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Another woman steps forward. She doesn’t give her name, but brings a beautifully carved crystal vase, which she wants to wager for a necklace that she saw Urszula wear at a ball a few weeks earlier.
Urszula doesn’t concentrate so keenly this time, even talking to her assistants while she plays. The woman wins by five spins to two – they skip the final spins – and an assistant takes her away to fetch the necklace. Urszula sighs and says she’ll have to go shopping for a replacement, but doesn’t seem too bothered by the loss.
A man is next up, and Urszula’s smile fades as she greets him.
“Earl Vlad,” she says. “You come to me again.”
“I’m nothing if not persistent,” the man says slyly.
“You’re still after poor Marjorie?”
“I am indeed,” he beams, “and I’m willing to bet not one or two, but three devisers from Diamond.”
The empress looks impressed. “Devisers from Diamond are highly valuable. Why risk them?” she asks.
“I want to create a glass dome for my palace, and Marjorie’s the best,” Vlad says.
“I don’t know,” Urszula purrs. “There was a time when I would have risked much for a deviser from Diamond, but now that so many of them have left their homeland and are roaming the realms...”
“There aren’t that many,” Vlad notes, “and having enjoyed the warmth of King Lloyd’s rule, I’m not sure they’d be in a rush to succumb to your cooler methods.”
“Are you saying I’m a cruel ruler?” Urszula asks frostily.
“Not at all,” Vlad says smoothly, “but you can’t deny that you rule with a firmer hand than Lloyd. Maybe I’m wrong, and his people have been beating a path to your door. If that’s the case, send me packing and I’ll take my devisers with me.”
Urszula glares at him, then laughs grudgingly. “You’re a rogue,” she says.
“That’s why we get on so well,” he grins. “Is it a bet?”
“Yes,” she says, then points at him. “But I’ve lost the last two games, and it’s rare that I lose three in a row. Are you sure you’re willing to risk so much when I’m potentially at my most dangerous?”
“You’re always at your most dangerous,” Vlad chuckles, and steps forward.
The earl spins high, having called low. He curses and immediately spins again.
Urszula wins the second round and laughs with delight.
Vlad wins the third round and looks a bit more comfortable, taking a break before spinning for a fourth time.
The earl wins again. Things are getting tense. Urszula isn’t taking this lightly any longer and is fully focused on the beads.
The empress draws a 4. Vlad grunts, “Higher,” and sets his bead spinning. Urszula watches closely as he prepares to make his move. She’s whistling a few out of tune notes, repeated over and over.
Vlad drives his handle forward and the bead stops on a 2. His face reddens.
“Bad luck,” Urszula purrs.
The earl shoots her a dirty look, then spins again. This time he draws a 6.
“Lower,” Urszula says, and takes her time, letting her bead spin for several long, teasing seconds. She’s switched from a whistling sound to a sucking sound, but again it’s a tuneless noise, repeated while the bead is spinning.
She stops and the number 3 is revealed.
“Four-two,” she says as an assistant pins another yellow disc to the Spinner.
“I can count,” Vlad snarls. He’s sweating now.
“Marjorie will be pleased she doesn’t have to switch kingdoms,” Urszula says.
“It isn’t over yet,” the earl barks. “Spin, damn you.”
Urszula winks, then pulls her handle. She doesn’t look at the bead as it spins, but stares at Vlad. She doesn’t even check when she stops the bead. Vlad tries not to check either, but can’t help himself and steals a glance.
“Well?” the empress smiles.
“Lower,” is his only answer as he spins.
Urszula still doesn’t look away, but Vlad refuses to meet her gaze now, staring at the bead with a pained expression. He grunts happily when he stops it, then says out of the side of his mouth, “Four-three.”
“I love a close match,” Urszula laughs, then stares at the Spinner again as Vlad takes the first turn of the eighth round. This time she makes a clicking noise with her tongue as his bead is spinning, and it sounds like one of Winston’s cuckoo clocks ticking in his base in the wrap zone.
When Vlad stops his bead, the number 1 is face out.
The earl’s shoulders slump.
“Oh dear,” Urszula says. “It isn’t your day, is it?”
“Just spin,” Vlad sighs, then cocks an eyebrow at her. “And forgive me for the biggest roar of laughter ever recorded if you draw a 1.”
Urszula giggles and pulls her handle. “That’s what I like about you,” she says as the bead spins. “You take defeat in your stride.”
“I’ve had a lot of practise,” he chuckles, resigned to the loss. “May I?”
Vlad chose the right side of the Spinner, so he’s been holding his handle with his left hand, while Urszula has been next to him, using her right hand. Now he moves his right hand across until it’s resting just above hers, and looks at her questioningly.
“Why not?” the empress giggles, and he puts his hand over hers and slowly slides it forward. The bead comes to a stop on the number 3.
“So near and yet so far,” Vlad says with a smile, releasing her hand.
“Isn’t that life summed up in a nutshell?” Urszula says, then tells him she’ll take good care of the devisers and promises not to gloat when he visits again.
Everyone around me is discussing the game, commenting on how unlucky Vlad was and how he’s such a good loser, marvelling at how Urszula always pulls it out of the bag in the big showdowns.
I don’t engage in the conversations. I’m shell-shocked, because I’ve figured something out. I might be wrong – the next few games will tell – but if I’m right, the empress does cheat, and I know not only that she manipulates the Spinner, but also how she does it.
But that’s not the reason my knees are trembling.
They’re shaking because a voice is whispering inside my head, the voice I first heard that day on the bridge when the killers set their sights on me, and it’s telling me that maybe I can secretly work the Spinner too...