During my whirlwind weeks with Rafe, I’ve seen a lot. But I have the distinct feeling that this will be different from almost anything else.
The attendant escorts us around the outside lower deck, up the stairs and into what has to be the bridge.
There’s a middle-aged Asian woman waiting for us inside, leaning against the captain’s console. Her dark hair is in a short bob, and she’s wearing a sparkling silver dress. Large emeralds glitter at her ears.
“Gentlemen,” she says. Her voice is rough, like she’s a smoker. “And ladies? What a lovely surprise.” She nods to a small dark safe with the door half-opened. “Safety first, if you please.”
Rafe, James, Alex and West all reach into their pockets. It takes me a second, but then I get my own phone out. Nora, Amber and I add our phones to theirs in the safe.
“Well, hello again,” Vivienne says to Nora. “Did you enjoy your last time?”
“I did, yes,” she answers.
“I’m glad. And Alexander, I’m sure you didn’t. When was it?” She cocks her head. Her accent is hard to place, sounding vaguely British. This has to be Vivienne. “You played at one of my tables in January, I believe.”
“Yes,” Alex says. His voice is gruffer than I’ve heard it before. In the short time I’ve known him, he threads humor through everything.
“Let’s get the formalities over and done with, shall we? Your buy-ins, please.” Vivienne inclines her head, motioning someone over. A young man dressed in black joins us.
James steps up to the table with a tight expression. Where Rafe is olive and dark hair, James is the opposite. Pale skin, dark golden hair, and clean-shaven.
He puts the briefcase up on the table. “This covers all four of us,” he says, and opens it with a soft click.
Inside are stacks of cash, all in hundred-euro bills. I’ve never seen that much money at once before.
My hand finds Rafe’s elbow.
It all becomes very, very real in that moment. I still don’t know what Alex has lost. Rafe wouldn’t tell me, and Noradidn’t know. She just told me that players can lose a lot more than money in these games.
Vivienne clicks her tongue. “Orderly. I’d expect nothing less from you, Ashford.”
James shuts the briefcase and pushes it over the table. “Count it, if you must.”
“Oh, you know I alwaysmust, mydear Duke.” Vivienne’s smile is razor-sharp. “I have all five of you tonight. Lucky me.”
“Five?” Rafe asks.
“Did I say five? Slip of the tongue. I mean four.” Her eyes slide across us all. “How noble of them all to come to your rescue, Alexander.”
Her associates start counting the money on the far end of the table. Stack after stack of hundreds laid out in quick, practiced movements.
“It wasn’t entirely his to wager,” West says. “It belongs to his family.”
She tuts. “You know legalities don’t matter, Weston. Promises do. If you want to help your friend out… I suppose you’re just going to have beat Alvaro tonight. If he’ll wager the castle at all.” Her eyes land on me. There’s glittering speculation in them. “And this must be your new wife, Raphaël. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” he says. He’s standing closer to me than he normally does.
“You two are doing an admirable job at trying to convince everyone this little union wasn’t the most calculated of business moves.” Her smile curves, and she clasps her hands together. “Now, off you go. The game is set to start soon.”
A guard opens the door behind her, and it opens up into a large room with pristine ivory carpeting and wooden accents. In the center is a large poker table with a croupier setting up.
The doors that lead out to the large upper deck are open, and people mill about, all barefoot and fabulous. Excitementthrums through me. I like this. I like challenge, and adventure, and being in unfamiliar places.
They’re so infinitely more comforting that familiarity.
Rafe’s hand finds the low of my back. “Remember what I told you,” he murmurs in my ear. We let the others file out in front of us.
“You tell me so much,” I say sweetly.
