One
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Thebestliewasa partial truth. It was one of the first things Rixxis had learned about living under an assumed identity. Too bad she was such a terrible liar.
“Six crowns,” she declared, and laid down six cards.
Sweat dampened Ieduin’s collar as he eyed her from across the table. His brown eyes narrowed. He knew as well as she did that there were not six crowns left in play, not if she had told the truth on her last turn. Either she was lying then, or she was lying now. He had a fifty-fifty chance of calling her bluff.
The elf eyed the pile of copper coins sitting in the center of the tavern table. With every turn, the pile grew, so there was something to be said for letting their game continue. He could fleece her out of a few more coppers easily by letting the lie go. When it came back around to her again, she would have to lay eight cups, and there were eight cups in play, even if there were not ten wands. So, either he called her bluff now, or he did it at the end, gaining two more coppers for his trouble.
The question was, did he really have seven stones in his hand? There were only so many stones in the deck. How many had she played earlier? Dammit, why couldn’t she remember?
Ieduin held a straight face and tossed a copper coin into the pile before counting seven cards, face-down, onto the table. “Seven stones.”
“Bullshit,” Rixxis declared without hesitation.
His lips turned up in a smirk and he slowly began flipping over cards to reveal what he’d just laid down. Stone… Stone… Seven stones.
Fuck.
“Thief take you,” she declared and tossed her remaining hand down in disgust.
“Better luck next time.” Ieduin grinned and reached to collect his winnings.
Rixxis picked her war hammer up from where it leaned against her chair and slammed the pommel hard against the tavern floor. The Crows drinking all around them glanced over.
Ieduin frowned. “Come on, Rixxis. You’re not going to be a sore loser, are you?”
“You knew I was lying,” she said bitterly. “Why didn’t you call bullshit on me when I put them down?”
He leaned forward, still grinning like a fool. “Why do that when I could make you go another round and win an extra copper? I know you didn’t have eight cups, either.”
“I could have.”
“No, you couldn’t have. I played four cups three turns ago and told you they were wands.”
She frowned. “So you lied. You had an opportunity to tell the truth, and you lied?”
Ieduin arched an eyebrow. “That is the nature of the game, Rixxis.”
“Did you ever tell the truth? Even once while we were playing?”
“Aside from at the end, you mean?” He shrugged and pulled the pile of coins to him, scooping them in handfuls into his coin purse. “About one in three. Lies, like bitter medicine, always go down a little better with a bit of sugar. The key is to convince you the sugar’s not near as sweet as the lie.”
“I’m a little concerned that you’re so good at lying,” she said.
“Don’t take offense, Rixxis. I spent more than a decade learning how to do it well enough to convince every elf in the Yeutlands that I was having the time of my life sucking his dick. I’m pretty damn good at what I do.”
She sighed and picked up her cup, draining it of its contents. Ieduin did the same, leaving bubbles in the stubble under his nose. Rixxis frowned. “Are you really not going to shave?”
“It’s called a mustache, Rixxis, and it makes me look refined.” He tried to curl it, but there wasn’t enough there yet. It’d take him a while to grow it, too. He’d been trying for weeks now.
She snorted and used her hammer as leverage to rise. The chair creaked. “I’m getting a refill. You want another?”
He considered it. “Better not. I’ve got watch tonight.”