Blind God's Bluff A Billy Fox Novel - By Richard Lee Byers Page 0,88
wasn’t Wotan.
I imagined a wall between it and me, and then it was just an old sword again. Which gave me hope that if Wotan tried to use its power—whatever it was—against me, I’d be able to block that, too.
What didn’t make sense was that if a beginner like me could sense the sword’s magic and shield himself against it, Leticia and the Pharaoh probably could, too. So what was the point of bringing it at all? I guessed Wotan simply figured it was worth a try. Or else he’d meant it when he said he just liked wearing it around.
Unlike the other lords, the Pharaoh wasn’t making any big, obvious effort to distract or spook anybody. But he’d gone quiet, leaving behind the gentlemanly chitchat from previous nights. That was enough to rattle you all by itself. Crazy as it sounds, when he was talking about Django Reinhardt’s guitar playing, or telling a story about the Battle of the Nile, you almost started to see him as a regular person. Now, all of a sudden, even with the head brace and wheelchair, he was creepy and mysterious again. Real old and real dead.
I kept flashing the Thunderbird from time to time, but nothing else changed. Except for Leticia’s sexual magnetism, nobody seemed to be using magic yet.
I watched her and the Pharaoh play a hand. I was pretty sure she flopped a pair of kings but didn’t improve after that. At the end, there was no ace on the board, but there was the possibility of a straight. The mummy raised, she folded, and he flipped over ace-rag. It was the first time he hadn’t made another player pay to see his cards.
Leticia smiled. “Nice hand.”
The Pharaoh didn’t answer, and that annoyed me. Leticia and I already had to put up with Wotan’s sneers and insults. We didn’t need another rude asshole at the table.
Later on, the Pharaoh pushed me off a hand, and once again showed the bluff. Leticia gave me a sympathetic smile. He’d bullied both of us now, and rubbed our noses in it.
“If you keep doing that,” I told the mummy, “you’re going to get caught.”
He didn’t answer me, either, just blew the blue smoke from his cheroot in my direction.
By bailing on the hand, I’d given him the chip lead, and afterward, he started playing even more aggressively. Any time that Leticia, Wotan, or I were in a hand, it was usually against him, not one another. And he usually won them, too. I flashed the Thunderbird, but it still didn’t show that he was using any magic. It was even more annoying to think he was beating us on the square.
He made trips on the river and took another piece of poor Leticia’s stack. His crumbling lips smirked.
Damn, but I wanted to wipe that look off his face. I kept my eyes on him, watching for a tell, and eventually I spotted one. He hadn’t had one before, but he hadn’t had the head brace, either, and maybe it was as uncomfortable as it looked. At any rate, when he bluffed, he twisted his head inside it, just the tiny fraction of an inch that was all it would allow.
I was eager to use it against him, and got a chance about fifteen minutes later. He raised, and tried to twist his head. I only had a pair of eights, but I was sure I had him beat. I started to push all in, and then some lingering trace of caution told me not to risk my whole tournament on my read. I just called. He showed me a pair of tens and took down the pot.
He’d created a bogus tell and set me up. I clenched my jaw to hold in the “Shit!” that wanted out. It would only make me look weak, and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
But Wotan cussed for me, more or less, snarling a word in what I thought might be German. And the weirdness of that cut through the fog of anger in my mind.
Because Wotan hated my guts. I couldn’t imagine him being disgusted that I’d lost a hand under any circumstances whatsoever. Not unless some outside force had adjusted his attitude.
I gave Leticia a hard look. It showed her that I’d figured out what she’d done. Looking back at me, she kissed the air.
She couldn’t make both Wotan and me just flat-out fall in love with her. She’d already tried, and it