“Are you sure you don’t want a mask, Fin?”
Fin sighs as he steps out of the elevator with the only person in the House of Royals he still considers a friend.
“I told you, Damon, no one’s going to recognize me. It’s not like I’m a well-known lord.”
Damon uncomfortably shifts the mask on his face. It’s solid black, covering his entire face, decorated with gold filigree. Anyone looking at it would know he was a noble, but they wouldn’t be able to trace him back to a specific House. Masking like this in the Moon Level was a common practice for those in the upper nobility, people who were too recognizable from status or familial resemblance to the heads of the six major houses. As the future heir of House Ius, Damon happens to fit into both categories. Hiding his face is as much for his physical safety as it is for preventing a scandal for his house.
“Must be nice, wearing your own face in public…” Damon mutters. Fin can hardly hear him past his mask.
Fin laughs.
“Bold of you to assume this is my true face, Damon.”
“I can tell you want to get into a philosophical debate with me, Fin, but I would much rather not think right now.”
“Must be nice, not thinking.”
Fin can still see Damon’s eye roll through the holes in his mask. Fin gives him a hard time, but he knows this is exactly why Damon chose to reach out to him in the first place. This was the third time his wife had kicked him out of his own home this month, and no one knew better than Fin the art of running away from one’s problems. The fact that Fin wouldn’t go spreading gossip about Damon’s marital issues was only the icing on the cake. So, the pair had chosen to visit Fortuna’s Circuit to waste the hours until his wife was feeling more forgiving.
Since the start of Prohibition, it seemed like there was less traffic passing through this part of the Moon Level. A few years ago, Fortuna’s Circuit had been graced with a bar every few paces. Naturally, this had been the first place House Cassis had cracked down on since prohibiting alcohol, and every single one of Fin’s favorite establishments had been taken out of business in a matter of days. That, or they had relocated away from the Moon Level’s iconic “Vice Street.” Though, Fin had no intention of taking Damon to any of those places. Even masked, it was better not to risk his esteemed reputation by getting caught with a glass in hand. As it was, they were already treading dangerously close to the brothels.
Damon pauses and watches one of the girls posing outside one such establishment. Fin grabs his elbow and pushes him onward before he manages to catch the woman’s eye.
“I don’t think Elaine would forgive you for that one, friend.”
“I wasn’t-” Damon’s protest drifts off as he glances back at the woman again. He shakes his head before falling into step with Fin once more. “No, you’re right. Nor should she.”
“Better places to spend your money here anyway.”
“Are you planning to indulge?”
“I don’t think I fancy picking up any of their tabs, if you know what I mean-”
Damon snorts.
“I meant the casinos, Fin. Last time you refused to play, and I felt like I was dragging you from table to table for no reason.”
“Ah…”
Fin and Damon slow in their steps as Fortuna’s shrine drifts into view: a large fountain with a gold statue of a scantily-clad woman perching coyly at the top. Fin always wondered if that’s what the goddess actually looks like, or if artistic license had been taken. Damon pulls out a coin and tosses it into the fountain. It sinks to the bottom of the pool where coins of all size and color glimmer like fish scales in the multicolored lights around them. Fin considers for a moment before dropping his own meager offering into the fountain with a shrug.
“Maybe I will,” he finally answers.
“Good. I’d hate for you to feel like my chaperone.”
“I’ll have you know, since Prohibition I’ve become an excellent chaperone,” Fin gestures to the brothel behind them. “Case in point.”
“Maybe so, but I’d still rather have a friend at my side than a guard dog. Otherwise, I would have brought an automaton.”
“Good to know that my company is marginally preferable to a tin can.”
Damon tilts his head.
“Most days, anyway,” he laughs.
Fin frowns as they approach the largest casino on the circuit. The truth is, he has no intention of gambling now or ever. Damon might have expendable finances, but the Enfield family had been secretly broke for the last decade, in no small part due to the gambling debt he’d inherited from his father upon his passing. He’d only recently managed to pay off the worst of the sharks. Fin intends to spare Mina and himself the grief of adding his own financial debt to the pile.
But a big win would certainly solve plenty of my problems…
That’s the addict in him talking. He’d only been sober for two years. He isn’t about to trade one vice for another.
