any game says a lot about you.” Ira watched their faces carefully, before she fished through the main deck for a card with a red circle at the corner. “For the light suits, we got circles—which stood for Coins, the suit of the Ranzas.” She picked up another. “Then the square represented Shields, for the Fravardis.”
“And the dark suits…” She shuffled both back into the deck. “The ones with the black triangles symbolized Flames for the Alastors. And stars will always mean Stars of the Vierras.”
Kallia remembered the names of the families, the suits representing them all within her hand. Her selection wasn’t half bad to start with. If she drew a certain pair of royals missing from her set, she could easily complete the Court of Flames. The Alastors.
Game on.
“Shall we begin?” Ira gestured to Kallia first. “Pick from the deck, and decide if you wish to keep it. If you wish for the chance to draw three, you’d have to make a consecutive set, regardless of suits. Be it one, two, three, or five, six, seven—I trust you both can count.”
Both players shot her a glare before resuming their strategizing.
It was still so strange to Kallia, to be a player in the game. She wasn’t glancing down in passing to see who courted a lucky hand. She held her own cards, and she carried that giddiness quietly as she reached for the first card from the choosing deck.
Crown Prince of Flames.
Kallia bit the inside of her cheeks, keeping her face steady.
This was going to be so, so easy.
As if a little unsure of herself, she blew out a long breath, carefully looking at all her cards one by one.
Canary yawned. “Any century now, prima donna.”
“Oh, all right,” Kallia sputtered, throwing her single star card in the middle before nestling the newly drawn Crown Prince beside the corresponding King and Queen. One more, and she’d have a full court.
Ira studied the tossed card, while Canary let out a little whoop.
“Thank you kindly.” She dragged the single star card to her side before placing her own two and three of Stars right beside it. “Count ’em. I’ll take my cardsss.” She hissed with so much emphasis that Kallia snorted.
“I’d say I never pegged you as a peacock kind of player, but I’d be lying.”
“Confidence is key in winning. You know that,” Canary sang, taking the first three cards from the top of the main deck. When she turned them over, she gave a small, delighted noise. “But how are the other showmen peacocks you’re running with? I’ve seen sewer rats with more stage presence.”
“Exactly,” Kallia said. “It’s going to make things that