About a week passed without problem, sure there was the normal teething period that occurred whenever several different people moved into the same house. Such as the occasional argument when someone couldn’t find something or when someone would complain about how dirty someone else was. Alex had an annoying habit of “marking his territory” by wandering around naked or placing items of used clothes around places he would sit. A few terse words from Arya had quickly resolved that issue.

It was Friday evening and my team sat around the giant round table in the middle of the common room playing a good old-fashioned game of Golden Hearts and Iron Bloods. Better known as Gibme’ by the common folk. A map of the empire was sectioned into parts, with miniature pieces acting as armies and important characters. Each player chooses a fief to lead in their conquest of the Empire. Each fief had their own unique strengths and weaknesses based on historical evidence. I played as House Sterling of the Northeast since Noah had taken Varus right off the bat. In fact, none of the participants had managed to pick their own Family House.

I stared at my cards before turning my gaze onto Noah, “you are so done for.”

“What are you on about?” he scoffed, “You’ve got the most shit cards, and there’s no way you’re going to try and break through the Middle fiefs.”

I ignored him and placed two cards on the table, “I play ‘The North Remembers’ which lets me draw five cards or rally six units.” Noah’s eyebrows rose in surprise, “then I play ‘Marching Orders’ which allows me to move any three units double their normal distance.”

Sam rubbed his hands together in approval. He played as House Arcturus, the largest fief in the North and my only ally. I moved several small markers into the adjacent Middle Fiefs.

With my turn over I stood up to check on the stew I’d decided to cook for dinner. Chunks of beef, potato, and tomato simmered in a bone broth. Judging from the smell, most of the alcohol from the wine I had poured in had burned off and the stew was almost done. Nodding to myself I returned to the table.

“How?” I gaped, “I was gone for like two minutes.”

Noah kicked his feet up onto the table, “two minutes is all I need.”

“Two minutes is about as long as he can last.” Alex snorted, “if you know what I mean.” he said staring directly at Val.

I ignored him, analyzing the board. The Varus fief in the south was arguably the most powerful in the empire. The entire southern and southeastern border was guarded by thick forest and the Red Gem Peaks. Two major rivers ran through the entirety of the land, providing water for the incredibly productive lands of the region. In-game that translated into a much larger population and resource pool. Which in turn made it much easier for Noah to expand in every direction. When I had left, Noah controlled most of the southeast. But by the time I returned, he had total dominion over the entirety of the south and was creeping up the middle fief.

“I am not losing to you,” I declared sitting back down.

“Sure you aren’t,” Noah replied lazily. I looked at my cards and sighed in frustration.

“No good cards I take it?”

“Shut up.” I tossed a card onto the middle of the board. Alex peered at the card, “‘Sterling Storm Troopers’ take any major city adjacent to your lands without casualty. Discard afterward.”

A flash of irritation showed through Noah’s eyes and I grinned at him. Sam sighed and played his cards, “eh I was saving this for later but I guess there might not be a later at this rate.” he placed four cards on the table, “I play ‘King of the North’ unify all non-player Northern fiefs to your lands and play three cards.”

“Betrayal!” I shouted, “I can’t believe you’ve done this, I was so close as well.”

“Sorry Ryze, it’s the only way. Now I play ‘Marching Order’, ‘Dwarven Steam Tanks', and ‘Glacial Freeze’.”

I sighed as my fief fell in one turn. Shaking my head I sat back down in defeat. Cassie walked over and smirked at my disappointment, “didn’t perform as well as you expected to?”

“Yeah, I can’t believe my own partner would just betray me like that. Even if it’s just a game.”

“Sam may act like an idiot but you mustn't forget that he is an heir to the Saphire seat. He has had some of the smartest minds in the empire tutor him.”

Alex’s eyes shifted from Sam to Noah and then back to his own cards, “this is so unfair,” he sighed, slapping his cards onto the table, “I forfeit, I don’t stand a chance.”

“Never did.” Alex pointedly ignored that statement and stood up to grab something to eat.

“So now it’s just the two of us.” Sam grinned, “you think you’ve got what it takes to win?”

Noah gave him a bored look and studied his nails, “yep.”

“What can I say, I’m just good at games,” Noah said. He tossed his cards onto the board and kicked his feet up onto the table. Sam stared blankly at the board before slamming his head onto it.