Imagine the money I could rake in with my magic though, eh?
Fin still remembers rushing about Fortuna’s Circuit in his street rat days, influencing every third person he came across to give him a small portion of their winnings. He’d had to be cautious though, take too much, and people would start to notice his little scam. He’d never dared to set foot in the casinos himself, he’d seen other kids sent halfway to death’s door for lesser crimes. The big wigs in the circuit took their money (and their grudges) very seriously in these parts.
As if to punctuate the thought, Fin and Damon hastily step aside from the casino entrance as a burly man shoves a diminutive teenager out the door. The teen tumbles to the ground, skinning their knees on pebble-studded flagstones.
“If I see you in here again, demi, you’ll have a lot more to worry about than a bloody knee,” the bouncer growls.
The teen scrambles to their feet, heedless of the blood staining their pants.
“Oh come on! It’s not magic, I’m just lucky!”
A small crowd begins to form near the entrance as more people are drawn to the scuffle. The bouncer shoves the teen away again.
“You’ve won every game you’ve played. That ain’t luck, kid, that’s magic.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, I’m not a demigod!” the teen frantically gestures to their bare arms. “You see any tattoos up in this shit? What do I gotta do, strip for you?”
“Yeah? Remove your earrings, then maybe I’ll believe you.”
The teen glances at the growing crowd warily before flashing the bouncer a bright smile.
“But sir, those are my lucky earrings!”
“I figured. Out. I won’t warn you again.”
“But if you just-”
The bouncer goes to shove them again, but this time Fin sees a flicker of green light in the teen’s eyes as they scamper away. The bouncer stumbles on the flagstones, his boot unexpectedly catching the edge just before he can lay his hands on the alleged demigod. The light in the teen’s eyes vanishes as they stare wide-eyed at the crowd, realization dawning on their face.
Fin feels a twinge of sympathy for the teen. Whoever the kid is, they’d just accidentally exposed their magic to the world. Moving forward, being banned from the casino would be the least of their worries. Fin scans the faces in the crowd. Already he can see the hunger in their eyes. Luck magic? What a useful demigod.
A smartly-dressed woman drifts up beside Fin, adjusting the green-tinted glasses on her nose as she watches the teen dash away without another word. She smiles smoothly.
“Kids, eh?” she says. “Never know when to use their magic…”
The bouncer furiously snatches a stone from the ground and hurls it at the fleeing demigod.
“You little runt-” he snarls.
Fin sees a flicker of gold light out of the corner of his eye, and he glances at the woman beside him. Her glasses hide the light, but this close to her, he can almost sense the magic in the air. The stone that the bouncer threw just barely misses the teen’s head and instead plunges into Fortuna’s fountain with a splash. The woman tilts her head to Fin.
“But they always figure it out eventually, right?” she says with a wink.
Fin doesn’t have a chance to reply as the bouncer stiffly straightens his vest and turns back to the casino. The crowd shifts to make way for him, and Damon hastily steps backward, very nearly stepping on Fin’s foot. The disgruntled bouncer addresses the remaining crowd.
“If I see any one of you bastards using magic in there, don’t expect me to be so lenient!”
He slams the door aside and storms back into the building.
“So sick of these fucking demis-” he mutters under his breath.
Fin scoffs and leans closer to Damon.
“Everyone loves magic until it’s not in their hands,” he mutters.
Damon nods thoughtfully. The heir is no demigod himself… but his wife is. They’d had plenty of talks about this subject. Still at Fin’s side, the woman with the green glasses grins at his comment.
“Man after my own heart,” she says, nudging Fin with her shoulder as she slips past him through the doors.
Fin blinks, suddenly feeling a little strange: Lighter. More reckless. It’s similar to the feeling he gets when he’s drunk, but he can’t remember the last time he’d had a drop. It’s magic, he’s sure of it. That said, one of his innate abilities is immunity to mental influences, so the fact that he’d feel anything at all doesn’t make sense.
…What did she do?
He’s so distracted by the feeling that he doesn’t even notice when Damon starts to enter the casino without him. Damon pauses.
“Fin?”
