Fantasyland 01 Wildest Dreams (20 page)

And, to fit us all around the table,
considering Frey, Thaddeus and Ruben would have trouble just the
three of them fitting their big bulk and long legs around a table,
necessitated me sitting in my husband’s lap.

Or, at least, this was what Frey told
me.

I did not quibble because I didn’t mind. I
was working on my fourth horn of ale, the beer in that world was
strong and flavorful, Frey was right when he said I fit in his lap
(I did,
perfectly
), it
was comfortable, his body was warm against mine and I was having
the time of my life, playing cards, gabbing and gaming with my
friends and my husband’s.

Until, of course, right then.

“I do not cheat!” I snapped.

“
Wife, you’ve taken the last three hands,
lost one and took the two before,” Frey spoke the truth; I’d been
having totally awesome luck all night. “I should point out, my wee
one, that if you’re going to cheat, you shouldn’t make it so
obvious by winning every
hand. People will suspect,” he finished
helpfully.

“
I am
not
cheating,” I returned heatedly.

And, really, I wasn’t! I didn’t even know
how.

Frey grinned, obviously not only oblivious
to cold and heat but also oblivious to heat directed at him
from
me
.

“She deals from the bottom of the deck, I,
too, am certain,” Thaddeus put in, his tone teasing, his eyes, I
saw when mine shot to him, smiling. “I have not seen it, but I’ve
lost enough coin to her I know it to be true.”

“
Well, I haven’t
dealt
every hand, have I, Thaddeus?” I asked.

“Perhaps she hides cards in her cleavage?”
Ruben suggested, brows raised, eyes twinkling.

That did it.

Clearly, I was being ganged up on.

I gave Ruben a squinty look then called
loudly, “Lindy!” and craned my neck to find my friend.

“Yes, Princess Finnie,” Lindy called back
from somewhere behind Frey.

I twisted my torso to him but peered around
his frame and shouted at Lindy, “Six horns of beer here, fill them
to the rim. I’ll be making a point by dumping them over heads once
they get here and I want to be certain my point is well made!”

I yelled this across the room and Lindy
grinned at me then shook her head and put some horns on the table
she was at giving the appearance she thought I was kidding when I
was
not.

“I didn’t say you were cheating, your
grace,” Frederick pointed out and I turned back around.

“Nor did I,” Ulysses stated, smiling at
me.

“Okay, well, this is true so you two can
drink your horns when they come,” I allowed.

“Obliged,” Frederick muttered, grinning at
Frey.

Then I felt Frey’s lips at my ear where I
heard him whisper, “Pour a horn of ale over my head, wee wife, I’ll
be forced to go back to the springs and it won’t be
me
who’ll be soaping it
off.”

When he was done, I turned my head, caught
his eye and asked, “Are you trying to talk me
out
of pouring ale on you, husband?” Then I leaned in
close and shared on a grin, “Because if you are, you’re
failing
.”

He smiled, it was lazy and heated and I felt
it in a variety of places, all of them good.

I smiled back.

Then, noting my short-lived pique
was
way
over, Frey
unwrapped his arm from around me and leaned toward the table to
shuffle the cards. I took another sip of ale and caught Thaddeus’s
eyes on me, or, from what it seemed, me
and
Frey. When he noticed my gaze, I smiled at him
even though he looked pensive in his study of us. When he saw my
smile, his thoughtful look disappeared, he resumed his usual
cheerful one and he lifted his chin slightly to me and
winked.

I had long since decided that Thaddeus was
a good guy. So was Ruben. They were funny and their gentle ribbing
was cute, in a brotherly way and I’d never had a brother so I liked
it. In fact, I liked
them
.
And I was glad to know them before I got on a ship with them. It
would be good to know more than Frey when I started that part of my
adventure.

Once he’d dealt the cards, Frey sat back
with his new hand and I set my horn on the table and reached out to
collect mine.

