The gambling den might as well have been a flop house. It was falling apart, the windows were cracked and dirty, and it leaned against the building beside it as if it were being held up like a drunken street walker. Nerves were starting to prickle along my skin, and something awakened in my belly, a sort of primal fear that I tried to suppress.

            I’d done all my gambling on the streets. There was never a lack of rag-a-muffins and street urchins who had a few coins to gamble with. I tossed dice in the gutters, I didn’t walk into gambling establishments and play cards with people who were serious about it. It would probably be a rough crowd.

            With that in mind, I stuck close to Kiran walking through the door, almost stumbling on his heels when he paused inside. We both looked around, blinking, eyes adjusting from the gloomy night to the brightly lit interior of the den.

            It shouldn’t have been brightly lit, dim lights would have helped to disguise exactly how filthy the place was. There was a bar at the back, with cheap, dented tin behind it to serve as a mirror, and a single bar tender, a short, balding man who glowered at us when we entered.

            I counted roughly eight wooden tables, all full of rough looking men playing cards. Some glanced up as we entered, and I felt my face flush under the intense gazes. One or two nudged their friends and grinned at one another, or laughed loudly. To my relief I spotted a few women among them, all of them dressed similarly to me, although my neckline plunged lower than most of them. I made a mental note to give Kiran a piece of my mind for that when the night was over.

            “We’ll play Rujo.”

            I jumped. Kiran was leaning over and whispering in my ear. “What?”

            “Rujo. Came back into fashion a few months ago, and it’s easiest to learn in a pinch. Just watch how I do.”

            “Right,” I muttered, and followed him as he strode confidentially forward, towards one of the tables in the back. There were three men sitting at the table, a couple who looked like brothers, both with red-blonde hair and narrow brown eyes. The other man was tall and skinny, with a shock of dark hair that fell over one eye. There was a scar on his chin, and the way his gaze darted back and forth between Kiran and I reminded me a little bit of Boxcar. I hoped that wasn’t some kind of sign that this was going to go badly.

            “Want in?” One of the brothers eyed Kiran as if he were trying to estimate how much money he could win from him.

            “Yeah, thanks.” Kiran sat down on one of the rickety wooden chairs, pulling one out for me as he did.

            The Boxcar look-alike leaned forward, staring at me, eyes glittering. “Who’s your lady friend?”

            A flash of irritation went through me. He was looking at me and speaking to Kiran. “Miranda,” I snapped at him. “Who are you?”

            Beside me, I could see Kiran lean back in his seat and press his lips together. He obviously thought I was going to blow this for him.

            The Boxcar look-alike only grinned. “Lovely name, Miranda. I’m Bones, pleased to meet you.”

            The man’s accent had him pronouncing the last word “metcha” and when he grinned I could see one of his front teeth was missing. Pushing down my revulsion I gave him the friendliest smile I could manage. “Bones, that’s quite the name.”

            “That’ll be all that’s left of yer gentleman friend once we’re finished here,” Bones snickered. “Maybe you and me can…”

            “Who’s the banker this round, gentlemen?” Kiran interrupted smoothly.

            It was a good thing, since I’d been contemplating knocking out a few more of Bones' teeth.

            “That’ll be me,” one of the brothers said gruffly. “Ruck, by the way, and this here is my brother Dan.”

            Kiran nodded politely at the both of them, introducing himself as “Hank” which made me smile. Kiran, which his fiery good looks and particular…career choice, did not suit the name Hank any more than I suited “Miranda”.

            Ruck began dealing the cards, leaving me out of it as he did. It was obvious that women were only to be spectators at this particular activity. I ground my teeth together. Already my palms were itching, even though I didn’t know how to play. How hard could it be?

            “Three silver a check,” Ruck said as he finished placing cards. “Place your bets.”

            There was the plastic clinking of chips as the men placed their bets, I watched Kiran carefully, peering over his shoulder to look at his hand. Nobody had explained the rules to me, so it was impossible to tell if his hand was good or not.

            Kiran’s face revealed nothing, and before he placed his bet he darted a glance over at me, passing me his cards and saying cheerfully, “Blow on it for good luck, love.”

            I took the cards from him, knowing that was what he really wanted. I was supposed to touch them. It must have worked, because as soon as my fingertips made contact, two of the cards changed. The black three of spades picture dissolved from one of the cards, leaving the surface of the card white momentarily, until the black marks came back, soaking into the card until it was sharply visible. Now I was holding a queen of spades. The card on the other end shifted as well, a six of spades.

            I blinked at the cards. That was new for me. I’d never seen anything actually change since I’d always played dice. The dice had always just rolled the way I’d wanted them to, but this…this was different. Recovering myself, I blew over the cards, hoping I hadn’t looked too shocked. Maybe the men would just think Kiran had a really good hand…or a bad one.

            To Kiran’s credit, he kept a straight face when I passed them back to him.

            I looked up to see Bones staring at me, and for a moment my heart skipped a beat. Did he suspect something? But, no, he was just leering at me.

            “Oh yeah, you blow on them cards, darlin’. You want to do mine too?”