It pulls him out of his stupor. Once inside, Damon looks at him curiously, eyes shadowed by his mask.
“Do you know that woman?”
Fin instinctually glances around the room, searching for her, but there are too many people swarming about to pinpoint a single person. He laughs softly at himself when he realizes what he’s doing.
“Never seen her before in my life,” he replies.
Damon narrows his eyes.
“Huh… Didn’t think I’d live to see the day where you were smitten. She’s very pretty, I’ll give you that.”
Fin scoffs.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been reading your wife’s romance novels again.”
“So what if I have? Look, all I’m saying is that if you disappear for a few hours, I’ll understand completely.”
Fin rolls his eyes. Since they’d first met, Damon had made it his personal mission to find Fin a proper suitor, only to be disappointed when he would shut down all his best suggestions. Fin thought that he’d finally given up on the fruitless task. Evidently not.
“Let’s find you a table, Damon.”
Fortune's Favor
The evening progresses without incident, though Fin had noticed a handful of gamblers casting wary glances at the bouncer every time he strode by. Damon had started to complain again about Fin’s lack of participation, but Fin shrugged him off as usual. It was simply too risky for him to play at this point, win or lose. Especially with that strange magic floating around his mind, doing its best to cloud his judgment.
Go ahead, it says, use your magic. Win a game or two. Trust me, it’ll be fun.
Fin watches Damon place a bet on the roulette wheel again, and he taps his fingers on his knee restlessly.
Not fun if I’m caught… he thinks.
Since when did you become boring and cautious? A chaperone? Give me a break.
Fin sighs softly to himself. He’s getting very tired of the impulsive voice in his head. He’d used to hear it all the time, before he sobered up for Mina’s sake. He’d found that he hadn’t missed it. Much. But, there was one tried and true method to get it to quiet down…
Fin glances around for the bouncer and shields his eyes before dipping into his emotional dampening magic. The haze of the woman’s magic suddenly lifts as Fin’s own magic overrides it, replacing it with crystal clear logic. He feels completely in control again. He lifts his gaze and looks around the casino coolly. His magic use goes entirely unnoticed. Unusual, considering how many people are in here. Odds are someone will look in his direction eventually, maybe even tattle to the bouncer, but… Nothing. It’s like he’s invisible.
Interesting…
Fin decides to make the most of his newfound clarity and turns to observing the people around him, watching their cycle of movement and interaction with the curious detachment one might have while watching a set of clock gears smoothly spin. There’s a beautiful rhythm to it. It’s nothing as predictable as a pattern, but there’s a definite ebb and flow of win and loss at each of the games. Damon curses as he loses at roulette again.
“One more time,” he mutters, placing another bet.
Suddenly, Fin notices a slip in the gears, so slight he never would have picked up on it without his magic. Someone who’s lost all evening suddenly laughs with joy at an abrupt win. Then it happens again at the table right next to it. And again at the game next to them. Fin slowly wanders away from Damon to get a better angle on what’s happening, and then he sees her: the woman with the green glasses. She circles the casino, stopping briefly at each game to watch before drifting to the next. Every game she leaves, someone hits a jackpot, but not once does she sit to play for herself. She finally reaches Damon’s game, pausing to observe first the roulette wheel, then the hopeful faces of the gamblers surrounding the table. Her gaze lands on Damon’s shrinking pile of chips. The wheel finally stops. Damon shouts with glee as he regains his chips and then some. The woman smiles at Damon’s reaction, but before she leaves the table, she locks eyes with Fin.
Fin hastily drops his magic when she looks at him, the gold glimmer in his eyes snuffed out. Too late. She noticed. The woman smiles slyly at him before she turns to the next game.
Fin’s heart is racing as he looks between her and the bouncer, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Fin wasn’t cheating or anything, but he doubts that the man cares enough to distinguish between who’s playing and who’s not. He’d made his position clear: magic is magic. If she tells anyone-
“What should I try next, Fin?”
Fin’s startled by Damon popping up at his side. Damon continues, oblivious to the situation.
“I’m thinking poker,” he says thoughtfully.
Fin sees the bouncer pass by the woman’s table.
“You’re terrible at poker, even with a mask on” Fin says numbly.