“How are you so lucky?” he demanded, for the past twenty minutes Noah had outmaneuvered and outplayed Sam. It was like watching a cat toy with a mouse. Sam would set up ambushes and play the terrain to his favor. But Noah had predicted each and every attempt, reversed them, and crushed army after army with contemptuous ease.

“I wouldn’t say luck had much to do with it,” he waved his hand. My eyebrows rose.

“Really, so you’re telling me that drawing ‘Descendant of the SunKing’ and ‘the Star of Unity’ were both on purpose?”

“Yep.”

“I don’t buy it.”

“Hey, who won again?” he asked with a smirk, “that’s right I did.”

“Luck!” Sam shouted.

“Not entirely,” A new, much calmer, and quieter voice said. We turned around to look at who was talking. Val tapped her hand to the table and the cards floated into the air. “There is a certain chance that each player can draw any card. Some cards are more common and have a higher chance. The opposite is also true. What I believe Noah is doing is known as card counting. That does give him a slightly higher chance of winning in the late game.”

“Aha! I knew it, you were cheating!” Alex accused, Noah rolled his eyes and Val continued.

“However, that is only a slight advantage. Noah used superior strategy to easily crush the three of you.”

Noah gave us a smug look of satisfaction, “yeah what she said.”

“So are you just good at board games then?” Alex asked in annoyance. Noah looked a bit defensive.

“I’m not just good at board games, I’m good at other things too.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Uhh,” he stalled, Noah was about to realize that actually thinking about things that you were good at was rather difficult. “I’m good at card games?”

“Don’t say it like it’s a question.” Val huffed, “you are an important and valued member of your team.”

“I don’t know,” Sam grunted, “he did shoot me after all.”

“I said I was sorry.” he muttered then said louder, “I’m just good at games.”

“Any game?”

“Close enough, ever since I was a kid I was good at playing games. Started with knuckles and marbles, then board games, and a few years ago I started playing cards with my dad’s old squadmates. Got so good they started banning me from playing with them.”

That got me thinking, “good at cards you say?”

“I’m alright, it’s mostly math and logical thinking.”

Sam piped up, “you know, there is a casino in Leviathan right?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Well…” he said, “what do you guys think about going after dinner?”

“Samuel, that is the stupidest idea I have ever heard of.” Cassie scoffed, “Who in their right minds would want to go to a casino.”

I pushed the casino door open and was immediately hit by the smell of alcohol, cigar smoke, and spices. A bouncer stepped up and placed a hand out stopping me, “I’m going to need to stop you right here kid.”

Some slammed into my back and I stumbled forwards, the bouncer’s eyes widened in surprise. In one clean motion, he sent me flying over his shoulder. I flew several feet before crashing into a chair. It collapsed under my weight with a crunch and an explosion of splinters.

“Hey what the hell!” Sam shouted at the bouncer.

“Yeah what gives?” Alex asked, stepping around him. The bouncer glared at the pair and held his hand up again.

“We don’t just let anybody enter this establishment,” he said defensively. I groaned rolling over onto my back.

“Just anybody,” Alex mocked, “do you know who that is?”

The bouncer scratched his shaved head, “well no.”

“Right then let’s think about it, how many people do you know have red eyes?”

“Uh, none.”

“Now, how many people have you heard about have red eyes?”

He paused for a few seconds, “only House Varus.”

Alex sighed, that wasn’t entirely true. There were a few lesser-known houses with red eyes as a trait but most were closer to a brown than anything else. Not the distinctive crimson of House Varus. “Sure whatever, now which house has a red dragon for a sigil?”

“House Varus.” the guard rolled his eyes, “everyone knows that.”

“Turn around and tell me what that thing on his back is,” Alex said, gesturing at my back. The bouncer narrowed his eyes suspiciously before turning around. He stared at my back blankly, attempting to understand the gravity of what he had done.

“And the coin drops.” Noah sighed. My hand dropped to the knife at my side. “Ryze, I’d rather you not kill him. It’ll be quite hard to explain to the girls.”

Sam snorted and I reluctantly let my hand drift from the handle. A well-trimmed man in a suit stormed over. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE? Jessie, what are you doing with these idiots?” he snatched the list out of the bouncer’s hands. “Goddamnit! These bums aren’t even on the register, what the fuck are you doing?”

