The Gambler's Plunge

I am a guest of Lady Fortuna today,
She holds a motley company.
I sit at her table:

Three

seats

Away...

We had many an affair, milady and I.
I am her recent favorite, immortal, unbreakable
only for as long as her blessed curse lasts.

I rule all, with her at my side.

Ruler

of

Fates...

Pity her taste in victims and lovers alike is fickle.
It makes the fact that it is she who called upon me this eve and not the opposite all the worse.

Fear

takes

Ahold...

In front of me are cups, three.
Two have contents of sugar water, one with a substance far less pleasant.

Nectar

of

Belladonna...

"It is only a game," says she, Fortuna. With those words, I awake, realizing I've displeased the gods. I've wronged death once too many, Hades searches the underground eagerly for my corpse.

I

could

Win...

I've gambled thus far, survived this long. The high of victory will be what drags me to the abyss, not glory, nor honor. I am a creature of shadow and t'will be how I die, unknown, unloved. But the win will sustain me as blood does for a child of night. But--

I

"will"

Win...

Do I remember the other ones? My own wife, my children who barely crawl and still have not even uttered my name for lack of ever seeing me? Do I feel the heavy weight of empty pockets or the sweet song of my family's lament as all of our worldly possessions are thrown to the winds? Well, do I?

Of

course

Not...

Only I matter, that and the cards, the cups, the guns, the dice, the dealer with the illest of intentions. Toasting my one goddess and damned ladylove, Fortuna,

I drink.