She nodded, taking her place. He looked at her. She seemed different but he wasn’t quite sure how.
‘Are you OK?’ he asked, concerned.
She pressed her lips a moment. ‘Headache,’ she said.
‘You should eat something. This evening was not relaxing.’
‘No,’ she agreed. She didn’t meet his eyes.
Leaving the pasta carbonara to stay warm in its covered tureen, Lycos raised his glass. He’d ordered a robust Italian red wine to go with the pasta.
‘Well, here’s to it being over and to us relaxing.Santé!’ he toasted.
She did not answer him, but she picked up her wine glass and took a draught. As she set back the glass, so did he.
‘Tomorrow,’ he announced, ‘we’ll have the day entirely to ourselves. And the evening. No more socialising.’ He looked at her, his expression quizzical. ‘And no more gaming parties.’
She looked at him now, across the table. ‘Lycos, why do you still gamble? You don’t need the money any more.’
He met her eyes. They were troubled. Questioning.
‘No, I don’t,’ he agreed. ‘But as I’ve told you, I don’t want to lose my edge. It’s the one skill I have.’
‘But you don’t need it any more.’
He looked at her and chose his words carefully, so she would understand.
‘Tell me something. You trained as a musician. You studied it for three years. It’s your skill. If someone asked you why you still play the piano, even though you don’t make a living out of it, what would you tell them?’
She shook her head. ‘It’s not the same.’
‘Why not?’
She didn’t answer. He let it be. He was hungry and served up the pasta, getting stuck in with gusto. Arielle ate too, but less hungrily. There was still that different air about her. She seemed withdrawn, troubled.
He didn’t want that feeling to be there.
Clearing his dish, he set down his fork. Looked across at her.
‘Arielle, I owe you an apology. And I give it to you freely. I’d hoped I’d given you fair warning that you must not interrupt or distract me during play.’ He paused, looking directly at her. She wasn’t meeting his eyes.
‘Is that why you’re upset with me?’ he said.
She still didn’t look at him, but she set down her fork.
‘No,’ she said. Her voice was low. ‘It was because of that boy. That boy I tried to stop you playing with!’
‘Boy?’ he said blankly.
Her eyes flashed. ‘Yes, boy! Because that’s all he was, Lycos! Barely of a legal age to gamble! You demolished him! You totally demolished him! How much did he lose in the end? You made him sign some kind of IOU on top of taking everything else he had! His hand shook when he signed it. I saw it!’
Lycos sat back. His face had shuttered.
‘He knew what he was getting into. There were other tables he could have joined, where the play was not so deep. And he would not have had to face playing me. Hechoseto do so, Arielle. And that isnotmy responsibility! I have a well-known reputation and those who take it into their heads to challenge me do so at their own risk! If some spoilt rich kid wants to boast that he played against the Wolf, and got wiped out instead, that’s his problem!’
His voice rose slightly.
‘I’ve seen types like him all my life. Arrogant, conceited, flaunting their money, taking it for granted, wasting it on anything they want to waste it on, including their gaming losses. So what makes that pampered kid tonight any different fromyour stepbrother? Do you bleed over him being taken to the cleaners by the Wolf? No, you don’t. So don’t bleed over some wet-behind-the-ears idiot who fancied himself playing against me and got taught a life-long lesson for his pains. Not that it will cost him anything!’
