Thanks, Reo, but I’m going to get this third one right too. I’ve got it and I can do this.
Chapter five
The Ultimate Test
Nyomi
Alright. Last one.
My heart was a drumline in my throat.
Kenji’s face wore a neutral expression. “Next.”
I told myself to breathe.
Two for two. One more man, one more lie to catch.
Kenji had been adamant: all three, or I failed.
That rule sat like a blade at my throat. It made my fingers tremble, just a little, so I curled them into the silk at my sides until the shaking belonged to the robe and not to me.
The Dragon watched me which didn’t ease my nerves at all.
I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin, practicing confidence even if I couldn’t fully feel it.
The third man stepped forward.
He was the one in white with the long braid falling down his back like a dark rope. His hair was so smooth it looked wetted by moonlight.
He stopped at the same distance Satoshi had earlier.
He didn’t try to charm me like Kaoru or appear professional like Satoshi. He simply met my eyes and held them, as if the game bored him but he would play because duty said so.
Reo gestured to him. “Go ahead, Rin.”
Aww. That’s his name. Interesting. I’m logging that.
When Rin spoke, his voice was cool water poured into a glass and left on an altar to be offered to Gods. “I eat a human heart once a month for strength and vitality.”
Jesus Christ! What did he say? A human heart?
My skin prickled.
Well. . .I hope that is a lie. Cause. . .I’m not trying to be in a room with a cannibal.
Utterly bored, Rin continued, same smooth voice and tone, “When I have sex, the woman must have a bag over her face the entire time.”
I blinked.
What the fuck? I hope both of those are lies? No kink shaming but. . .what kind of kink is that? A bag over her head? The whole time?
Shock surged through me.
“Last,” Rin finished, “I am Japanese royalty and am third in line to the throne.”
The first impulse was to laugh that last claim out of the room. But the way he said it made my spine go still. Liars usually dragged their feet. His didn’t. They glided. And the braid, the beads, the white—he wore wealth like he’d been born inside it.
That last one I can believe. He looks like he got bored and left a throne. But if he is royalty. . .how would he end up as Kenji’s Fang? What’s his story?
