The Wolf King Demanded a Bride, I Served Him Supper novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Good Losers

family card night makes Osric experience an honest loss and Ruby a false accusation. HOOK: Corwin calls her a corrupting influence before the pack.

Bram hid an ace under the king's biscuit.

He did it while explaining that our family took fair play seriously.

I took the biscuit.

Bram followed my hand with genuine pain.

"You said you weren't hungry," he told me.

"I changed my mind."

Across the table, Osric studied his cards.

He'd asked to attend our usual evening together.

Corwin had asked which evenings counted as usual.

Deborah had answered by shutting the door while he was still outside.

"Does the king know the game?" Bram asked.

"I'm sitting here," Osric said.

"Then you'll hear the answer," Bram replied.

Deborah laughed into her tea.

I explained the rules without making them a ceremony.

We collected matching cards and took wooden counters when we won.

There was no money involved.

Bram had been banned from real stakes after winning our Christmas potatoes.

Osric arranged his cards in a neat fan.

I tried not to watch his hands.

He had rolled his sleeves to his forearms.

It was an inconsiderate choice for a man I meant to distrust.

Bram reached toward the biscuit plate.

I moved it to Deborah's side.

"The king should have another," my uncle said.

"The king has teeth," Deborah said.

Osric glanced at me.

I lifted the biscuit, revealing the ace.

He picked it up and looked at Bram.

Bram leaned back with injured dignity.

"That's very concerning," my uncle said.

"We haven't even started."

Osric laid the card in the center.

"We'll begin again," he decided.

Deborah dealt the cards a second time.

Bram took his hand without complaint.

I checked under my cup.

There was another ace.

My uncle looked delighted by the discovery.

"Ruby," he said, "in front of a guest?"

I threw the card at him.

It landed in Osric's lap.

The king held it up.

"You appear to have considerable evidence against one another."

"He's been doing this since before I was born," I said.

"And she's been accusing me since she learned to speak," Bram said.

Osric set the card down beside the first.

"Both disputed cards will be removed," he said.

Deborah collected the entire deck.

"We could play something else."

Bram immediately asked for the dominoes.

"No," Deborah and I said together.

Osric laughed.

It was a quiet, startled sound.

He stopped when he noticed us noticing.

I wanted him to do it again.

That was becoming a problem.

We tried another hand.

The king held his cards against his chest this time.

He also held one against the underside of his wrist.

I saw the white corner when he reached for tea.

"Your Majesty," I said.

"Osric," he corrected.

"You have a card up your sleeve."

He looked down.

Bram examined the ceiling with terrible satisfaction.

Osric pulled out the card.

It was another ace.

Deborah took off her glasses.

"Bram, how many decks did you bring?"

"We should focus on the royal problem," my uncle said.

Osric put his cards on the table.

"I thought you were giving me an advantage," he told Bram.

"I was," Bram said.

"It's friendship."

"It's cheating," I said.

The king considered that distinction with disappointing seriousness.

Then he slid all his counters to the middle.

"I'll lose properly," he said.

Nobody made him apologize for taking a while to understand.

Deborah dealt again, using a fresh deck from the kitchen drawer.

Bram was required to show both hands before touching it.

I won the next round.

Osric offered me his final counter.

His fingers pressed it into my palm.

"Congratulations," he said.

I liked winning.

I liked the way he'd said my name before the game even more.

Deborah carried our cups away, leaving us a moment together.

"Did you enjoy it?" I asked him.

"I can't tell whether I was meant to," he admitted.

"That's a yes in this house."

Someone knocked before he could answer.

Corwin stood outside with several pack members behind him.

He looked straight at the counters in my hand.

"So this is the influence you've chosen," he said to the king.

"She's teaching you to lose."

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