Chapter 10

10

arwen

The café had closed for the night. Candles had all been snuffed out, the front door locked, even the intertwined couple had left, likely off to knot themselves into one in the privacy of their own bedroom. My gaze lifted to Kane, my breath hitching in my lungs. As usual, it was an effort to tear my eyes away. His unruly dark hair was hardly tamed by the hand he so often ran through it, that broad hand always adorned in sleek, masculine silver rings that matched his piercing eyes.

But he only cut me a cursory glance with that same bored, if not slightly annoyed expression I had come to hate all those months ago in Shadowhold. “Dessert and dancing, huh? Where was my invitation?”

“I had others to keep me company. The men here are impressive dancers. Very sensual.”

Kane’s eyes were hard and bright, but his expression stayed the same. “How titillating.”

His dismissal caught me off guard, and silence bloomed as I couldn’t think of a witty retort.

“Nice catching up. Time to go.”

“What is your issue?” I hissed at him. “Mari and I can’t join your little boys-only card game? I didn’t realize Amelia was the only woman you deemed acceptable to socialize with.”

I could tell by his rigid jaw that Kane had been about to lay into me, until amusement seized his eyes. He ran a hand down his face—a habit of his that still had a shameful effect on me—and took a deep, soothing inhale. “Let’s come back to your jealously over the time I spend with Amelia later. I’d like to dig into that. Maybe over dinner tomorrow night?”

I scoffed, rolled my eyes, and might have even snorted as well—just to make sure he really understood my lack of interest in such a proposal—but he continued as if I hadn’t done anything at all.

“Those men are dangerous. Crawford Switch isn’t just a Citrine noble; he’s a crime lord. And Rhett and Trevyn are his thugs.” His expression softened only slightly. “I’d rather you and the witch were nowhere near them.”

“Why are you here, then? Playing cards with crooks?”

His smile was cruel. “Is that not behavior fitting of a monster like me?”

I wouldn’t dignify that with a response. It was too easy.

His jaw tightened. “We think Crawford might know where the Blade of the Sun is. He’s a . . . collector, of sorts. Procurer of fine and rare objects. His card game was the only way to get near him without risking Broderick and Isolde’s fury. The three of them are close.”

“Why is Fedrik here?”

“Your lapdog plays in the monthly games.” Kane made a tutting noise as he straightened a ring on his thumb. “Horrible habit, really.”

I couldn’t roll my eyes at Kane anymore; I’d go cross-eyed soon. “And Ryder?”

“I invited him. The kid seemed like he could use a break.”

“You brought him just to torture Griffin?”

“I can’t help it—their feud over the witch tickles me.”

“You really are a monster.”

“So I’ve been told.” His smirk was wicked as he leaned closer. “Now go grab your inebriated little friend and get back to the palace.”

But I didn’t want to go back there. I didn’t want to sleep for days anymore. Or lie awake in bed, beside a sleeping Leigh, and think of nothing. To toss and turn as if I could roll away from all the emptiness.

No, I wanted the delicious, exhilarating spike in my bloodstream every time Kane was angry with me. Every time his eyes bored into mine in reprimand or thinly veiled ire. The light and airy warmth I felt around Fedrik was a summer sprinkle compared to the heart-rattling monsoon of chemistry that doused Kane and me. We had been speaking again for less than two days and already it was wreaking havoc on my psyche.

“Now, Arwen,” he said, taking my wrist in his hand gently, but firmly enough to convey his severity.

The touch sent stars through my veins. Humming. Combusting. He could probably feel my pulse as it raced.

“I told you not to touch me.”

I yanked free and slipped back into the game room, even smokier now than it had been before.

“You finally joining us? I have a great hand.” Trevyn lifted his brows at me.

“Yes,” I chirped, before sitting down. “Deal me in.”

“Woo!” cheered Mari.

After a beat standing behind me like a headstone, Kane sat back down next to his commander.

“Coin on the table, ladies,” Rhett drawled. “Ten thousand to play.”

My mouth hung open. Ten thousand? I should have known. An elite private game for nobles and royalty—shit, shit, shit. I searched through my satchel and found a handful left over from dinner. Maybe seventeen or so. “Will this do?” I tried to bat my eyelashes.

Rhett and Trevyn laughed like rabid animals at my insufficient coin, nearly to tears, but Crawford’s icy expression was what made my stomach turn.

Kane chuckled. “Well, it was fun while it lasted.”

Griffin sighed in relief.

“I’m happy to loan you both some. Kane fronted your brother his dues,” Fedrik proposed.

