The Hidden Card Novels & Stories

“Your turn.” I glance down at my cards again, then back at the table. My instincts want certainty. This game offers none. “I… call?” “That’s fine,” Morgan says easily. “You don’t have to be brave yet.” O’Hara flicks the top card off the deck and sets it aside without even glancing at it. I frown. “What was that?” Morgan smiles around her beer. “That’s a burn card.” “A what?” O’Hara doesn’t stop moving as he answers. “We throw one away before the shared cards come out. No one sees it. It’s dead.”

In 'Drawing the Dragon's Eye', all remaining players at the table shared one open card, also known as the 'Dragon's Eye card'. For example, in a game using 52 cards, if the Dragon's Eye card was a red Ace, and one player would have two visible Aces while their hidden card was also an Ace, their hand would become a 'four of a kind' with an additional single card, essentially a 'quad'. As long as no one else had a straight flush, this hand would be unbeatable.

Lilith exclaimed excitedly, although they were naked and did some playing, no one had yet left for the act itself, immersed in this game and paying attention between me and Kaiden. The cards were dealt and I didn't look to see mine, and neither did Kendrick, I had been able to read him for the entire game, but now, in this last phase it was as if an impenetrable mask had fallen over his face. Three cards were drawn and revealed to everyone, while my friends started betting to see who would win. Everyone was silent when finally the 5 cards were revealed, 4 cards being number 5, while the fifth was an A. I looked at Kendrick and smiled in a corner.

We are going to be passed out on the lawn by the end of the night except for Fox. I and Ransom are the first ones to have active cards but so do Angel and Shadow, meaning our cards match. Unfortunately for Ran and I, we have to drink longer seeing as how I have the 10 of spades and Ransom has the ten of clubs while Angel has the 3 of hearts and Shadow has the 3 of diamonds.

I argued, looking directly at Hudson and after a moment he slowly sat back down and the rest followed. Even though Amelia didn’t look too pleased by it she did join in. And everyone had their eyes fixed on me, the tension hanging in the air as I moved my fingers to one of the cards. Slowly, I turned one over while holding Hudson’s gaze and the audience gasped loudly from the image on the card, “Ace of Hearts!”

The loud buzz quieted down to hushed whispers, and I went to stand in front of my car before fumbling with the lock. I couldn’t look behind me, but I could tell that everyone was picking through all the sides where their eyes could pass through. I got a weird feeling of nostalgia but shoved it to the back of my mind. Carefully, I pulled the locker open, and just like Henry had said, two cards were placed right on top of my things. “Black Dread and Wafering.”

"The archivist in the indigo cloak... he spent the last two hours watching Marcus's men clear the stone from the third cellar." I followed his gaze. The tall, lean man with the refined fingers sat near the eastern hearth, a small leather-bound ledger resting open on his knee. He wasn't taking notes on our defensive positions anymore. His eyes were fixed on the great oak doors, where three hybrid scouts were casually unloading heavy iron ingots brought up from the lower stores—ingots bearing no imperial stamp, no tax mark, and no Council seal.

Before I could even think about it, he turned slightly and whispered, "By the way, your wedding gift has been credited in your bank account." My eyes widened. "Wait, what?" But he had already stormed out of the room, speaking into the phone to the person on the other end of the line. Confused, I picked up my phone and glanced at my banking app. And then…. I nearly dropped my phone. Because there, in my account, was a fortune of money so enormous that I nearly passed out. I shut the door, phone still clutched in my hand. "Hey, Cal, I've got to talk to you about money…."

I forced myself to act like I didn't know anything and pushed open the door. The entire house was filled with a sticky, suffocating atmosphere. I made my way inside, hearing Nydia singing from the bathroom. Taking advantage of the moment, I dug out the hidden camera I had seen last time. I had no clue how to use these things. So, I hastily took a photo and searched online. But no matter how much I searched, I couldn't find an exact match. That was when it hit me—it wasn't just Nydia. There might be someone even bigger behind this.

Albert doubted the woman had entered the wrong room, especially with that mischievous smile playing on her lips. “I don’t recall ordering you,” Albert said. A brief look of surprise flickered across the woman’s face, but it vanished quickly. She walked over to the bed, picked up her bag, and rummaged through it. The woman pulled out a business card and handed it to Albert. “Mr. Harris gave this to me for you,” she said.