Ten spades and nine of hearts. The dealer had a queen of diamonds and a face down card. The answer was obvious.
"I stand."
The dealer smiled and turned his card: the four of spades. Without saying anything, he drew one more: the king of spades
"Ah, I busted. What a shame."
Edric grinned. Things were starting to get good; he could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. It was a feeling he very much liked.
"So, what knowledge will you share?" Edric asked, a little curious.
The man didn't even need to think.
"A robbery will take place in three days at the Perola Casino."
Edric blinked slowly, not sure if he heard it right.
"Wait, what?"
But the man didn't respond. With another sweep of his arm the used cards disappeared from the cardboard.
"You are really lucky, you know that?" He dealt the cards. "Your ace of clubs and six of diamonds, against my nine of hearts. What are you gonna do?"
Once again, the answer was obvious.
"Stand."
He turned the hole card: Eight of Diamonds.
"Tsk, a tie is no fun."
"Hm, about what you said before…"
But the dealer ignored him once again. He clearly wasn't going to share anything more unless Edric won and nothing guaranteed that it would be about the same topic.
Once again the cards disappeared and were replaced by new ones. King of spades and nine of diamonds to Edric. Queen of hearts to the dealer.
"This is getting easy. Stand."
He turned his card: Eight of spades.
The dealer scratched his chin, his previous smile and laugh suddenly disappearing. He sure didn't like to lose.
"…At least it wasn't a tie."
Without looking at Edric and while cleaning the table once again and said:
"My name is —"
"What?" This time it wasn't out of confusion.
Whatever name the man had said sounded like a completely different language, he simply couldn't understand.
The cards were already on the desk before Edric noticed.
Ten of spades and Ace of hearts. Blackjack.
"Again? Your luck knows no boundaries, that's for sure."
This time he thought for a moment before saying:
"Fate is not your allie."
Edric had no time to process what he said, the man was dealing too fast, before he could even think the cards were already on the board.
Jack of Diamonds, King of Hearts, a perfect twenty.
"Stand."
The dealer had a Queen of hearts and the hole card…an Ace of Diamonds. Blackjack.
"Huh, tough luck…for you, of course."
Edric let out a breath, half-relieved, half-frustated. He also didn't like to lose, but at least he had time to re-arrange his thoughts. The secrets the man had shared were too weird to be believable. A heist at the Perola? Who had the guts to try robbing the greatest casino in the city?
Not only that, as a noble, Edric knew quite a few languages–it was only natural, given his education. Yet he had never heard anything like what the dealer had spoken before. It didn't sound human at all.
'Can this guy be a monster? Am I playing cards with an undead?'
Though hesitant to continue, Edric couldn't stop himself. Not only because he had to share what he knew, but also because he was having too much fun.
Since the man was so kind as to give short and incomprehensive answers, Edric decided to do the same.
"I lied to you."
The man raised an eyebrow and laughed, arching his entire body backwards in an unnatural way.
"Oh, Mister Holden…lies are relative in the realm of truths. Would a fish lie if he said he never saw water before?"
Edric grinned, in a way he had never done before.
"Then it's as I imaginated. If I believe it's true, it doesn't count as a lie, right?"
Indeed, Edric's first answer had been a test. Saying that his second name was Holden was half-lie and half-truth.
Officially, his true name was Edric Farben. It was written on his birth certificate, his ID, and it would be at his grave.
No matter how much he hated his family, nothing would change that. However, he had never presented himself as a Farben before to anyone. In his mind and soul, he was Holden, and so the dealer accepted. The same applies to the second one.
'What a stupid loophole.' Not that he was complaining though.
"By your answer I assume you know who I am then."
The man shrugged. Neither confirming nor denying, he simply dealt the next cards.
Eight of hearts and eight of clubs. A pair. While the dealer only had a ten of spades.
"Split."
"Two knowledge then. Both for you and for me."
In the first hand: Eight of clubs and a king of hearts. In the second one: Another pair of eights.
'Should I split again…' He seriously thought for an entire minute.
The dealer waited patiently for his decision, somehow finding it all amusement even if he was technically losing.
"Split." Edric finally decided.
"Three knowledge then!" His smile grew unnaturally large. "Oh, I like you, Mister Holden. I can tell, you and I aren't so different, no…perhaps we are completely opposite. Yet you still lost."
Edric looked at the cards with palpable frustration.
The dealer had a ten of spades and eight of spades. An eighteen. While in his first hand Edric had another eighteen, seventeen in his second hand, and another eighteen in his last hand.
"Damn it!" Even while losing he somehow had a smile on his face. Perhaps it was time to admit it…he may, perhaps, maybe, was addicted to gambling.
"It's a shame, Mister Holden." The dealer got up and put the deck of cards in his pocket. "In the end it was a tie between us."
Edric nodded.
"...I would sacrifice anything to cure my disease."
Their eyes met for a long moment before the dealer nodded and walked towards the door.
"...Good bye, Mister Holden." Those were his last words before he disappeared around the corner.
After staring at the door for a few moments, Edric sighed.
"A heist in the Perola…"
It still sounded unbelievable. The security at Perola was beyond grand, it was the greatest casino for a reason. Anyone planning a heist there, in the Farben's territory no less, must be either extremely powerful or extremely dumb.
And what was he supposed to do with that knowledge? Save the Perola?
"I can't even walk straight, imagine stopping a robbery."
What he could do was to send a letter to the Rivenditoris. They wouldn't ignore it if he sent it with the Farben seal. Or…
"Perhaps I can take some advantage of this somehow…" A few ideas were already forming into his mind as he grinned. "Fate is not your ally, he said. It surely doesn't seem that way."
***
"Took you long enough, what were you doing?" Tina asked as she saw Edric.
"...If I say, will you beat me again?"
"Probably? It will depend on how you say it."
He simply shrugged as he sat in his chair. The girls had ordered quite a spread for the entire buffet: chops, salads, steak, chicken, rice, mashed potato, two hamburgers, French fries, tacos, and finally, ice cream.
Only the two hamburgers were for Rachel and Raquel; Everything else was Tina's.
'She will turn into a ball sooner or later.'
As if sensing something, Tina looked at him with suspicion.
"...I feel you are thinking something bad about me."
'Are you sure you are not a Psych?'
He cleaned his throat.
"Ah, right. I overheard in the bathroom that someone is planning to steal the Perola."
"Wait, what?" She froze mid-bite. "You overheard it? Are you serious?"
"Of course, I never lie."