A Player for A Princess

I touch her gently, turning her back to me. Our eyes meet, and I smile my most reassuring smile. “Trust me. We’re going to get Ximena her pass. We’re going to get her twenty passes.”

Selena doesn’t move. She sits in that garden watching me, turning over my words. “How?”

“Trust me!” I say. “I know what I’m doing.”

“And if he wins?”

I catch her arms and hold her tight. My eyes level with hers, and I make a promise I mean with all my heart. “I will never let him touch you.”

She still hesitates, but I take her hand and pull her up with me. “Tell you what,” I say. “If anything goes wrong, I’ll take your place.”

Her face jerks, “Don’t even say that!”

Giving her a little hug, I laugh. “I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t sure I’d win.”

That seems to reassure her.

* * *

Mako is waiting when we round the corner of the house, and I feel Selena’s body tense. I give her another reassuring squeeze, and she tells him in their language it’s a deal. The three of us return to the table, and I’m determined to win those passes for Ximena. I didn’t say it out loud, but that’s another thing I won’t let happen again. No one suffers for me.

With trembling hands, Selena places two cards face down in front of us, followed by two cards face-up.

Silence falls over us as we examine our hands.

I have a three; Mako, a Jack.

My breath stills. I do my very best to channel all the casino-cool that’s been pounded into me through the years.

“Stay,” he says, leaning back and grinning.

“Hit me,” I say, and Selena turns a ten up next to my three. Mako begins to laugh, and Selena’s eyes flood with tears.

I want to reach over and squeeze her hand, but I can’t. It’s the moment of truth, and I can’t appear to know what’s coming.

Selena takes a shaking breath as she reaches to flip the final two cards, but Mako is eager. His hand shoots forward and he flips up a two for him…

An eight for me.

We’re quiet a moment as the truth sinks in. Selena does some fast math, and then her breath explodes from her mouth with a laugh.

I glance up through my lashes to see Mako’s face turn bright red. “NO!” he points to the table and shakes his head.

“A deal’s a deal!” I say, scooting back in the chair. “A pass for Ximena.”

His eyes cut to me, and for a moment he considers reneging. I can see it in his shifty eyes. He’s a double-crosser. He makes deals and then changes them when they don’t go his way.

Standing, I go to the door and pretend to call into the yard. “I should tell the other women what happened here. How we won fair and square, and you’re taking it back.”

His eyes move from me to the table, to Selena then to Ximena. He doesn’t know what I’m saying, as far as I know, but he gets up and walks fast to where I’m standing at the door. Selena is still at the table, frozen in place as if she’s unsure what might happen next.

Mako leans into me, says something in his language, and then pushes through the door, storming out into the yard and away.

I explode a breath. “Shew!” I say, leaning forward.

I want to laugh, but instead my head spins. My breathing is labored, and while I’m so happy I won, I have to close my eyes against the rising nausea.

“Are you okay?” Selena asks, walking to me and touching my arm.