“I adore prist,” Karolina said, already taking a seat at the table. “Does anyone else know how to play?”
Gideon cleared his throat. “It’s typically not a lady’s game.”
“If you haven’t noticed, I don’t care much for the things that are typical for a lady.”
“You and Evie should be great friends, then. You both harbor such similar philosophies.”
Crossing the room, I joined Karolina at the table and scowled at Gideon. I’d heard of prist. It was a betting game popular in gambling dens. “I don’t know the rules, but I’m suddenly very interested. You wouldn’t mind teaching me, Karolina?”
The princess let loose a mischievous grin, wagging her eyebrows as she opened a box packed with a collection of oblong white tiles about the same length as the first two joints of my index finger. Colorful dots adorned either end of each tile. “Sure, I don’t mind. But remember...” She stacked the tiles with expert, nimble fingers. “You asked for it.”
With a dramatic sigh, Tereza crossed the room and dropped into a chair across from mine. “Highly improper,” she muttered.
Karolina dealt the tiles, one at a time, around the table. “Proper is boring.”
Gideon eased into his seat and caught my attention. He raised an eyebrow.
“She’s right,” I said. “Proper is boring.”
Tereza’s sullenness disappeared and she laughed. “Who torments whom, Evie?”
“Well....” I grinned. “Perhaps I can give as well as I can take.”
Otokar arrived after Karolina explained the rules and we had played several hands. He’d brought the promised chocolate torte, and after a momentary dessert break, we returned to the gaming table. The Magician took Tereza’s place, and the empress played tunes on the pianoforte, some old and somber, some new and upbeat. Karolina ordered coffee and digestifs, and we drank and gambled until my head swam.
“Have you been to the circus?” Karolina asked as she dealt tiles for another round. I eyed my dwindling pile of betting chips and my nearly empty brandy and wondered how much longer I could last, both in the game and in sobriety. “I went for the matinee show yesterday with my friend, Kazi.”
“Was it wonderful?” I asked, wishing I had the time and means to attend.
“The aerialists were all right, I suppose.” She scrunched her nose. “No trick riders though. What’s a circus without trick riders?”
“Trick riders?”
She arranged her face into a beleaguered expression, as though my question annoyed her. “Did you live in a closet all your life, Evie? Trick riders, you know, riding a horse while standing on its back, or standing on two horses at once. That sort of thing.”
I blinked at her wide-eyed. “Two horses at once?”
She nodded. “One foot on each horse’s back. I saw it once, at a show in Pisha. I would be a fabulous trick rider, wouldn’t I, Gideon? You’ve seen what Mika and I can do.”
My attention cut to the solemn young man beside me. He glanced up from his tiles, mouth slightly open, brow furrowed. “What have I seen?”
She batted her lashes at him. “You’ve seen how well I ride. Mika and I would make a wonderful circus act.”
In the rear of the room, Tereza plunked a heavy dissonant cord and we all flinched. “Karolina, stop being, em, směšný.” She snapped her fingers at Otokar and he translated: “Ridiculous.”
“Yes, ridiculous.” Her brow and mouth creased into a series of sour lines. “A princess as a spectacle in a common show.” She shook her head and her black curls bobbed.
“I would perform incognito, of course.” The princess raised her chin and sniffed. “No one would know who I was.”
“You talk of foolishness.”
“Sometimes it’s fun to be a little foolish.” Karolina’s gaze settled on my companion again. “Don’t you agree, Gideon?”
He squinted at her as if studying a new animal specimen, and I choked down a giggle. “Some of us don’t have that luxury,” he grumbled.
She rolled her eyes. “How unfortunate.”
Otokar broke in, setting down two tiles and sliding them toward Karolina. “Deal two more for me. I need to win the next hand, or I will be out of the game for good.”
She pursed her lips as though she’d sucked on a lemon, but she took his tiles and dealt out another pair. The rest of the table organized our tiles and made our bets. Our conversation shifted to gameplay, and none of us talked further of the imprudence of princesses wishing to be something other than what they were.
Despite everyone’s best efforts, Gideon won enough chips at the end of the hand to bankrupt Otokar and me. Pushing away from the table, he scratched the stubble along his jaw and glanced my way. He caught me yawning and rubbing my eyes. “I’m calling it quits,” he said.
Karolina harrumphed. “While you’re ahead?”
“Isn’t that the best time?”
“I nearly caught you in that last round.” She pressed her lips into a pretty pout. “You simply don’t want to risk the embarrassment of losing.”
“Perhaps it’s you I’m saving from embarrassment. Another round and I might have taken everything you had.”
“That doesn’t sound like an entirely horrible prospect.” Karolina leaned forward, balancing her chin in her palm, elbow resting on the table top. She contemplated him through half-lidded eyes, and something sour and acidic rose inside me.
Gideon glanced at me again. I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms over my chest, waiting. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Are you ready to go, Evie? Or do you wish to stay a little longer?”
If it meant watching him squirm, I might have chosen to stay. But my eyelids had grown so heavy I could barely hold them open, and my bladder demanded attention. I pushed back my chair and rose on unsteady feet. Karolina’s cocktails swam through my head and stomach like slithering eels, and the room spun. I clutched my chair as I dipped into a shaky curtsey. “If you’ll excuse us, Tereza. I think the late hour has gotten the best of me.”
“Sure it wasn’t the brandy?” Karolina muttered.
