"How did you know about the place?"
"I--" she swallowed. "I read about it."
"Ah, maybe from one of the books the King had gifted you. I'm sure one of them had it."
"Yes, yes!" She nodded quickly. How was she to explain that she had dreamt about it too. She would sound absolutely crazy. "And from books in her my Villages' library."
"Inaymi?"
"Yes."
"Of course, you pretty little reading thing."
That nickname again? It made her feel weird but she had more important things to focus on right now.
They kept on walking till they came across a side of the market, a stall sought of, where a man was sitting by a table, with cups laid face down on it. Some people were standing in front of the table, their eyes on the cups.
"You want to play the game?" Lady Kestra asked, observing how closely she was paying them attention, how interested she looked.
Belladonna had always found the game fascinating but she had always watched from a distance for one and only one reason, she didn't have any coin to risk for such mere entertainment. What if she lost and didn't pick the cup with the pebbles underneath them? She would lose any coin she used to play the game and she wasn't that buoyant to take such huge lose with a smile.
She would feel it for days, weeks even.
"I have no coins to wager upon," she said looking away but Lady Kestra's hand held her wrist, pulling her along as she walked towards the stall.
"You are the Bride. Coins is not your problem, I assure you of that."
Some talks and wagering later, they were at the table and Belladonna's attention was intensively on the cups that the man was moving around really quickly on the table, making sure that she wouldn't lose track of the one with the pebble underneath it.
The switching of the cups went on for a while, it was starting to be a headache to keep track, then finally he stopped.
What a relief!
"Choose," he said, passing his hands over the bottoms of the cups lightly, like as if he was presenting them to her for the first time.
Belladonna quickly placed her hand on the one at the middle, she was certain it was it.
"Are you sure?" the man asked in a way that it made her almost doubt herself.
But she nodded, having full trust in her observant technique.
The Man picked up the cup and indeed, the pebbles were there.
The audience cheered and the Man returned to them twice the amount of coin that they had wagered.
Belladonna took it up, overwhelmed with joy. Today was starting to turn out into an awesome day.
As they turned to leave though, the man presented a better offer. If they wagered the prize coin they had just gotten on the next game, which was in the next level, they would get three times the amount of what they would presently be wagering.
This time around, there would even be fewer cups to follow, just three.
There were mumurings in the audience already.
"You can never win that one."
"He is very fast."
"No one has ever won it."
"True," the man spoke up too. "Only the worthy ones win." A manipulative grin snaked up his lips, and his fingers twisted around his long goatee beards, "My Lady, are you worthy?"
Belladonna felt stuck.
Shs wasn't a fool, she knew that whatever deal promised that type of huge amount of coins for merely observing and getting something right would involve some trickery.
She looked up at Lady Kestra, as if asking her to bail her out of the situation, but she had an amused smile on her face that showed that she wasn't ready to interfere in any way.
All eyes were on her now.
Belladonna turned back to the man and dropped her prize coins on the table.
The man brought out his reward too, laying it on one side of the table for all to see.
"We have a deal?"
"We have a deal."
The man quickly took off some cups from the table, picked three pebbles for everyone to see before covering it up with one of the cups.
It started out easy and slow, but then it became fast, really fast.
Still, she was sure that she had her focus on the right cup.
Then, the man stopped. She left out a breath of relief, that had been rather difficult than the last, more difficult than she had expected.
"Choose."
She had observed it all well for any signs of trickery or if someone would try to call her attention to somewhere else in order to distract her, something that might have been done by one of the Man's apprentice, maybe, but there had been nothing.
She touched a cup and the man picked it up.
No Pebbles.
The crowd 'ow' in defeat, they had really wanted for someone to win that impossible round.
"Seems like you are unworthy then." The man laughed, snorting along, while he packed off the coins from the table.
Belladonna took a step back, feeling like a complete idiot. Now she had lost everything.
She shouldn't have tried this to begin with.
"Again," Lady Kestra's commanding voice snapped all attention to her.
"M-my Lady?" The man asked nervously.
"One gold coin for two."
"A gold coin." The man's eyes shone with greediness and the crowd gasped, mumbling amongst each other in surprise.
"Imagine losing a whole gold coin."
"Sad."
Belladonna looked up at Lady Kestra.
What could it be that she was playing at?
"Do we have a deal." Lady Kestra said and dropped the coin on the table.
"Of course." The man declared way too eagerly, bringing out a gold coin of his own from where he had hidden it firmly in his clothing.
His fingers had been really fast though, no one could say where exactly he had brought the gold coin from.
Quickly, he had the cups on the table and the switching began.
Then, it was done.
Lady Kestra's long slender red polished nail clicked against the bottom of one of the cups.
The man grinned knowingly, "are you sure, my Lady?"
"Absolutely."
"Or do you need a moment to think."
"My choice still remains my choice."
The man's grin widened and he picked up the cup, then his smile dropped instantly.
Pebbles!
The crowd roared in victory, cheering for the winner.
Lady Kestra picked up her gold coin and the one she had won, whispering discreetly to him, "better luck next time."
Then she turned to the people, handing it over to one of them. "Share, merry, enjoy."
The cheering increased.
"Blessings upon the Right Hand Woman!"
While they all cheered around in victory, Belladonna tried to follow Lady Kestra out of the clustered crowd but then a protruding nail from the table hooked her gown, ripping it open slightly.
The breeze she felt against her legs assured her that the cut was definitely something she could managed, but the deafening silence that immediately surrounded her made her heart leap with fear.
She looked down at the damage.
The gown had only been ripped slightly above her knees.
It wasn't as if she was naked.
Then she looked up at the crowd, who stared back at her, standing still like as if they had gone frozen.
When she realized what exactly they were looking at though, her heart ached with bitterness.
Their many scrutinizing eyes were on her scars.