He nods. "Playing cards. There are fifty-two in a pack, split into four suits – two red, diamonds and hearts, and two black, spades and clubs – and you have for each of these the ace card, numbers two through ten, and then King, Queen and Jack as well as I think some Jokers not included in the fifty-two figure. … There are lots of different games people play with them."

"Which card has the highest value?" she asks.

"And the lowest? Is there a quantitative difference between the suits, or are, say, the Two of Hearts and the Two of Clubs equal?" 

"I'm not actually sure between the suits – I think that might vary between games but I don't play many card games – and the values are usually in descending order King, Queen, Jack, ten through two, and then ace is either above King, between Jack and ten, or below two."

"The Ace's rank is dependent on the game?" she checks.

"But the King is always above the Queen? How terribly backward."

He nods with respect to the Ace, and then responds, "Primogeniture has only recently, I think, in my country, been made less sexist."

"And previously," she guesses, "it was biased in favour of males? Inheritance by the eldest son, and not the eldest child or eldest daughter?" 

Marcella looks intrigued, rather than offended. "It is fascinating to hear what ridiculous methods your world has invented for governance." 

"It's that way among the monarchs, yes – or was, yes, male-orientated and then it goes through the girls. … Maybe the male cousins first."

"Really," she says in an unreadable tone.

"But we have strayed from the topic; my privacy spell will only last so long. I believe you were telling me about...playing cards."

He nods. "The shapes on the clothing of your guards seem to correspond to some of the cards – at first I wasn't sure, but they were clubs on the ones who brought me in."

"I believe I understand the structure of the suits," Marcella says, "and I agree with you that it seems to be relevant, despite the minor differences."

She thinks for a moment, then runs her fingers along the string of gems around her neck, selecting a particular one. It glows, and a similarly glowing pack of cards appears in her free hand. 

Even after the glow fades, the edges of each card still shimmer slightly red. She holds them out to Dante.

"Might you teach me one of the games that are played with these? I believe I have conjured the correct number." 

"– Of course, Your Majesty," he responds. "… I'm not sure which might be most strategically – pertinent – but I could demonstrate blackjack?"

"Any game to which you know the rules will suffice," she assures him, and hands the cards over to be dealt.

They feel mostly like normal cards, except that they're sort of staticky, especially around the edges. There are the right number of each type, with the pips arranged correctly on all the numbered cards, and the Jack, Queen and King of each suit have little portraits. The Queen of Hearts, naturally, is Marcella herself. 

Naturally.

He explains the rules to the game and deals both Marcella and himself two cards.

And they proceed to play a game. 

Marcella picks it up quite quickly, and turns out to be excellent at both bluffing about her own hand and figuring out Dante's. 

"Would this perhaps be a more interesting game with three players?" she muses.

"It's usually got more," he agrees. "The dealer plays against the other players, and it's a bit in the dealer's favour."

"In that case, I believe I shall invite my Ace to join us."

She beckons, and he finally moves from his statue-like vigil to join them around the little table. 

Then they can start a new game that's more directed to be dealer-versus-others!

The Ace of Hearts plays the way he seems to do everything, with perfect seriousness and intense focus. 

He's not as good as Marcella, who might just have been born with a poker face, but it won't take him long to get good enough that between them they can reliably beat Dante. 

Dante keeps at it! … He has a face where it might be hard to tell precisely what he's thinking, but they can probably guess the broad strokes, so beating him isn't super hard.

"I'm not the best at this," he apologises, after a bit.

"Oh, there's no need to apologise, dear," the Queen assures him.

"You are skilled enough for our purposes. The point, after all, was that I might gain some familiarity with the concepts behind card games, and this we have achieved." 

She frowns down at the cards in her hand. "If you feel you are reaching the limits of your ability, perhaps it would be best to move on?"  

"– Is now the time to demonstrate chess, or…?"

"That would be my next request, yes," Marcella admits.

"Unless you would prefer a respite from such mentally demanding activities?"

"It's not that bad," he says. "Chess is I think more demanding than blackjack."

"It should not prove too taxing, I think, to list the materials required for a game of chess," the Queen suggests.

She gestures absently to the Ace; he gets up and returns to his guard position against the wall. 

He reminds her of the pieces and the rules. "It's only a two-player game."