It was a kind offer, but I didn’t want Fedrik’s coin. Especially not after Kane referred to him as my lapdog. I didn’t want any of their help. “There has to be something else I can use?”

Crawford looked at Rhett before turning to Mari and me. “The only other currency is surely too lewd for women such as yourselves.”

I swallowed hard. “Try me.”

“Your clothes.” His broad, sharklike smile gleamed and a chill clawed through me at both the sight and the suggestion.

“Nobody wants to see that,” Ryder groaned.

“Enough, now.” Kane’s voice was lethal as he stood, shaking the table beneath us and sending towers of chips cascading over the floor.

“Watch it, man!” barked Rhett.

I couldn’t stop my gaze from flicking to him. Sheer, punishing rage simmered in his eyes. I couldn’t tell if it was from the way Crawford was toying with me or the thought of me stripping for all these men. Or if it was how impotent he was in this moment—unable to control me or anyone else. Whatever it was, I loved it.

“Fine.” I surprised myself with the assuredness in my voice.

“Me too! Stripping and cards—how fun.” Mari hiccupped.

“Why don’t you sit this one out?” I said to her, low enough for only her ears. She was too drunk to agree to something so stupid.

“Oh, come on, Arwen,” she whispered back. “You take everything so seriously! Wasn’t it you at dinner who said we should try making some mistakes?”

“I meant— Never mind.”

Rhett dealt us in, and I couldn’t help but glance at Griffin, whose pale green eyes were boring deeply into mine. He was less upset when we were under siege.

I shrugged at him. It wasn’t my fault Mari was a spitfire. Most likely she’d be incredible anyway and take all our coin without losing so much as the shoe on her foot.

---

I had discovered the one thing on the continent that Mari was atrocious at. Maybe it was the orange wine and ale and sugar flowing through her system, but Mari couldn’t bluff for the life of her. When she had anything halfway decent, a rosy pink glow would spread across her cheeks. A lousy hand and she’d frown at her cards, as if they had gone out of their way to disappoint her.

I wasn’t quite as inept as Mari was, but hadn’t been doing much better, either. I had lost the meager coin in my satchel, both shoes, an earring, and the white silk ribbon from my hair.

Kane—who was an excellent gambler, and was leading with more than half the coin at the table, and most of Mari’s and my accessories—hadn’t given me more than one single glare etched in steel since we began playing, but I didn’t care. I liked the gameplay, the rush of betting, and the anticipation of the win. I liked the dangerous men’s eyes on me. The illicit thrill. Kane’s anger and possessiveness over each slice of my body that I offered to these gluttonous men was an added bonus.

Rhett brought us each another round of drinks, and I drank my bitter, pungent spirit down in a single long swallow before asking for two more. The current hand at play was down to Mari and Griffin. He had significantly more coin than there were items of clothing left on Mari, and had chosen to raise.

“Just fold,” he said to her, on edge.

“But I have great cards.” She smiled coyly.

“I can tell from your face that you don’t.”

“Don’t listen to him, doll,” Rhett jumped in. Then, not as quietly as he intended, he muttered to Trevyn, “I want to see that blouse come off.”

Ryder shot Rhett a foul glare and leaned forward to shield Mari from their eyes. But Mari hadn’t even noticed their exchange as she cross-referenced her cards with the five laid out on the table.

Griffin leaned closer to her. “Will you please fold?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Mari retorted, still trying to add her cards up in her head. As if realizing she did indeed know what she was doing, Mari beamed. “Oh! I call.”

Griffin’s face became stone.

“How about with that stunning necklace of yours?” Crawford mused. I wondered if he knew something about the piece, being the collector that he was.

For the first time all evening, Mari’s smile slipped. “No,” she said too quickly. The table shifted in uncomfortable silence. “No,” she tried again, more pleasant this time. “I call with my blouse.”

Griffin’s eyes went as wide as the coins on the table.

“Woah there, Red, you sure?” Ryder asked.

“I’m sure,” Mari said, laying down her cards with pride. “Not too bad, huh?”

They were actually decent. A pair of sevens. With the other seven on the board she had three of a kind.

She looked up at Griffin, her eyes lit with the challenge. “And what do you have, Commander?”

The entire room had narrowed in on them. Even Crawford was absorbed in their standoff. Griffin’s jaw was rigid, his green eyes like frosted glass as he didn’t even look down to his cards once before saying, “You’ve got me beat.” He pushed his stack of coin toward her gently, and buried his cards back in the deck.

I raised a brow at him as Rhett groaned.

Mari whooped and hollered. “I did not expect that!”

“Nice one, Red,” Ryder said with a half laugh.

