Piper set her cards down with a soft smile.
“I win.”
Antonio laughed under his breath, shaking his head.
“That’s three in a row now.”
“Four,” she corrected gently.
He looked up at her.
“Should I be concerned?”
“Only if you keep playing.”
He chuckled and reshuffled the deck.
“So what brings you here?” he asked. “You don’t look like you belong in a place like this.”
“I go where I’m needed.”
Antonio snorted.
“That sounds like trouble.”
“Sometimes,” she said.
He dealt the cards. “Family?” she asked.
Antonio smiled without thinking.
“Two daughters.”
“Mm,” Piper said softly. “I had a son once.”
Antonio paused slightly.
But something in her tone told him not to ask.
Instead he said,
“They’re the best part of my life.”
Piper studied him for a moment.
Then, casually—
“Have you ever noticed the sword outside?”
Every man who walked through town had tried to pull it free at least once.
None had succeeded.
“I walk past it every time I come in here.”
Antonio rolled his eyes.
“That thing? Everyone’s tried.”
“And you?”
“Of course I have,” he said. “Didn’t budge.”
Piper placed another card.
“What if I told you it would… for you?”
Antonio laughed.
“I’d say you’re trying to win more than
cards tonight.”
“Maybe,” she said.
“Or maybe,” she added quietly,
“I’m offering you something better.”
Antonio shook his head, still smiling.
“That’s a bold promise.”
“What if I told you, it would… for you?”
Antonio laughed.
“I’d say you’re trying to win more than cards tonight.” “Maybe,” she said.
“Or maybe,” she added quietly,
“I’m offering you something better.”
Antonio shook his head, still smiling.
“That’s a bold promise.”
Piper gathered the cards slowly, almost absently.
“Well…” she said lightly,
“if you don’t pull the sword—”
She glanced up at him, just for a moment.
“I suppose I’ll have to find someone who will.”
Antonio headed toward home, only pausing for a moment to look at the sword.
The courtyard was strangely quiet tonight.
He glanced back at the tavern and muttered,
“Crazy lady… crazy mirror.”
The sword stood where it always had.
Unmoved. Unimpressed.
He stepped closer anyway.
His hand wrapped around the hilt.
Cold.
Solid.
Exactly as it had been every other time he’d tried.
“I knew she was bluffing.”
Then— a vibration.
Low at first.
A hum that traveled from the stone into his hand.
Antonio frowned.
The steel began to glow.
Gold.
Bright—too bright—
“What the—”
The sword slid free.
Antonio stumbled backward, instinctively trying to let go—trying to catch himself—
but the sword did not fall.
And neither did he.
Antonio stared at the blade in his hand.
“…no.”
Antonio rushed home, sword still in hand.
Once inside the house he waited a moment to see if anyone was aware the sword had been removed.
He could hear Bob and Matilda putting Jessica and Gia to bed. So, he waited while he caught his breath.
After a few minutes they both headed downstairs, “I wonder if Sir is home yet?” Bob asked as his shoes scuffed the stairs.
Bob and Matilda followed Antonio outside.
“Sir?” Bob asked cautiously.
Antonio lifted the sword high above his head.
“The stone has chosen,” he declared.
“I am king.” He proudly declaired.
None of them fully understood what was happening yet.
But the air itself seemed to tremble with the weight of his words.
The wind began first, shaking the ground. And before anyone could say anything, the clouds rolled across the sky.
Lightning tore through the heavens like cracks in the night.
Rain hammered the earth. Thunder shook the valley.
The very ground seemed to groan beneath their feet.
Lighiting struck the cottage. The ground began to tremble.
Magic—ancient and unseen—answered the call of the sword.
Before the storm was done, where their tiny cottage once stood. Now a castle in it’s place.
The Velasco Saga 