I twisted my body so Frey nor Ruben, who sat
on my other side, could see mine as I turned the cards to face me,
fanning them out in one hand and lifting the other to arrange them
as I needed. I’d moved two cards before what I had in my hand
registered.

Then I stared at it.

We were playing tuble and in my hand I had a
two of diamonds, a three of stars, a four of moons, a five of
daggers, a sorceress card and a ghost card, the highest hand you
could be dealt. It was akin to a royal flush and like a royal
flush, virtually impossible to be dealt one on the first round of
cards.

I looked at my hand then I looked at my
husband’s profile to see his attention seemed devoted to his own
but I knew he was completely and totally full of it.

I also knew he was one hell of a cheat.

Therefore, I burst out laughing, slapped the
cards on the table and fell forward so my forehead was on my cards.
I kept laughing so hard my body was shaking with it and I added my
fist banging on the table for good measure.

“How much ale has she had?” I heard Thaddeus
mutter and I shot up straight and turned over my hand for all to
see then twisted to my husband.

“
You,” I poked him in the chest, “are
the
cheat!
” I
declared, still giggling into Frey’s smiling face.

It was then, Frey informed me, “You should
probably know, my wee Finnie, that Ruben, Thaddeus,
Frederick
and
Ulysses have
been dealing you excessively good hands on purpose. The only one
not essentially
giving
you his
coin is Laurel.”

My eyes got wide and I swung around to look
at the men at the table.

“No,” I whispered, Thaddeus winked at me
again, Ruben grinned slowly and Frederick and Ulysses were smiling
flat out.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Laurel asked,
pushing slightly back in his chair and looking around at the men,
his expression disgruntled at being left out.

“Because you’re unskilled at stacking a
deck, Laurel.” Ulysses pointed out. “The last time you tried,
Gerard broke your arm.”

“
Yes, well,
that
was cheating to win coin
for me
, this is different and our Winter Princess obviously would
never notice,” Laurel returned.

“
She’d notice when you dropped the cards on
the floor or pulled them out of your cuff, just like
everyone
notices when you drop the cards
on the floor or pull them out of your cuff,” Frederick stated then
looked at me. “He’s very bad at trickery, your grace.”

Laurel’s torso shot back in clear affront,
his mouth opening to deliver his retort but I got there before
him.

“I should hope so and you all should be
ashamed,” I declared only to see slow blinks and eyebrow raises all
around, all filled with mild shock, even Laurel.

I thought this was strange until Frey’s
mouth came to my ear where he said quietly, “It’s the measure of a
man, Finnie, how good he cheats. No game is played without
trickery. It is the man who can best cheat who wins not only the
game but the respect of his opponents. Many complain during the
game of being swindled while they themselves are swindling. Others
keep aloof and let the cards speak for themselves. And if you’re
bad enough and get caught, you may catch something else, like a
challenger’s ire. It’s all part of the game.” Then he paused a
moment before saying, “I’m sure you know that.”

My body jolted slightly and I whispered my
lie, “Of course, I was just trying to be funny.”

“Of course,” Frey mumbled, sounding like he
was suffocating a chuckle and his mouth went away from my ear.

I took in the table seeing all the men
were still looking at me and I shifted my rear in Frey’s lap as I
hurried to cover what was clearly a gaffe. “Obviously, you don’t
know that princesses, being princesses, and thus royal, are taught
to be fair and trustworthy in
all
endeavors,” I lied through my teeth. “Therefore I’ve never
been taught to cheat. It would reflect badly on the House of
Wilde.” I smiled at the group even as I felt and heard Frey lose
his fight against his chuckle, something I chose to ignore. “So now
you’ll need to teach me.”

“Excellent,” Ruben muttered, grinning at
Frey.

