For the first time since I’d walked in, I checked the overhead lights. They were low-burning gas lamps along all the walls. Luckily it wasn’t too bright. I glanced down at my arms, and could only make out the tiniest glitter when I moved. Nobody would think anything of it. I was preened and powdered and covered with makeup. Nobody would look at me and guess “fairy”.

            At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.

            After we'd bet I caught Earnest staring at my pile of chips, raising his brows at me. “I would have expected,” he said, looking down his nose at me when he realized he’d been caught, “from your uncle’s description, that you’re a much heavier better, my dear.”

            I ground my teeth together silently. If this was an indication of how the night was going to go, dear old “Earnest” might end up with my fist in his face before long.

            Instead of saying what I wanted to say, I gave him a smile and said cheerfully, “The night has only begun, poppet.”

            Earnest looked horrified at the casual term of endearment, and James pressed his lips together and his blonde eyebrows shot up. He looked like he was trying to keep from laughing. The girl, Ducky, snickered behind her cards.

            “Well,” Earnest huffed. “I shall certainly tell your uncle all about this night.”

            “You go ahead.” I grinned, thinking that he could tell “Richard” whatever he liked. Although I almost felt bad for whatever poor girl was going to find herself the subject of his ire. Poor thing would have no idea what he was talking about.

            The dealer flipped over the cards, and Earnest paused in the middle of another huff, thankfully. It wasn’t a big surprise when most of my cards matched up, what was surprising was when an equal amount of Ducky’s cards matched, and we had to split the pot.

            The girl cackled when the dealer gave her half the chips, giving me a smug look as if she’d engineered the entire thing and thwarted me somehow. I merely raised my shoulders at her, as if to say “what can you do?” and went back to my cards.

            It was just as well. I kept checking the clock, when I thought nobody was looking. It had only been five minutes. Fanning myself with the cards I watched the dealer flip over another set of cards, thinking that it felt like it had been a good deal longer than that.

            Usually I was excited in this sort of situation, all my senses heightened, skin tingling with excitement. Right now I was just…nervous. And even though I found myself getting angry with myself, Kiran’s face kept popping up in my mind. I swallowed hard.

            I might never see him again. No, I’ll LIKELY never see him again.

            Maybe it was better that way. Maybe I should get back to my old life, back to gambling for the thrill of it and kicking the dust of each city off my boots and moving on after a short time. The way I had always lived. It was an old, familiar pattern I could easily fall back into.

            I watched the dealer flip the cards over in one motion, a gesture that came from long practice, sliding them out over the velvet display box.

            My mouth quirked at the side a little. Four cards out of five matched. I seriously doubted that anyone could match that.  I watched the others turn their hands over, and James let out a little groan when he saw mine.

            “Three.” Ducky’s voice was sulky, and she fluttered her lashes at me. “Very close.”

            She was very close, for the second time.

            I scraped the chips over into my piles, eyeing her sideways as I did so. She was looking down at her cards now, long black lashes brushing the tops of her cheeks. Fake lashes no doubt. They had to be.

            Her pale face was layered with makeup, but underneath all of the tacky powder and paint I could see she was probably very beautiful. Again my eyes drifted downwards to her cleavage. It was almost impossible not to look at her breasts, the way they were almost falling out of the corseted top.

            Earnest cleared his throat loudly, jerking my attention back to the table. I could feel my cheeks coloring, and glanced over at him. He was looking at me. No doubt he’d seen me eyeing Ducky’s ample bosom.

            He can just sod off. I gave him a wide, mocking smile and he looked away.

            James hadn’t seen our little exchange, and after the dealer had handed him his new cards he turned to me and said politely, “So, what does your father do for work?”

            Alarm made me sit up straight in my chair. What if Earnest knew what my supposed father was supposed to do? If I tried to invent something…

            I tried to make my voice sound gay and careless, flapping one hand at him. “Oh! How droll, let’s not talk about that! I’m sure there are far more interesting things about you.” I rested my chin in my hands and gave him an outrageously coy smile while the dealer laid my new cards on the table between my elbows.

            Earnest made a sputtering sound of outrage. “I really must protest…”

            “Oh, Earnest, chap.” James shot him an irritable look. “You really must relax, you’re going to give yourself a stroke.”

            I snickered quietly, picking up my cards, waiting for the dealer to flip his hand. When I glanced at the clock again it told me that six minutes had passed. It was probably time to start attracting attention. It was good timing really, I would be winning every single hand from here on out. Tying with Ducky at the beginning had been a fluke. It wasn’t going to happen again.

