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Book 2: Chapter 7: Tying Up Loose Ends

"Don\'t play virtuous with me. I don\'t know what scam you\'re playing, but you\'ve got no more eye on that damn egg than most of those nobles." Bob eyed him while he spoke, rubbing a dishrag over a mug that had been thoroughly cleaned. "But it was supposed to hatch today, right?"

Arthur wasn\'t surprised that Bob had mostly figured him out, or that he knew the hive gossip. He was a canny owner and had built a place for people to talk freely.

"Yes, but there were complications," he said, hedging. "I can do a few hours in the mornings here, Bob, or the cleaning shift in the evenings. But I gotta stay in the back."

Bob\'s eyebrows shot up. "You want to keep out of sight? What happened? Your scheme go sour on you?"

"Something like that." In reality, his \'scheme\' was nowhere near done yet. But Earnest Kane could not be seen at the front of the house, bartending.

Arthur had extended the olive branch, however. Bob was always having trouble hiring good staff for the early morning prep work shift. Arthur had done his fair share as a new-hire kid, freshly graduated from classes. He knew the work and mostly didn\'t mind it.

"Fine," Bob said. "You start tomorrow morning, first shift."

"You don\'t need help now?"

"No. It\'s dead out there. Take a look."

Now it was Arthur\'s turn to raise his brows. He stepped to the entrance that separated the kitchen area from the main tavern and pulled the heavy fabric aside.

Sure enough, only a few patrons sat at the bar -- and those kept well away from one another. The tavern was almost eerily silent.

"Rumor\'s been circling," Bob said to Arthur\'s silent question. "Some say scourge-infection\'s taking hold here. It\'s put a chill up men\'s spines."

So. Some of the news had leaked out. Not a surprise considering how fast the nobles fled. Arthur bet a fair few signaled for purple dragon transport to get them home at once -- and weren\'t shy in saying why.

"Carded men and women have nothing to fear from scourge-diseases," Arthur said. "And this hive has been free of scourgelings for centuries."

Bob finally abandoned the glass he\'d been wiping dry and switched it out for another. "People know that here." His free hand touched his temple. "But not here." His fingers moved to his heart. "They\'ll likely get over it soon once the shock wears off. But until then... well, no one is in the mood for celebration."

Bob\'s words stayed with Arthur as he made his way out of the hive. To his annoyance, he found that they resonated with him, too.

A whole new world of skills had just opened up to him thanks to his Master of Body Enhancement card. Not to mention how it paired with his current Master of Skills card...

But he found he didn\'t have the appetite for it.

So much had happened over a short period, and he hadn\'t yet had time to process it all. The black egg. Scourge\'s appearance in the hive. How was that even possible? Oh, and the little fact that he was carrying a dying baby dragon in his storage.

With that in mind, he focused on his Personal Space card. It happened to come with a convenient list.

(2) bags of beef jerky.

(1) Woolen shirt

(1) Winter jacket

(2) Silver Coins

(1) Pair of boots

(1) Pink Shimmer dragon (f)

Interesting that his card had not labeled the dragon as \'scourge-touched’ yet had included that it was of a higher shimmer quality and its gender. Arthur hadn\'t been able to tell if it was a shimmer -- that was, a sparkly aspect from a dragon\'s normal base color, considering it had still been wet with egg goo.

And it didn\'t mention the dragon\'s name. Was that because Arthur didn\'t know the dragon\'s name or because the dragon itself didn\'t know?

Some dragons gave their name, and some allowed themselves to be named. From what Arthur understood, it was mostly the Commons that allowed their linked partners to choose a name for them. The higher-ranked dragons had minds of their own.

Arthur supposed he would be one of the first to find out. Valentina told him to be ready to come to their call at a moment\'s notice.

Of course, she didn\'t share her ultimate plans with someone as low as Arthur, but he suspected the two leaders were on the hunt for healers who knew how to keep their mouths shut, and Rare card wielders with Knowledge-type cards.

Well, Valentina told him to be ready at a moment\'s notice, but she didn\'t order him to stay in the hive. She was a Legendary elemental card wielder linked with a Legendary weather dragon. He was certain she could find him whenever she pleased.

With that in mind, Arthur made his way down to the hive\'s ground level and through the gates out to the city.

The last month or so while he\'d waited for the heat to die down after the theft of the cards had been... trying. He hadn\'t dared go to his regular haunts or places nobles were likely to show up.

So, Arthur had gone exploring and found a gambling hall that didn\'t ask too many questions about age.

They might if Arthur ever came away winning big jackpots, but he was much too careful for that.

The gambling hall was set at the dead end of a canal, where the water had nowhere to drain to or from. It took on a greenish look and a rotten smell. The men who visited the gambling hall weren\'t much better. Most had the smell of the dragon soil fields on them, which meant they were serving a criminal sentence.

His game, when he wanted a challenge for his Gambling Class, was blackjack.

While he had a card-counting skill, the House couldn\'t be entirely trusted. Neither could the players for that matter. It introduced randomness in the game.

Arthur still came out ahead -- most of the time -- but he had to work for it. And he made sure not to take too much from the house.

Unfortunately, one of the players sitting at his table didn\'t have the same self-control. Arthur wasn\'t sure what trick he tried, but a card anchor stone in the middle of the table suddenly whistled like a tea kettle. The chair he sat in lit up with a strong glow, and three burly men converged on him all at once.

Arthur winced as the man was dragged to the back of the gambling hall. Likely, to be taught a lesson.

It soured his taste for the game. He walked away after the next hand, only up by two silvers.

By then it was so late at night it was practically dawn. Arthur hesitated before he picked a direction: Should he return to his old apartment or take Kenzie\'s advice and keep to his new room in the hive like a proper noble son?

Before he could fully decide, he heard shouting. That wasn\'t too unusual for this part of town. The fact that the voice was female was a little odd, though. Thankfully, she seemed only blisteringly angry and not in distress.

The voice rounded the corner and Arthur blinked in surprise when he saw Cressida striding alongside a man in scholar\'s robes and, from the sounds of it, tearing verbal stripes off his back.

I wouldn\'t want to be in his shoes, he thought amused.

A moment later Cressida looked up and caught his eye. She turned back to the scholar and snarled. "Fine. You\'ve always been useless to the family. I don\'t know why I\'m surprised."

Then she turned on her heel and stomped toward Arthur.

He would never, ever say so, but she looked much like her flame bear: Hunched angry shoulders and hands so tense they were almost claws.

Arthur watched her come up to him, knowing he hadn’t done anything wrong and yet absolutely sure like he was about to be in a world of trouble.