“Sorry boss.” the man muttered, shying away from the raging man.

“Why do I even pay deadbeats like you?” he growled, an aura of danger emanated from him.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“L-look, b-b-boss. I’ll make it up to you. I swear man!” the bouncer stuttered. The suited man shook his head.

“Here’s the deal Ken. Either you keep your kneecaps, or you keep your job. You choose.” He pulled a metal bat off his back. The bouncer gaped at him, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. The boss sighed, “Fuck me, he’s a flower pot short of being a vegetable.”

Sam had enough, “alright I think he gets the point, mister. You can put the bat down now.”

The man shifted his attention to the four of us, “and who might you four jokers be?”

“Does nobody in this city recognize house sigils?!” Alex shouted in exacerbation. He pointed at Sam, “that’s the Royal Prince.” he pointed at me, “that’s the heir to the Varus throne.”

My eyes almost popped out of my head, “How did you know that? That’s a House secret.”

He rolled his eyes, “there’s nothing a reasonably bright person couldn’t figure out. Your direct family are all Surgeons, they can’t inherit the throne. Your uncle, the high lord, has no living family, and there’s no way your uncle gives the fief to another house.”

I paused to consider the facts, “alright, but still. Can you at least try to keep it on the down-low?”

He nodded and the suited man coughed, “you done yet?”

“Sure why not,” I brushed sawdust and wood splinters off of my shirt, “so where were we?”

“Names?”

“Ah right, I’m Ryze Varus, the tall guy’s Samuel Bright, the short one’s Noah Nixon, and the loudmouth is Alex Taylor. Who might you be?”

“I’m the owner of this establishment, you can call me Junior,” he said and slung the bat over his shoulder. “Since you're already here, I guess you can make it up to me by losing some money.”

Noah snorted, “that’s not happening.”

“That’s what they all say.”

/-/

Noah held his cards in one hand, folded up. Refusing to look at the one he had drawn. He stared intently across the table at the red-faced man sitting opposite from him. He drummed his hands on the cards. In front of him sat a massive pile of coins, worth well over three hundred silver. It was more money than he had ever seen before, more than ten times the amount Ryze and Sam had loaned to him at the start. The players around the table had changed, more than one of them having busted and replaced by others, but the angry-looking giant remained.

“Aren’t you going to look at your cards?” The man’s accent was obviously rural and from the look of the scars on his face and the broken nose, he was also some kind of soldier.

He shrugged, “I don’t need to.” Noah’s tone was cool, his hands unshaking, and his eyes unwavering. He reached out and pushed a pile of coins into the center of the table. “One hundred.”

The man’s eyes narrowed in concentration, he held his gaze for several heartbeats before looking away. The burly man smirked and nodded to himself in a self-satisfied way. Noah put a hand over his mouth and turned away, hiding a grin. This was all part of the subtle mind game he had been playing on the other players for close to an hour.

Play moved around the table, each player shaking their heads in disgust and throwing in their cards. Until it got to the man. He looked Noah in the eyes and pushed an equally large stack of coins into the pile. “See you one hundred… and raise you fifty.”

“I see…” Noah tilted his head slightly, rubbing his chin. He held that position for several seconds, trying to rack up the tension.

“Well?” the man asked, his patience wearing thin, “you going to make a move?”

He put both hands on the table and pushed forwards, “I’m all in,” His voice was cold as stone, devoid of any emotions, “that’s three hundred and eighty-two silver.”

Noah set his cards down, still not flashing even a glance at them. It was all a part of his show, his effort to unnerve his opponent. He didn’t need to look, he knew perfectly well what he had. Jack shit. His best card was an eight.

From the corner of his vision, he could see Ryze frown, most likely attempting to count the cards that had been played. The man in front of him grunted, for a moment Noah thought he was going to call his bluff. He’d been working the man for more than two hours, playing a tight game. Only raising when he had the hand, of course he had also used his Trait to make sure that he almost always got a good hand. And to throw off his opponent's attempts at card counting. But that was his secret.

Perhaps he had gotten the man too worked up, or maybe he had messed up and given the man three of a kind or some other hand that would tempt him to call. But then he saw it. He saw it in his eyes. Defeat.

“Fuck, I fold.” he threw his cards down on the table in disgust. Noah mucked his cards, facedown. A hand clamped onto his wrist.

