The Magic Trick (The Card Game #2)

Ch 26 - The King of the Gypsies

CHAPTER XXVI

THE KING OF THE GYPSIES

Viktor had little idea of what to expect as he rode with Andrei, Arseni, and Rover through the lively array of tents. Under him, Star-flank shone like a golden sun in the darkness, yet the horse's majesty did little to illuminate Viktor's path. He remembered visiting the King of the Gypsies with Arseni and being surprised that the ruler was a woman, and thus, being subjected to her scorn. So why would she be sympathetic to his cause now? Why did Andrei think that he could force her hand? For that matter, how was the rest of the Clan connected to her? And why, Viktor wondered, did his friends look so sick to their stomachs?

The yellow tent was perhaps the largest and most extravagant in Kasta Way, and though Viktor had seen it before, that didn't stop him for craning his head to look up at it.

"I swore I wouldn't return here," Rover said miserably. "I haven't till now."

"Neither have I," said Andrei. After an uncomfortably long pause, his eyes slid sidelong. "Arseni?"

The fire-wielder winced. "Well, in the winter—sometimes our food was short—"

"What?" Andrei snarled, hopping off his horse. "You've been using my favor on biscuits and gravy?"

Viktor turned away and dismounted, deciding this was the wrong moment to mention his own mishap with the Gypsy King.

"Just relax," Arseni said to Andrei. "She'll still listen to you. She's obsessed with getting you back in the old ways."

"Which is exactly why you shouldn't have visited!" Rover said in an uncharacteristically harsh tone.

Andrei dropped the conversation and led his horse up to the royal tent, barking an order in Romani to the guards standing outside, who then dipped their heads almost in a bow and took the reigns of the horses, apparently leading them to a stable. Viktor found this remarkably odd, but said nothing. He was still thinking about Arseni's reference to the Crossbones Clan's "old ways." What did his friends' criminal history have to do with the King of the Gypsies?

Without the least hesitation, Andrei strode past the tent flaps, the rest of the party trailing behind. There was a good amount of activity inside, and as it took time for the guests to be noticed, Viktor snuck another look around the tent's rich tapestries and furs and furniture and food. A great amount of revelers and feasters were bantering and laughing, but Viktor also saw Gypsy soldiers whom he hadn't examined before.

To one side was a wiry man who had a collection of pistols strapped to his vest and belt. Across from him stood two women who must have been sisters, for they had glowing faces and braided brown hair, wore hunting boots and green robes, and had identical black bows and arrows slung over their shoulders. Beside them, a bearded man sat sharpening knives, and beside him, there was Besnik, the black-haired, orange-robed man whom Viktor had originally mistaken for the group's leader.

"Greetings," said a husky voice over the dying noise. The King of the Gypsies sauntered forward from out of her people, her wild dark hair flowing behind her, jewelry and smudged makeup flashing. "It has been too long, Rover, my love—even if Arseni has brought along his irksome serf pet."

Andrei cast Viktor an angry and questioning look, though Viktor was too irritated himself to acknowledge it.

The King of the Gypsies gave a wine-stained smile. "And of course, I have awaited you, Andrei. Hello again, my dearest."

Andrei grunted. "Hello, mother."

Viktor's knees almost buckled. He stared in shock from a pale-skinned, brown-haired Andrei to the King of the Gypsies. She was Andrei's mother? How could it be? Why was this kept secret? A hundred questions were at the tip of his tongue, but knowing better than to voice them here, he instead recalled what Andrei had confessed after visiting his old prison. After all, the boxer had only been imprisoned because of thievery, and he was only a thief because Eiruss, his mother—or rather, adoptive mother—had raised him as one.