“True,” Damon says, “but I think Fortuna’s smiling on me right now after that win!”
The woman suddenly flags down the bouncer, and Fin cranes his neck around Damon to watch the exchange.
“Maybe you shouldn’t test Lady Luck, Damon,” he says.
Damon laughs, balancing his chip-holder on his palm.
“Everyone knows she favors the bold, Fin. After a big win is exactly the time I should test her! I-” Damon cuts off, glancing over his shoulder. “What are you looking at?”
Whatever the woman said to the bouncer, it must have been hilarious, he’s doubled over in laughter at her comment. They exchange a few more words with a familiarity that Fin didn’t expect to see. A thought suddenly strikes him.
Oh gods… Is she the owner?
She’s dressed well enough that he’d believe it. And if she is, it would make sense why she’d be opposed to demigod magic besides her own making waves in her establishment. Rival magic would be bad for business.
Damon gasps when he sees her.
“You found her again! You really shouldn’t let this moment pass, Fin. I’m telling you, there’s a spark between you.”
“Is it a spark, or a powder keg?” Fin asks dryly.
They watch as the bouncer leaves the woman and heads down the stairs toward the entrance. Fin glances around the room, hunting for a quick escape. He should have taken note of exit routes the moment he’d stepped into the building, but she’d distracted him.
“I think we should go,” Fin says, backing up toward the open terrace door not too far from them.
“Too late for that, my friend, looks like the interest is mutual,” Damon says, nodding to the woman as she starts to approach them.
“Shit.”
Damon slaps Fin on the shoulder cheerfully.
“Good luck, Fin! I’ll be right here rooting for you,” he says as he steps toward the nearest poker table.
“Gods dammit, Damon, she’s not-”
Fin breaks off as the woman steps before him and cocks an eyebrow at him.
“You’ve been watching me.”
“No more than I’ve been watching anyone else in here, I promise you,” Fin says tightly.
The woman adjusts her glasses again, a slight smile pulling at her lips.
“Well, I’ve been keeping an eye on you.”
“I’m flattered.”
She grins as she steps away again, beckoning him to follow.
“Come with me.”
“Is that an order, or…?”
She looks back at him expectantly, humor dancing in her eyes.
“...I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” Fin mutters under his breath.
He hesitantly trails after the woman. At least she wasn’t dragging Damon into this mess, Fin’s fairly confident that he can handle the situation on his own without having to worry about saving a second person’s skin as well. He runs over his arguments in his head:
Yes, I was using magic, but as you could see, I was nowhere near any gamblers, and haven’t placed any bets for myself, so clearly I wasn’t-
Fin is surprised to see that she’s not leading him to the dreaded “back room,” nor is she taking him to the bouncer who went outside. Instead, she coolly strides out to the terrace. The destination is far too public for an impending beatdown, which leaves Fin baffled as to what her intentions are. There are a handful of people already on the terrace, but she ignores them, approaching the railing to overlook the courtyard below.
“I’m curious why you came in here if you didn’t plan to play any games,” she says, leaning casually on the railing.
Maybe she’s vetting the situation first before getting anyone else involved, Fin thinks as he leans on the railing beside her, watching her warily.
“I didn’t see you playing either,” he points out.
“Didn’t you?” she says with a smile, removing her glasses to give them a quick polish.
When she looks up, her eyes briefly flash with golden light. Then the light fades, revealing two different-colored eyes, previously hidden behind her glasses. One gold, one forest green, speckled with gold flakes. Fin blinks, surprised. That’s not something he sees every day. She watches his reaction for a moment before tucking the glasses away in her pocket. Then she offers her hand.
“Name’s Felice.”
Fin looks at her hand suspiciously. She did just use magic. There’s no telling what might happen if she touches him with it.
“Am I in trouble, Felice?”
“Should you be?”
Fin huffs out a laugh.
“Depends who you ask…”
Then he feels it again, the same rush of drunken magic that came over him earlier. He has the sudden impulse to accept her handshake, which he notices too late to stop himself from taking her hand.
“Fin,” he introduces himself.
Shit, what am I doing?
Felice notices his hesitation, an amused smile on her lips.
