“She Can’t Understand Us,” They Laughed — Then the Duke’s Bride Silenced Them in Fluent Italian
Chapter 5
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"Never throw a game, my dear," he had said. "Not for money, and not for kindness. Give away anything else you like. Never that."She had promised him.Thomasina moved her knight. It was not the careless move; it was the other one.Mrs. Strickland drew in a sharp breath through her nose and straightened up, and her rings let go of Thomasina's shoulder at last.Across the table, the Duke had seen the knight go where it went. He frowned at it. Then he frowned at her."You were told to lose," he said very quietly, so that only she and Gallagher could hear."Yes, Your Grace.""And you will not.""No, Your Grace. I will not."He held her eyes a little longer. Something moved in his face that she could not read. Then he took his hand from his chin and reached for his queen.The Duke sent his queen hunting. He did it the way he had done everything that evening: fast, and hard, and without looking at her. The black queen swept down the long diagonal, took a white pawn beside her king, and stood there glittering deep inside her lines."Check," he said.The ladies behind the table gasped. Somebody said, "Oh, the poor thing." A gentleman on a chair at the back said, "That's the end of it," and began to climb down.Thomasina moved her king one square to the side. Her hand was shaking now, and she let it shake. The Count was so close behind her that she could hear the gold braid on his sleeve creak when he folded his arms.The Duke's queen went after her king again.Again, she stepped aside."You are running out of room," said the Duke."I know, Your Grace.""Then why are you running?""Because I am not finished."He looked at her then properly, for the second time. His eyes were gray, very pale in his brown face, and there was something at the back of them that she had not expected: it was not anger; it was closer to fear.He moved his queen a third time, deeper still, to the square beside her castle. And Thomasina, who had been waiting for that square since her seventh move, picked up her knight and set it down with a small, clean tap.The knight stood where it attacked his king and his queen at once.The Duke stared at it.For a moment, the card room did not understand. Then Count Belsky let out a short bark of a laugh, the kind a man gives when he is kicked. Then Gallagher said, "Ah, Christ," under his breath, reverently, like a prayer. Then the people who played chess saw it, and after them the people who did not saw their faces, and the room went quiet.The Duke moved his king out of check. He had no choice; there was nothing else to move.