“No… I want to see what you had.”

Noah hesitated, they all knew the rules. He didn’t need to show him anything. But the tone in the other man’s voice said that he didn’t care.

“Not happening,” he said, voice firm. It really didn’t matter what he’d thrown away. However, he didn’t think that his opponent would react very well to finding out he had been bluffed and blindsided so thoroughly. Noah had come to have fun and win a bit of cash he could spend or send home. Not get in brawls and end up thrown out of the casinos or strung up by his ankles.

“I said show me those fucking cards.” he roared, slamming his hand on the table. Coins cascaded down from the pile with a jingle. One of the busted players, obviously one of his friends, placed a hand on his shoulder.

“C’mon J.C., we don’t need this kind of trouble. Look at the clothes he’s wearing. That’s a Leviathan patch on his chest. Kid’s an honest to God guardian.”

“I don’t care! I want to see those cards.” he roared, ignoring his friend's attempt to calm him down. Noah looked back nervously, Ryze sighed, and walked over.

/-/

I walked up to the annoying ass man and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around engulfing me with his distinctly unpleasant body odor. “What do you want you little sh-” he started before cutting off.

I raised a brow, “you little what?”

“Nothing m’lord.”

“That’s what I thought, now quit bugging my teammate and fuck off before I cut your eyes out and give you a first-person view of your colon.”

“Yes m’lord.” the man said and ran off, his friends followed a few beats behind. Noah snorted and shoved all of his winnings to his side.

“Did he know you?”

I shrugged, “I assume so, not many men his age who haven’t seen a Varus sigil of some form.”

Noah grunted and began separating the coins into three groups, one for me, one for Sam, and one for himself. Alex had gone off by himself to one of the Roulette tables and had managed to somehow not lose all his money. We walked over and stood by him, Noah gave us an easy grin and placed a large stack of coins on black. The dealer spun the wheel and I watched with great interest as Noah subtly slowed the board down until the ball stopped on black. He laughed, clapping his hands together and racking in his not insignificant winnings. Players around him clapped him on the back and congratulated him.

I noticed one of the bouncers shake their heads and head off from the corner of my eye. A few moments later the man named Junior walked over, surrounded by large men in suits. He tapped Noah on the shoulder, “you need to leave.”

Noah frowned, “Why?”

“Because you’re cheating, we don’t condone that kind of behavior here,” he said and I knew what was up. Noah had won too much money. Way too much, at the rate, he was going at he was going to bleed the entire place dry. And needless to say, that wasn’t good for business.

“But I’m not cheating.” he frowned, “you don’t have any proof.”

Sam hastily walked over before things could escalate, “C’mon Noah let’s go, we’ve already won enough.”

I grabbed one of the bags of silver and headed for the door. An arm cut my path off. “Oh?”

“That money’s ours. You think we’re just going to let you leave with it after you cheated?”

“Get your arm out of my way before I cut it off,” I growled, Sam, sighed.

“Ryze, just let it go. We’re just here to have some fun and honestly, I expected him to blow the cash anyways, so just relax.”

“Listen to the princeling, boy.” Junior snorted, “drop the bag and fuck off.”

Gritting my teeth I dropped the bag, right onto his foot. The twenty or so pounds of silver slammed into his foot with an audible thump. He lept back with a curse.

“Whoops,” I snorted, “My bad.”

“Out I want them OUT!”

I felt hands grab me by my shoulders and start shoving. I shot them a glare and they immediately backed off. Feeling pleased with myself I picked up the bag of coins and walked out.

/-/

I whistled to myself as we walked down the street carrying the silver. A few dirty-looking groups of men had given us some hard looks but quickly diverted their gaze once they saw the Leviathan patches we wore. “Man, that was a pretty good night.”

“Was it?” Alex asked, “Not only did we get thrown out of a casino, we didn’t even get in a fight afterward.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Noah asked skeptically, “I would not want to be the one to have to tell the Crown Princess we got into another fight.”

“Yes it’s a bad thing, did you see the way those goons were looking at us!”

“Wouldn’t have been much of a fight anyway.”

“Oh yeah?” I grinned, “wouldn’t have been much of a fight because we’d have to carry your lousy ass.”

“C’mon I’m not that bad.”

