“What kinds of trickery?”
“Anything you can get away with,” Finnegan said. “If you’re caught cheating, you must do a forfeit. But only if you’re caught.”
Aurora picked up her hand and spread the cards into a fan. The unicorn was not there.
Finnegan leaned over her shoulder, his fingers brushing hers as he rearranged their cards. “We have much to talk about,” he murmured. “But we cannot say it here. Soon.”
She forced herself to keep looking at her cards.
“Who has the two of clubs?” one man said.
“I do,” said a woman with a brown braid hanging over one shoulder. She looked around, taking in all the expressions of her opponents, and then plucked a card from Alexandra’s hand. “Seems like a safe bet, considering how many other games you’ve won,” she said.
Cards moved back and forth quickly between players.
“Did you hear about what happened the other evening, down by the south gate? The road was barred, debris set on fire. I believe a few guards were injured.” Carina laid a pair of cards on the table and gave a dramatic little shudder. “My husband told me they’re concerned a rebellion is brewing again.”
“Rebellion?” The man beside her laughed. “Don’t be silly, my dear. A few bad-tempered peasants do not a rebellion make.”
“Oh, let’s not talk about such dreadful things,” Alexandra said.
“Alexandra is of the opinion that if you don’t think about something, it does not exist,” Finnegan said. “I’m surprised there’s anything left in her world at all.”
Alexandra gave a high-pitched little laugh. “Oh, Finnegan,” she said. “You’re too cruel.” She continued to smile, but her eyes looked furious.
The player to Finnegan’s right shifted forward. Aurora caught a glimpse of her cards. No unicorn there.
“So,” Finnegan said in her ear. “Who do you think has it?”
She glanced around as people battled over cards. She had little experience in reading people’s faces. But Alexandra, she noticed, kept glancing left and right. Her chair had crept back a couple of inches, as though she was trying to get a better view of other people’s cards. “Alexandra doesn’t,” she murmured back. “She’s trying to find it.”
“Anything else?”
She looked around again. “The man in the green cravat,” she said. “He isn’t paying attention to the cards he takes. It’s as though he doesn’t care, because he already has the one he wants.”
“Perhaps,” Finnegan said. “But unfortunately, that’s just Andrew. He cannot lie, so he prefers to leave it up to chance.”
“You two are quite off-putting with your whispering,” Carina said. “I feel like I’m the subject of a plot. It makes me highly suspicious of both of you.”
“She’s on to us,” Finnegan said in a stage whisper. “How will we hide?” Everyone around the table laughed. When play had moved on, he leaned even closer to Aurora’s ear. “She has it,” he said. “She’s trying to keep a blank face, but every time someone takes one of her cards, she glances at the one two from the left. Just a flicker of movement, before she can stop herself. There’s our unicorn, I promise you.”
“And how do you know that isn’t an incredibly advanced bluff?”
“Because, Aurora,” he said. “I know.”
Almost all the cards had disappeared by the time Finnegan reached out to take the suspected unicorn. He slipped it into Aurora’s hand without a word. It was the red four.
As the turns moved on, he reached forward as though to consider their three remaining cards. With a flick of his finger, he slipped the unicorn behind another so that it could not be seen from the front. Aurora shifted her fingers so that it slid farther left.
When Carina moved to take it back, she took the wrong one.
Andrew dispatched the final pair of cards, and Aurora placed the unicorn on the table, smiling.
“A shame,” Finnegan said. “The whole court beaten by a beginner. I think I’m going to enjoy having this one around.”
Aurora fought back a frown. He had won the game, not her.
“I’m tired of this game,” Carina said. “Why don’t we play something else?”
Alexandra looked at Aurora. “Do you know any games, Princess? What did you used to play, before you came here?”
“Oh yes, something old-fashioned!”
“I am afraid,” the queen said, “that Aurora will have to teach you another day.” She stood behind Aurora’s chair, although Aurora did not know when she had appeared. “I simply must steal her away to my embroidery table. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Another time, then,” Finnegan said.
The queen nodded her assent. “Come along, Aurora,” she said.
Aurora stood up and followed her across the room. “I warned you to stay away from him,” Iris murmured as soon as they were out of hearing. “Do not allow him to reel you in.”
“We were only playing cards.”
“Yes, well. Finnegan never only does anything. He has his motives, trust me.”
The women glanced at them over their embroidery as they approached, but they offered little more than smiles and nods. The queen gestured at an empty chair and then sat down herself. She picked a piece of rough cotton off the table and passed it to Aurora.
“Practice on this, my dear,” she said. “We will measure your skill and see where it can be put to use.”
“I don’t know how,” Aurora said softly as she took the needle and cloth into her hands. A blush crept across her cheeks. “Needles . . . I wasn’t allowed . . .”
“Then it is time you learned,” the queen said. “You don’t have to worry yourself about pricking your finger anymore, after all.”
The needle felt cold and thin between her fingers. “That is true, Your Majesty.”
“See if you can stitch your name,” she said. “We can all guide you once we see your mistakes. Curses don’t last forever, dear.”
Aurora plucked at the material, trying to slide the needle through the cloth. The fabric snagged, and she pulled harder, keeping her eyes low. The women resumed their talk of courtiers and potential wedding guests, and Aurora dug the edge of the needle into the pad of her finger, rubbing it back and forth. It was too blunt to do more than dig a groove in her skin.
She glanced at the card table, now absorbed in another game. Finnegan had moved seats, so he faced her and the queen. He watched her over the top of his cards, an eyebrow raised.
She turned her attention back to her cloth, but she could still feel his eyes on her, long after she looked away.