            I flipped my cards, crowing triumphantly that none of the others had three out of five. James had two of the same, and he pretended to heave a sigh of disappointment, all the while grinning at me and shaking his head. Ducky’s man friend did no better, coming up with only one matching card, and Earnest had none.

            I squinted at Ducky’s card, expecting her to have one at least, maybe two. My jaw dropped when I spotted four matching cards.

            She beat me.

            Cold dropped down my spine, and I rubbed my hands together under the table, trying to figure out if the dust was still there. I could feel it the slightest bit, the fine gritty powder on the palms of my hands, beading up beneath my fingertips as I scraped them over my skin.

            My dust was still there, it was still getting on the cards each time I held them, so how was she winning?

            Ducky scooped the chips up with a giggle of delight, and a sly sideways look at me that I did my best to ignore.

            Before our dealer could count out the cards again there was a smattering of applause from the front of the room.

            There was a procession making it’s way over the floor, a couple of ladies dressed in long sequined dresses. There were men in suites surrounding them, and everyone turned to stare as they made their way past.

            James must have seen me staring open-mouthed, because he explained, “Those are the singers. There’s entertainment every evening in the theatre next-door, will you be attending?”

            “I don’t know,” I mumbled, eyes still fixed on the women as they neared our table. The lights shone down on their dresses, and the sequins shimmered in a dazzling display of gold. As they drew nearer I found myself completely fixated on them. It wasn’t the dresses that made me stare in astonishment though, it was their skin.

            Under the flickering gas lamps their skin glittered with gold. It appeared to be dusted over their milky white shoulders, and sprinkled on both their faces. They were dazzlingly beautiful already, but they glittered and shone like something out of a fairy tale as they moved through the room, laughing and waving to the men who were shouting compliments to them as they went by.

            Their skin…it could have been makeup…but I didn’t think so. The way they moved, the way they were almost gliding across the floor.

            I couldn’t look away. I was completely entranced.

            James leaned over to me and whispered in a voice loud enough for the table to hear, “There are rumors about them, you know.”

            I blinked at him, but before I could blurt out the questions burning inside, Earnest gave another of his disapproving “hurumphs” and shook his finger at both of us.

            “Pish tosh! Don’t go around spreading rumors about, son. They’re not bloody fairies. They’re just gussied up in shiny dresses and makeup because the foolish creatures think imitating a fairy will make them more daring and outrageous. Not so daring when you’re locked up in a cell is it?”

            I rubbed at my arms, not sure if I was doing that because of the sudden chill I got, or in a futile effort to wipe off any telltale dust.

            “Damned fairies,” Earnest grumbled, almost to himself now. “Bloody good thing they are outlawed. The mischief they’ve caused the city folk!”

            James was laughing at his companion now. “Dear Earnest, it isn’t as if you’ve ever seen a real live fairy! Where are they? Are they flooding the streets?” He pretended to look around. “I don’t see them.” He looked over at me, eyes sparkling. “Are you a fairy, Susan Charnoble? A fairy in disguise?” He laughed mischievously, throwing back his head as he did so.

            I was glad everyone looked at him instead of me, eyes drawn by his hearty laughter, because the look on my face was likely one of horror. The back of my neck was prickling. Did he know somehow? Or was he just making fun?

            I recovered myself on time to flash him a coy smile. “Oh sir, you shall never know.”

            James thought this particularly hilarious, and went off into peals of laughter, while Earnest couldn’t seem to decide if he should glare at me or his companion.

            “No,” he said, clearly flustered. “I’ve not seen one. They don’t bother good folk in my life time. But never forget, dear James! This should be your motto, never forget, less you repeat history over and over again.”

            James snorted, quite a rude noise for a gentleman, and then the dancing ladies were gone into the next room, and the dealer had finished passing out our cards and it was time to play again.

            This time I flipped over my cards and found four matching, and I began to reach over only to find my wrist caught in the delicate grip of Ducky’s pale fingers.

            “Ah uh,” she chided me, and flashed her cards around the table. “Five is a match.”

            “By jove,” Earnest was exclaiming, and James told Ducky that she must have a four leaf clover hidden about her person, which made Ducky’s companion narrow his eyes at the man. In the meantime, I was feeling little prickles of alarm, my temperature running hot and cold.

            Something’s wrong. How is she doing that?