“Are you scared of me, Fin?”
“Should I be?”
Felice releases his hand with a wink.
“Depends who you ask.”
“Well, you certainly have a… Presence about you,” he gestures to her eyes.
“I hear that often,” she says, looking down at the courtyard, her gaze resting on Fortuna’s shrine. Even up here, the lights of the Moon Level reflect off the water and coins, dappling her and the surrounding buildings with rippling gold.
“Typically, it results in requests,” she adds, flashing him a smile.
But there’s something else behind that smile that catches Fin’s eye. He knows it because he’s seen it a million times in the mirror. His apprehension around her suddenly melts away, the similarity between them breeding empathy. Fin turns his attention to the shrine, trying and failing to not dwell on the source of his own grief.
“I’m no stranger to that…” he says.
“I saw you throw a coin in the fountain,” Felice says, gesturing to it. “I’ve never seen someone make an offering only to not gamble afterward. You didn’t even trade in for chips.”
“I’m just here for a friend.”
“And yet, you made an offering.”
“Isn’t it customary to honor our gods when we come across their shrines?”
Felice chuckles at that.
“You’d be surprised, Fin. Luck is a hot commodity around here, you saw that kid earlier. Everyone loves magic-”
“-Until it’s not in their hands,” Fin finishes, giving Felice a sideways glance.
Her eyes flash with gold as she scowls at the shrine.
“People say that Luck is fickle. I rather think it’s the people who ask for her favor who are never satisfied with their lot. If she could be bribed, she wouldn’t be the goddess of chance, would she?”
“I mean… Fortuna is the goddess of riches as well,” Fin points out diplomatically.
“Only for those who have none,” she says, looking at him levelly. “People seem to forget that detail.”
Fin watches the woman carefully. He was wrong to assume that she was the owner of the casino, the fact that she hasn’t questioned him on his magic use yet proves it. But, he also has the sneaking suspicion that her name isn’t actually “Felice.” Even as the thought occurs to him, her appearance shifts, gold dripping down her face and arms, cutting through the warm brown of her skin like veins of metal in stone. If he hadn’t seen the transformation happen before his eyes, he would have assumed they were simply elaborate demigod tattoos, but he’s never known a demigod capable of hiding their markings like that. It only leaves one explanation. Fin swallows and clutches the railing in front of him, quickly glancing away from her.
Not “Felice,” then…
“I meant no offense, my Lady,” he says meekly. “I’m sure you know better than I.”
She blinks, confused at his change in mannerism. Fin watches as she lifts her left hand curiously and examines the way the light glints off the gold streaming from her fingers up to her shoulder.
“Ah,” she says lightly. “You noticed.”
Fin glances behind them at the other people on the terrace, but they have no reaction to the reveal. It seems like he’s the only one that sees her true form. He lowers his voice:
“You’ll have to excuse me if I make a fool of myself, I don’t have much experience entertaining goddesses.”
Fortuna leans closer to him, lowering her voice conspiratorially.
“On the contrary, you seem to be handling yourself remarkably well, Fin. But if you start groveling at my feet…”
She meets his eyes, her teeth bared in a humorless grin.
“...I will throw you off this terrace without a second thought.”
“Noted…”
Fin shifts uncomfortably, not entirely sure what to do with himself. Why the hell was a goddess talking to him? Now, Damon’s comments about there being a “spark” between them makes him sick to his stomach.
Perhaps the powder keg was an apt analogy after all…
Fin clears his throat and gestures to the shrine below them.
“Your uh… Your statue doesn’t do you justice at all.”
“No, that’s really more Ius’ thing,” she says dryly.
Fin snorts a laugh at the unexpected joke, his nerves going haywire. She cracks a genuine smile this time.
“Relax,” she says softly. “If I was going to smite you, I would have done it already.”
“Oh good, now all I have to worry about is being tossed over the railing.”
“I suppose I could curse you, if you feel that would be less extreme.”
“Can I ask, did you only pull me aside to threaten me, my Lady?”
Fortuna snorts.
“Gods no. I could have done that any time,” she says.
“Then why-?”
Fortuna’s brow furrows as she watches the glimmering water below. She hesitates before posing her next question, her voice hushed.
