I climb into the back of Seven’s Mercedes Maybach, the car he prefers when he requires a chauffeur. Saul slides behind the wheel and starts to drive. The concrete blocks that make up the tunnel create the illusion of collapse as he picks up speed, and I close my eyes to stop the overwhelming claustrophobia that sets in.
“You’re the only one Seven has ever allowed down here,” Saul says.
I open my eyes, and he’s watching me in the rearview mirror. Why do I sense this conversation is to distract me? I like Saul. “I guess I’m lucky then.”
He smiles. “The first time I learned these passages existed, I found it upsetting.”
I can’t hide my look of surprise, and he doesn’t miss it. “You didn’t know either?”
“You think because I’m a leprechaun that I have a life like Seven’s?”
“Sorry if that’s offensive. I know all leprechauns don’t have the same upbringing as Seven, but I thought you had more exposure to this type of lifestyle than I did as a pixie.”
Saul grins. “I can understand why you’d think that way, but I was born to a more humble family than the Delaneys. My dad was a security officer before he retired. My mom is a property manager. A good life for sure, but even we didn’t know this existed until I got this job. This belongs in a Batman movie.”
I laugh at that. “Well, Seven is a brooding billionaire.”
We travel in silence for a few minutes, until the tunnel widens and we ascend, circling another parking garage.
“If you don’t mind my saying so, Ms. Larkspur—”
“Call me Sophia.”
“—he’s not done as much brooding as before you came to work for the casino, and I don’t think it’s the poker lessons.”
Uh-oh. My relationship with Seven is a strict secret. It has to be for now. The only person who knows about us is Eva, and that was necessary for her to help us.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I say breathlessly.
He pulls to a stop in front of a set of elevators and looks over his shoulder at me. “He told me you were friends as children. I think Mr. Delaney needed a friend. Someone who likes him for him and not all this, you know?”
“Since we were six.” I nod. “And you’re right. I don’t care about any of this.”
“Everyone should be so lucky to have that sort of friend.” He exits the vehicle and opens the door for me. “You want the fourth floor. It exits into the Wonderland Security building.”
“Thanks, Saul.” I tap him gently on the shoulder with my fist.
“Anytime, Ms. Larkspur.”
“Sophia.”
He gives me a wave goodbye and climbs behind the wheel again.
I follow his directions and make my way quickly to Glaive Beach where I find Seven and Arden playing poker at the same flat-topped rock where he taught me all those years ago. Arden lights up. “Mom, you’ve got to see this.”
I pad to her side and take a look at her cards. “A royal flush. Very lucky.”
She hands her cards to Seven, who is smiling like the Cheshire cat. He shuffles them into the deck. “Show her how it’s done, Arden. Remember to shield.”
Arden nods.
As Seven raises the deck to deal the cards, his luck rises in the air around me, a red-hot beast. I feel Arden’s rise too. Raccoon energy weaves in and out of Seven’s, a faster, more playful vibration that blocks the dragon from reaching the cards while also tapping them with its little paw. All of that happens in my mind. How we perceive luck as fairies is hard to explain to anyone who isn’t fae. I don’t see a dragon and a raccoon; I sense them, and it’s as real as anything else around me.
Seven deals the cards.
Arden anxiously swipes them from the rock and then beams up at me. She laughs and fans them out. Royal flush.
“Wow, Arden. I’m impressed.” I hug her around the neck.
