She feigns a gasp, looking up at him with a smirk. “That’s cheating, MacLeod. You want to win so badly that you’d betray your honor?”
He smiles strangely, his eyes darting around the room like he’s looking for someone. Claudia opens her mouth to speak, but the game master cuts her off.
“For safety,” the man in the mask continues, “there will be no unnecessary violence. We’re taking ribbons here—not lives. There will be no blood tonight.” He raises a glass. “Yes?”
“Yes,” the room barks back.
“Good. Let’s begin.”
The room fills with the sound of rustling paper, followed byshrieks of excitement and low moans of disappointment. Claudia nervously unfurls her paper without looking down. She’s crossing her fingers to share a role with Cassius so that they aren’t parted during the game.
“I’m an Artemis,” Cassius says, showing her his paper.
Claudia reads her own role and gasps.Fuck. “I’m Iphigenia.”
Cassius fights a smirk. His hands brush her face. “You do look the part.”
Groaning, she says, “This is the last thing I wanted. I don’t want to be apart from you.”
“But you want to win. That’s who you are.”
Fear stings her throat. “I’m not so sure about that. I hate the idea of everyone here chasing me. I may just let them win.” Smiling up at him through her lashes, she says, “It’ll get us back to your room faster.”
His gaze is dark and stern. “You need to at least try to win.”
Her brow furrows. “Why?”
“Because the winner gets to commune with Dolericym.”
Lips parted in surprise, she says, “I have no idea what to say to her.”
He pauses, reluctant to share the sentence on his tongue. “I do.”
“But you can’t talk to—” The realization stops her. It seeps into her skin like a slow poison. She looks down at her white dress—the one Cassius told her to wear.
A flurry of realization storms in her mind. It wasn’t about his preference. He wanted her in white for a reason. She reaches up, touching her hair. He wanted it up. He wanted it up so that it won’t be in her way while she’s running.
“You set me up.” She says it like it’s a question. Her brain turns Red.
Cassius doesn’t respond. He gives her that same hesitant and curious look as when he gave her the order about what to wear. Testing their boundaries. Waiting for her reaction before he makes his next move.
“You want me to win because you want me to be your bridge again,” she says as the truth becomes so painfully, embarrassingly obvious. “You need me to speak to Dolericym for you.” A combination of shame and anger floods her blood. Her hands curl into fists at her side. The lingering high from the recital is heightening every emotion in her body, as if every feeling has turned into a hungry parasite, gnawing its way through her juicy, rage-filled guts. Red. Everything is so fucking Red. “Is that the only reason you brought me here tonight?”
His face looks freshly slapped. “Of course not.”
“But it was certainly part of your motivation for asking me.”
He shakes his head, reaching for her hands. “It wasn’t like that.”
She steps out of his reach. “It clearly was, Cassius. Don’t lie to me.”Don’t be like Dorian, she thinks. Don’t lie to her and leave with a piece of her soul; or worse, her heart.
“Two things can be true, Claudia. I can want you by my side and also hope that you’ll continue to help me contend with a curse that has brought nothing but pain and misery for generations. All I need from you—”
“See? Right there. It’sallyou need.AllI’m good for.Allyou need is a few more prayer sessions from me on your behalf, and then you’re done, right?”
“No,” he growls, followed by a deep, centering breath. “You still don’t fully trust me, and I knew that to be the case. Honestly, Claudia, I understand why you think the worst of me, but if we’re going to continue doing what we do, if our dynamic is going to be safe and healthy, you have to trust that I care for you. You need to—” He tries to pull her into his embrace, but his touch is too hot. This whole room is too hot. She’s burning, melting, becoming nothing but Red-hot rage.
“No, don’t—don’t—FUCK,” she bites out, burying her face in her hands. “I don’tneedto do anything.” Her voice feels thick and foreign in her mouth, like something else is slipping wordsonto her tongue. It tastes like magic, like the air in the opera hall during the recital. She can’t calm down. She can’t stop. “I thought you really wanted me. Gods, I thought youlikedme. How daft can I be? After all you’ve done to me since I arrived, how could I ever believe that your affection was genuine? I’m a fool. You’re a relentlessly selfish person and I’m a fucking fool.”
