“Double or nothing,” Dimitris said, barely a breath leaving his lips.
“What?” Thalia and Aarin asked at the same time.
“I said double or nothing. My ship and my servitude for both of their lives,” Dimitris repeated, this time with more poise, though his gaze shifted down toward the table, unable to meet that of the legionnaire across from him.
“Your ship? Surely you wouldn’t give up something so dear for a used up seer and a whore.”
He was wrong. Dimitris loved theAphrodite, had built it plank by plank with his own hands and had the scars to prove it, but a woman like Thalia—one who had sacrificed her own well-being, one who had suffered at the hands of vile men for so long, one who would sacrifice the well-being of her own life for another—was worth a thousand ships. She would not be going back to them.
“I guess you have the advantage then, Aarin,” Dimitris said before he tapped his fingers three times on the table and placed his palm face up in front of Thalia. “Kiss them for good luck?”
“Excuse me?” Thalia’s brows furrowed together, shifting uncomfortably in her seat, eyes still glassy and chest heaving.
“You should do it, this one needs all the luck he can get.” Aarin laughed a low heady chuckle. “He hasn’t won a round yet.”
“Come on,gatáki, appease me just this once.” Dimitris looked up, taking in the wary gaze of the seer before him.
She nodded slowly, bringing her lips to the bones in his palm, kissing them gently. Her warm breath and velvet touch sent a surge of buzzing energy down his veins, shocking him back just an inch. “Good luck,fengaráki,” she whispered.
Clasping his hands together, Dimitris shook once, twice, three times before allowing the bones to flow off the tips of his middle and ring fingers. Aarin’s hit the table only moments before and Dimitris tried to glance at what the numbers were.Four, Six, Six,Five, Six, Six.A fine roll by any standards. But he didn’t even need to look down at his own to know what would be there.
Straight sixes.
Unless he willed it otherwise, it was always straight sixes.
“You won…” Thalia said in no more than a breathless whisper.
Dimitris turned toward the young woman, letting his thumb graze under her chin. “Why do you think my ship is called theAphrodite?” He was hoping it would not resort to him having to play, actually play—to risk so much. But that was what Aarin didn’t know, how often he had played this game since he was a boy, perfecting how to place each bone in his hands, how many times to shake before dropping, how to let the bones roll off his fingertips so that they would land exactly the way he wanted them. A true Aphrodite’s throw.
“I thought it was because she is a thing of beauty, as is your ship.” Thalia placed her hand over his and squeezed hard, her eyes sparkling as bright as a full moon. “Thank you, Dimitris. Truly. I will never know how to repay you—for my sister’s life and my own.”
Heat spread over the bridge of his nose, trickling down to his heart. For a moment, he forgot to remind himself he was not supposed to be enthralled with her. This stunning, fierce woman before him had lost so much and yet could go about her day with such grace and determination to make the world better and, gods, if he didn’t want to make it better with her.
“I believe you owe Dafne her freedom, Aarin,” Dimitris coaxed the despicable man.
A growl echoed in the room as Aarin flipped the table, sending the knuckle bones scattering across the floor. The youngraven-haired woman trembled in her cloak, frozen in her seat, eyes wide and chest heaving.
“You cheated!” he screamed, lunging at Dimitris with a dagger, but Dimitris simply stepped aside, letting the legionnaire fall, crashing to the ground before he made his move.
Kneeling on Aarin’s back, Dimitris unsheathed his sword, pressing it into the back of the man’s neck, drawing the slightest bit of blood. “I never cheat,” he growled into the man’s ear. “Now, let her go. I have no qualms about driving this sword through your skull and I’m sure the owners of this establishment wouldn’t take kindly to knowing a patron was betting what was not his to own in the first place, or would you rather take this up with the madame of the establishment?”
The legionnaire twitched beneath him. Struggling for a moment before he reluctantly spoke. “Fine,” Aarin hissed through grit teeth, “she was beginning to bore me anyway.”
Dimitris rose, but not before giving the man a swift kick in the ribs for his obscene comment.
Rushing over to Dafne, Aarin shoved her toward Thalia and Dimitris. “Go on, whore. It seems the Fates have let you live another day.”
“I hope you rot in Aidesian for all you have done,” Thalia said, clutching her arms around her sister before spitting in Aarin’s face.
He wiped the spit immediately off with the back of his greasy hand. “One day, seer,” Aarin leaned in close to her, his breath causing her skin to pale even more, “I will have you back as my plaything, and maybe I’ll string up these two and make you watch for added measure as they hang.”
The legionnaire would never get the chance. Dimitris would make sure of it.
These men would pay.
And now he knew how.
Ceylon light from a waning moon cast its glow down in even the most lurid of alleyways. The blue-gray hue blended into the deep navy overcoat Dimitris shed and tossed over his shoulder. Unlike the men and women he passed, Dimitris’s breath did not cast about his mouth in a puff of mist. Instead of the chill others endured, sweat built at the nape of his neck, trickling down his back. A buzzing in his head acted as a chart, leading him to his final destination, begging him to shift, to lean into the feral tendencies that were his nature. But he couldn’t. Not yet. Not until he reached the small townhome of the legionnaires. It took Dimitris buying out the entire store of liquor the tavern owner held in his basement, before he acquired their address. That was the thing about the citizens of Lesathos, they lacked honor. Anyone would give up information for a price. Which is why he now waited to shift.