“Have you ever felt lonely in a crowded room, Fin?”
“All the time.”
The answer comes without hesitation, as natural as rolling out of bed too late in the morning, or taking one too many shots. The goddess smiles wistfully.
“I thought you might. Magic is the great divider, isn’t it? It’s a wonderful thing, but it only ever marks a person as separate, both within and…”
She softly rubs her hand across the gold marks on her arm.
“...Without. Once people see it, it’s all you are to them. Loved, but not for you, and only inasmuch as your magic assists them.”
Fin feels a lump in his throat. He knows what that feels like. But gods, he wishes he didn’t. Fortuna’s eyes flicker with gold light as she continues.
“But when I saw you using your magic in there, basking in it just for the hell of it, just for you, it was…” She laughs. “Gods, it was magnificent. I gave you a good luck blessing and you only used it to activate your magic unnoticed in public.”
Fin thinks back to how strange it was that no one else had looked his way for the entire duration of his time in the casino. It suddenly makes sense now.
“You gave me the blessing when you bumped into me at the doorway,” he murmurs.
“Most people would have used that on the games, you know. But it reflects inner desires. All you wanted was to be present, but not seen.”
“Alone in a crowded room,” Fin says thoughtfully. “Like you.”
Fortuna smiles wryly.
“I don’t know how you managed to notice me, but I’m grateful you did. It’s much more fun to be alone together.”
Fin raises an eyebrow at her.
“Are you flirting with me, my Lady?”
Fortuna chuckles.
“Only if you’re interested. The last thing I want is to be accused of having ulterior motives.”
“I would have to be a bigger fool than either of us thought for me to accuse you of any ill intention, Lady Luck. After all, you haven’t even thrown me off the terrace yet.”
“Lucky you,” she says with a wink. “You’re better company than most.”
Fin smiles softly at that.
“I appreciate that. Genuinely. But…”
Fortuna holds up her hand to stop him.
“No need to explain. In that case, I suppose you and I will part ways as unlikely friends.”
She extends her gold hand to him. This time, he doesn’t hesitate to shake it.
“It’s been a pleasure, Fin,” she says with a grin.
“Likewise. Who knew a goddess would be so approachable?”
“That’s the best compliment you’ve paid me all evening,” she says, releasing the handshake.
Fin’s surprised to realize she left something in his hand.
“A little return on investment,” Fortuna says with a nod to his hand. “Try not to spend it all at once.”
Fin opens his hand to reveal a gold coin. If he’s not mistaken, it’s the exact same one he’d left as an offering earlier. He laughs.
“I told you, I wasn’t asking for anything in-”
Fin looks up to find the goddess gone.
“...Return.”
He holds up the coin to examine it more closely. It radiates the same energy she did: a lucky talisman. Fin watches the place where she was standing for a moment longer before tucking the coin into his pocket.
“I was really hoping you would be leaving with that woman instead of me, Fin.”
“I’m sure you were, Damon,” Fin says with a sigh as they step out of the doors of the casino.
Damon shrugs, still tucking the last of his winnings into his wallet.
“Ah, well, at least something good came out of this. I thought I was about to go completely broke until you showed up at the last second. I swear, you must be lucky.”
“Maybe I am…”
Damon pauses, then cuts half his winnings, shoving the bills into Fin’s hands.
“For you,” he says.
“Damon, I don’t-”
“No, don’t argue with me, just take it. Consider it a token of my appreciation for you joining me. I had fun. I hope you did too.”
Fin hesitates a moment longer before accepting the money.
“...Thank you.”
Damon waves his hand dismissively.
“Don’t mention it. Let’s do this again sometime.”
Fin glances up at the terrace of the casino, as though she might still be up there.
“I’d like that,” he says.
As they pass by the fountain, Fin’s hand drifts to the lucky coin in his pocket. His feet trail to a stop at the water’s edge, golden light speckled across his face as he gazes at the coin-littered shrine. One for each favor. He looks up at the coy, golden statue above him.
“Talking to you was favor enough,” he tells her.
The lucky coin sinks to the bottom of the pool, shining just a little brighter than all the rest.