“You need look no further than the man at
your back, my princess,” Thaddeus stated and my eyes went to him.
“Frey has the quickest fingers I’ve seen. You married the master
card sharp. I’ve played many a game of tuble or meerkin with Frey
and never won a single hand he dealt nor could I ever make out how
he does it, bottom dealing, false shuffles, stacking –”

Ruben cut him off to say, “How about all of
those and add culling, center deal, second dealing and slight of
hand.”

“The Drakkar can’t do them all,” Laurel
breathed, his eyes huge. “Not without detection. No one can.”

“
By the g
ods,
he
can,” Ruben told Laurel, tipping his head to Frey. “Though
I’ve never seen it, I know it to be true.”

“If you’ve never seen it, how do you know it
to be true?” Thaddeus asked Ruben.

“
Because
I
have never lost a hand to him and
I
am a far better cheat than
you,
” Ruben returned, bragging shamelessly about
cheating.

“Then why did I walk away with the entire
contents of your purse two nights ago?” Thaddeus shot back.

“Because when you’ve had much ale, you never
give up, you keep at it no matter how drawn your purse, you won’t
let a man leave a table until yours is gone or his is gone and I
had a wench waiting for me whose company I preferred to yours. It
was either risk standing from the table and you pulling your blade,
and I didn’t feel like drawing your blood or dragging your carcass
home and dressing your wound, or let you have my purse so I could
get to my warm, soft bed and my warmer, softer wench,” Ruben
replied.

Oh dear, I wasn’t sure but those seemed like
fighting words to me.

Thaddeus’s eyes narrowed and his body got
visibly tight. “That is simply not bloody true.”

Ho boy. There it was. They were definitely
fighting words.

“
If it’s not, then why did I win
back
my purse and
half of
yours
last night?” Ruben
returned what I thought was a fair point.

Thaddeus’s mouth got tight and he granted
the point but changed the direction of the burgeoning argument.
“Even full in my cups, you could never draw my blood.”

Ruben sat back, a bright, white smile on his
face, he leveled his gaze on his friend and challenged, “Care to
consume a bottle of whisky and test that belief?”

“Wench! Whisky!” Thaddeus accepted
instantly, shouting yet not taking his eyes from Ruben.

Laurel, Frederick and Ulysses inched their
chairs back from the table.

I didn’t move a muscle and stared in
fascination.

Frey threw his cards face down on the table
and muttered, “I think this is my cue to get my bride home.”

Then he stood, lifting me up with him and
setting me on my feet. When I was standing, I turned to him and
laid my hand lightly on his abs, my neck bent way back to catch his
eyes.

At my touch, he bent his neck way down and
he gave me his gaze then I whispered, “Shouldn’t you do something
about that?” Then I jerked my head at the macho Raider stare down
still in process at the table.

Frey answered immediately. “Thad could
drink two bottles of whisky while still consuming ale and not be
full in his cups. If Ruben waits for Thad to get arsed, it will be
a long night. And if Ruben has the patience for Thad to fall full
in his cups and Thad’s fool enough to challenge, his blade work
will indeed be shoddy and Ruben will have his blood.” My eyes got
big and Frey kept talking. “Don’t worry, wee one, Ruben will be
certain to stick him so he makes his point but doesn’t do damage
because he knows we set sail in two weeks and he doesn’t want to
court a knife fight with
me
,
which is what he’ll get if he sticks one of my men badly enough to
lay him up prior to a voyage.”

I blinked up at him but said no words.

Frey leaned in so his face was close to
mine. “This will not happen, Finnie. And it won’t happen because
that warm, soft wench is
still
in Ruben’s bed waiting for him. There is no chance he’ll
sit around here waiting for Thad to get tossed. We won’t be halfway
home before he’ll be at his cottage just down the street, joining
his woman.”

I knew this was true mainly because of the
confident way Frey relayed this information. It was clear he knew
his men, he read the situation and there was no cause for
alarm.

“All righty then,” I whispered and he
grinned.

Then he lifted a hand to the side of my neck
and gave me a squeeze before he urged softly, “Bid farewell to your
friends and let us get away home.”