Kane caught my gaze, looked to Griffin, and then gave me the tiniest shake of his head, confirming what I already assumed to be true. Griffin had not really had the lesser hand.

“Where’s Princess Amelia tonight?” Fedrik asked Kane, before sipping his mug of ale.

Ugh. Not him, too.

“How should I know?”

“I assumed you two were . . . ?”

I attempted a semi-interested smile as Rhett dealt the next hand, though my brain was screaming.

Kane said only, “You assumed incorrectly.”

“Ah, my mistake, then.” Prince Fedrik took a peek at his cards before throwing them in the center of the table to fold.

“Are you interested?” Kane asked. “I assumed King Eryx would have had the agreement drawn up for your nuptials the minute he entered the city.”

“Eh.” Fedrik leaned back in his chair with ease, exposing a thin band of tanned abdomen. “My parents have given up on arranged marriages. Didn’t go so well the last time, if I recall.” He shot a half smile at Kane. “And,” he added, “she seems a bit . . . intense.”

“She is intense,” I said. “But she protects her kingdom and her people with that intensity. She’s twice the ruler her father is.”

Kane raised his brows at me, and I offered him a small shrug. It was true.

“More importantly, she’s a famous beauty,” Crawford said to Fedrik. “You’d be lucky to own such a woman. I’d bed her every morning and night.”

“He wouldn’t own her,” Mari said, and I remembered that she didn’t know how dangerous Crawford was. “They’d be wed to each other, as equals.”

Crawford regarded Mari with curiosity, as if just seeing her for the first time. “Did the commander call you witch earlier because of your grating voice or can you truly do magic?”

“She’s an exceptional witch,” Ryder chimed in. “More power in this one than I’ve ever seen.”

Mari’s eyes filled with warmth before she caught herself and looked down at her cards.

“What would you know of it, thief?” Griffin leveled his gaze at my brother. I couldn’t tell if he had bristled against their flirting or wished to hide Mari’s abilities from Crawford or both. The bizarre dynamics of this game were starting to hurt my head. I had another sip of my foul drink.

“When will you let that go?” Ryder huffed. “It was one time.”

“He stole from you?” Crawford asked Griffin, interest piqued.

“He stole from me,” Kane amended, before giving Ryder a bland smile. Ryder fidgeted in his chair.

Crawford glowered, unamused. “I’ve stripped men of their skin for less.”

Tension dripped off the walls of the game room like the condensation on Crawford’s mug. Only the sounds of coins being stacked and cards being dealt echoed in my ears.

“You’re getting pretty decent at this, Arwen.” I appreciated Fedrik deftly changing the subject, and with that same relaxed ease. “Do you gamble often?”

“No.” Kane drained his drink. “She’s not a degenerate like you, Prince.”

Fedrik ignored him. “What do you think of Azurine?”

I took in a breath to answer but Kane cut me off again. “Not much.”

“Does he always speak for you?” Fedrik asked lightly.

“No,” Kane and I said in unison. I glared at him, trying to slice his tongue off with my mind.

“Your city is breathtaking,” I managed. “I’ve never been anywhere like this.”

“Well, I’ll have to show you around sometime—”

“We leave tomorrow,” Kane interrupted.

I spun to him. “We do?”

“Yes.” His mouth cut a tight grin. “Bit too hot for my liking.”

“Well, I’m staying.”

“You are my healer. You will do as I say.”

My blood boiled.

“Raise.” Crawford threw fifty more coin onto the table.

I looked down at my cards. Two hearts. And two already on the table. All I needed was one more to make a flush. “Re-raise.” I pushed in all the rest of the coin I had won.

“I’ll raise both of you,” said Rhett, adding at least a hundred more.

“I call.” It fell out of my mouth.

“With what?” Crawford’s eyes gleamed at the neckline of my eyelet lace dress.

I could renege. Claim I had miscalculated and see if they would let me off the hook. But seeing the looks on their faces, knowing how desperately the crooks wanted to see me cower, it only made me more determined. Bolder. Braver.

I looked down at myself, appraising. I couldn’t give up my dress and risk nudity. I wasn’t even wearing a chemise or corset, which weren’t customary in this kingdom. That only left . . .

“My undergarments.”

“Absolutely not,” Kane bit out.

The last time I had felt this heated and restless and electrified . . . was in his arms. I chased after the feeling. “You don’t own me. Or my undergarments.”

Crawford’s eyes gleamed with vicious pleasure. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I have a full house already.”

I needed that heart now. Any heart would do. Rhett dealt out the final card.

Bleeding Stones.

It was a four of clubs.