“No your wor-” Sam cut off as a group of men walked out into the street. Unlike the others, they were well kept with black suits and red ties. The one in the middle wore a white suit and had a cane in one hand and a cigar in the other.

“So, you’re the sorry lot causing me all this trouble?” the man in white asked in a rich smooth voice. “I was expecting something… more impressive.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “was he wearing mascara and eyeliner?” The four of us looked at each other before shrugging.

“Who are you?”

The man grinned, “The names Remington, Jon Remington.” he took off his hat with a flourish and bowed.

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” I grunted, wiping the grin from his face.

“Really, the name might be a little before your time. Maybe you can ask your father. He’d still remember. After all, he’s the one who killed mine.”

“One, that would be my uncle. And two, do you know how little that narrows things down?”

Alex snapped as recognition dawned on him, “Oh! House Remington of Lake-Tower.”

“An astute one aren’t you.” Jon said dryly, “doesn’t matter though, I don’t really care about the past. What does matter is the reports I’ve been receiving. Killing men on my turf, intimidating my clients, cheating out my casino? I don’t think so. You see, these are my streets. I can’t afford to have a bunch of spoiled lordlings causing a scene.” he settled his hat back on his head and lifted his cane. “It was nothing personal. Well not really.”

A latch on the bottom of his cane slid open, I heard a click and time slowed. A fireball emerged from the muzzle of his concealed firearm much slower than normal but still at an incredible pace. I sprinted in front of Sam, pulling out my knife at the same time, tracking the grey lead bullet all the while. I set my blade at an angle in front of the bullet as time sped back up.

An explosion of sparks and a searing pain against my arm told me that I had deflected the round. A second deep breath in and I was behind Remington with my knife to his throat. There would be no negotiating or time to beg for mercy. I released the breath and began to slash. The red blade cutting through soft flesh effortlessly. Too effortless.

“Huh?” I looked at my empty hand, “the fuck?” an elbow rammed into my ribs and I backed away from the gangster.

“Tch, not even going to fight me like a gentleman?” he snorted, noticing my confused expression he grinned, “looking for that?”

He pointed at my hand and I felt the familiar presence of my knife in my hand. I blinked in surprise, “how?”

“Tada, magic!” He grinned, giving me jazz hands. The grin disappeared in an instant, “kill them, but he’s mine.”

The assembled men pulled out dirks and short swords and charged my teammates wordlessly. I spun my knife, reversing my grip and taking in another breath. I could feel the rage boiling inside my stomach and my vision tinting red. Remington pulled on the cane, revealing a hidden blade inside of its shaft.

“Oh you do that too?” he asked, pointing at my face with his free hand.

“Do what?” I demanded.

“The weird eye thing.”

“Shut up and fight me.” I snapped and rushed him. I appeared right behind him, attempting the same move I had made earlier to the same result. My knife disappeared into thin air and my vision cleared. The anger was still there but the red wasn’t. I ducked under the sheath and delivered a quick jab to his side. He huffed out in pain and backed up, keeping his distance. One of the goons' bodies flew from where my team was fighting. He landed in front of me with a thud, I quickly snatched up the short sword from his hand.

Swishing it experimentally we started circling each other. He stepped forwards the long thin blade flicking out like a viper's tongue. I beat it aside with my arm just before it reached my body. Blood welled up from the cut and I winced, before countering his next strike. The knife reappeared in my free hand, much to my surprise. Remington rolled his eyes and glanced away at his men, that was all the time I needed to close the distance.

I slashed and hacked at him, breaking down his guard and driving him to his knees. My foot came up and I kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling on the street. I stabbed down at his exposed back, ramming a knife deep into his gut. He gasped in pain and both weapons disappeared.

His leg came up and kicked me right in the jewels. I yelped and backed up out of range a beat before a wave of pain washed over me.

“Fuck,” Remington swore, “shit, damn it! Kara get me out of here.”

A purple portal emerged from behind him and a gloved hand reached out pulling the suited man inside. His men, noticing his retreat scattered immediately, leaving their injured on the ground around the three students.

I groaned and slowly lowered myself to the ground, they ran over to me with concerned looks.

“What’s wrong!”

“Are you hurt?”

“Shit, he’s bleeding.”

“I’m fine,” I gritted my teeth, “fucker kicked me in the sack before he left.”

They laughed at me and stood me up, “right, so who was it that said we didn’t get in a fight?”