            Kiran shot him an even look and Bones subsided, still shooting a lecherous look at me over the tops of his cards from time to time, which I pointedly ignored.

            I tried to pay attention to the game, picking up on what was going on quickly as they placed their bets and flipped over their cards. It was a simple game. Match your cards with as many cards as you could in the banker’s hand, win the money you bet based on who matched the most cards.

            Child’s play. My fingers were working under the table, nails digging into the fabric of my dress. I badly wanted the cards in my hands. I wanted to play, to place bets and win and feel the rush.

            Sure enough, Kiran won the first round, scraping the chips into his pile and stacking them neatly in front of him, grinning over them at the other men. “See, my lady luck over here is very effective.”

            The brothers rolled their eyes, but Bones glowered at me as if he thought I was personally responsible. It would have been ridiculous in any other circumstance, but since it was true…it made me stomach turn.

            I shot him a glare right back though, and he lowered his eyes to his cards, muttering under his breath. I caught a few of the words and resolved I would catch him outside later if I could. He was scrawny enough that I could beat some manners into the guy. Someone should.

            Another round, and Kiran collected another handful of chips. The brothers exchanged a dark look, and Bones began shifting in his seat. Eyes darting from me to Kiran. I swallowed, glancing over at Kiran, who was still studying his cards as if he hadn’t noticed the shift in tension at the table.

            This time, when he asked me to blow on the cards, Kiran didn’t hand them over to me. He must want to lose this round. A smart call, since the others would start getting suspicious if he had a string of big wins.

            Bones let out a woop when three of his cards matched, leering at me as he raked the chips across the table. “Guess you’re running out, lady luck.”

            I rolled my eyes at him, about to shoot something back. Kiran elbowed me in the side and I gave him an indignant look. He shook his head slightly, barely perceptible, and his eyes glittered with warning.

            Right. Don’t piss them off, we need them in a good mood. They were about to lose badly.

            Kiran let someone else win the next round as well, and Ruck cackled madly as he slid the chips into his pile. “That’s how it’s done, love! That’s how it’s done!”

            His brother glared at him. “You’re buying the ale later, Rucky.”

            When it looked like Kiran was going to lose on purpose for the third time, I leaned over and blew on the cards, taking care to brush one of them with my fingertip. He shot me a brief, irritated glance, and I gave him a flirty smile back.

            He looked so irritated that I couldn’t help saying, with a coy little wink, “Time our luck improves again…lover.”

            He kept a straight face, though I could tell how annoyed he was by the ridged set of his shoulders, and it made my smile wider. He was being overly cautious. We were here to gamble…so we had to start gambling.

            Kiran ended up matching four cards, and raked the chip across the table towards him, adding to his already large pile.

            Bones rolled his eyes to the ceiling and the brothers groaned, but no one looked suspicious. I gave Kiran a triumphant grin and he ignored me.

            We won again, and Bones slammed his fist on the table, making me jump. “Hell fires! You come over here, girly. Play on my team.”

            Stomach churning, I gave him a grin, half mocking, half flirty. Hopefully it would defuse the situation.

            Bones looked over at Kiran and grumbled, “Yeah, yeah. I ain’t got enough money for your class of woman. Fussy broad.”

            When Ruck went to deal again, Kiran held up his hands. “I think I’ve tried my luck again. We’re out, before our luck turns bad.”

            What? I glanced down at our pile of chips. There were only a couple hundred silver there, we could win more! We’d only played ten rounds, the game was still young. It wasn’t like we were actually going to run out of luck, and the men weren’t even close to suspicious yet!

            Kiran stood, his chair scraping back noisily. “Gents.” He nodded at them. The brothers nodded back, reluctantly grumbling “good game” to him. Bones was staring at me still, eyes hungry.

            Kiran must have seen that I wasn’t standing up, because he seized my arm firmly and hauled me to my feet. “Come along, Marissa. We’ve tried our luck for one day, lets say we go buy that pretty trinket you were looking at…”

            My voice was laced with irritation. “Really? So soon?”

            We were facing away from the men now, and Kiran ducked his head and stared at me fiercely, voice low and even. “Don’t you remember that nice necklace you liked so much, you know…the iron one?”

            He was threatening me.

            I almost turned then, back to the gambling table, driven by the need to send him a message. He couldn’t threaten me like that.

            But Kiran tightened the grip on my arm, shoving the plastic chips into my hands. “Here, run over to the barkeep and cash those, darlin’.”

            I stared down at the plastic chips, gritting my teeth. I wanted to go back and win more of these, but I also didn’t want to say no to going over there and cashing them. These chips meant money.

            Besides, Bones was still staring at me with interest, so it was probably time to get out of there.

            “Fine,” I hissed at him under my breath. “Have it your way.”

            I stomped over to the bar and shoved the chips at the short, bald man, who took them from me without comment. He vanished into the back room and came out a moment later with a small leather pouch, which he slipped into my hands with barely a glance at me. At least, he wasn’t looking at my face.

            “Pervert,” I muttered at his back, and then turned on my heel to follow Kiran, who was already waiting at the door for me.

            “Come on,” he said. “Straight back to our rooms.”