Page 12 of Pride: Kneel Before None

Her eyes didn’t shy away from mine. She was looking for something.

When I felt her power lightly tapping at the door of my own, I smiled in delight. It was second nature for me to keep a protective wall up all around me so that nosy people like my Little Spade couldn’t steal a reading.

I allowed her to continue trying while I feigned ignorance of her intentions. It was nearly comical how underdeveloped her talent was in comparison to mine. Maybe someday I would teach her a thing or three about being a skilled seer. Until then? I’d watch as the kitten tried to pounce on the tail of the lion.

After failing to breach my metaphysical walls, she abruptly pulled back, looking uncertain.

Oh, the sweet girl had no clue just how much power I was packing behind my defenses. I had been a Knight of Hell far longer than she had been alive, if she’d been honest about her age on the registration papers.

The temptation to give her a taste of the full strength of my powers was overwhelming, but I had to remind myself that she’d find out soon enough. Patience would be paramount to my ultimate reward.

Noticing all the dealers and players returning to their tables for the second round, I stood from my seat. Capturing her hand with mine, in an affectionate gesture, I leaned over and pressed my lips to the top of her knuckles. Despite the chaste contact, the lingering taste of her skin left me craving more.

When I reluctantly withdrew, my sleight of hand left a glittering diamond bracelet clasped around her narrow wrist.

I stepped back, holding her gaze. “It looks like I’ve taken up all my time with you for now. Best of luck…Genevieve.”

We both knew that she didn’t need any amount of good fortune to make it to the end of this tournament. But the luck would be all mine when she did.

CHAPTER 5

The entire encounter with the Ace Reynard had left my head in a daze.

While my attention should have been focused on the cards laid out in front of me, my thoughts kept wandering back to Sevenfold’s owner. Not only was he not the wrinkled old fogey I had assumed, but he was the furthest thing from it.

I could still catch hints of his musky cologne even after he had taken his leave, an intoxicating scent of burnt amber and spiced vanilla. The goosebumps his voice—all gravel and silk—had raised across my skin had only just begun to fade.

Out of the entire interaction, the thing that didn’t sit well with me was the fact that my precognition couldn’t see into an immediate future with him. It was the first time I’d ever had my power fail me—no sneak peeks, no previews, no snippets. Maybe it meant he had no interest in me, so there was no future to look at. No, that couldn’t possibly be the reason—I was far too attractive for him not to have even the faintest spark of interest.

I never questioned if my ability had a daily limit, but the thought did fleetingly cross my mind.

Fuck, this would be a shitty time to find this out.

“Miss Bechette?” The dealer interrupted my thoughts.

Everyone at my table was looking at me as I glanced down at my cards—a six of hearts and a nine of diamonds, resulting in a questionable fifteen. In the amount of time it took me to blink, my mind’s eye foresaw the next card being a four of hearts, resulting in a more respectable nineteen.

Lying my hand on top of the table, the generously gifted strand of diamonds around my wrist sparkled beneath the lights. My finger tapped the tabletop twice. “Hit,” I instructed without any wavering in my voice.

Even the dealer looked skeptical before he laid down my predicted card on top of my first two. I suppose my power was working fine after all.

Hmph.

The second round flew by while I continued to combat the distraction of the man monopolizing my thoughts. Occasionally, I would glance around the room to search for him, but there were far too many people standing around my table spectating. It was nice being admired, but not when it inconvenienced my interests.

While being a precog weighed heavily in my favor, it didn’t guarantee a win every time. Seeing into the future only provided partial coverage of what was to come. If it were as easy as being all-knowing, Tighe would be out of prison, and I would have bankrupted all of Superbia and crowned myself queen a long fucking time ago.

Instead, my ability merely gave me the knowledge to know how much to bet to minimize losses while making the best move to secure wins where possible. Overall, my success rate was over double that of the average person, who, if they played perfectly, would only have a forty-two percent win probability.

There was no hiding my lack of surprise when I made it to the third and final round. By comparison, all the others were amateurs, and each deck was stacked in my favor.

I was seated at a table with a man bearing a smug look across his pale, clean-shaven face. Too clean if you asked me. It almost looked like wet porcelain and equally as unforgiving. He was the only thing standing between me and a quarter million in cold, hard cash. When he smiled lecherously at me, the sharp points of his upper canines pressed against his lower lip.

A fucking vamp. Gross.

“Name’s Percy. What’s yours, sugarplum?” He leaned over closer to me, extending his bony hand toward my own.

Out of mere politeness, I hesitantly shook his hand, watching as his fingers curled around mine. His touch was cool and slimy like grave moss after a rainstorm.