Chapter Nineteen #3
Demos snorted. “The gods are the gods, neither witch nor vampire. Just because we don’t pray to them doesn’t mean we don’t know them. Though perhaps Nightsworn should start.”
Larissa had tossed the dice, and it had just cost her the remainder of her silver. “Too late.” She shoved back on the stool. “I’m going to get another drink. Anyone want anything?”
We shook our heads—my goblet was still full, after all—and resumed. The rounds went quicker now. Another vampire dropped, then a third.
It was just Raphael and me now. His pile was almost as large as mine. We tossed the dice back and forth, and his pile began to shrink. Fifty coins went to forty-four, thirty-eight, thirty-one, then twenty-five. I had four times that.
“Perhaps you need Lixa too,” I teased. Bragging is unladylike, my mother’s voice said in my head.
But my mother had never won a pile of silver from the king of the vampires.
Raphael leaned back, considering the dice and me. “I doubt she’ll grace me with it. But there’s another bit of luck I might borrow. Demos, will you lend us your set?”
I twisted to look at the general. “You carry a set as well?”
The side of Raphael’s mouth turned up. “He always takes them when he travels. Thea ordered him to.”
Demos’s eyes narrowed, but he reached into his bag on the floor and pulled out a pouch, much like the one Greta had.
But what rolled out, plink-plinking over the table, weren’t carved bones, but stone.
They were different colors, beautiful red, purple, green.
The common feature on all of them was the “one” was carved into a stylized pupil.
“She said she wanted to keep an eye on him while he was away.”
“They’ve never been particularly lucky for me,” Demos groused. “Cursed, if anything. Maybe it’s bad luck they aren’t bone.”
I lifted one, turning the cold stone over in my fingers. Demos watched me handle the die like I was liable to swallow it whole. “Is it so unusual?”
“It’s unorthodox, but with her, what isn’t?” Demos said. He did a good job sounding beleaguered when I knew full well he adored the oracle. Maybe more than adored, but that wasn’t my business.
“She certainly has her own way of doing things,” I agreed. I missed her fiercely. I wished she could’ve been here, bantering with Demos and swiping silver from everyone, instead of doing whatever she was off taking care of.
Raphael collected the dice in his palm and extended them toward me. But when I reached for them, he pulled his arm back.
“Scared I’m going to take the rest of your silver?”
He grinned. “Silver is just silver. What do you say we make this more interesting?”
I glanced at the table. Silver was nothing to sneeze at, but, well, I wasn’t a king with centuries to build up my coffers. “What did you have in mind?”
He held the handful of dice over our respective stacks of coins. “Whoever wins by taking the rest of the other’s silver gets to claim a small boon from the other.”
“What do you want?”
Raphael grinned wide. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
I snorted. “I’m pretty sure I’ve heard children give that response. Yes, of course I’d like to know. There’s a number of things I won’t gamble on.”
He arched a brow. “What are your conditions?”
I considered. What could he ask of me? I didn’t have much to offer Raphael, but I didn’t relish being in his debt either. “Nothing involving blood.” Whether it was me biting him or him biting me or anything else. “What are your terms?” I asked once he nodded.
He grinned with all the arrogance I was used to seeing. “Unnecessary. I don’t intend to lose.”
I looked between our respective piles. “It hardly seems fair to you.” I had four times what he did. With the winning streak I’d been on, I’d be collecting this boon in a few rounds. “You’re practically forfeiting with these odds, so why even offer a boon?”
Raphael leaned closer. His voice dropped to a low, seductive note. “Can’t think of anything you want from me, viper?”
Just like that, visions of everything I did want from Raphael flashed in my mind.
Everything I wanted and could never have, not with the king of vampires.
The dead blood in my veins warmed with memories of what he’d said the last time we’d been alone together, about having him on his knees.
I prayed my mental shields were strong, but even if they were, enough showed on my face that Raphael’s eyes sparkled with humor.
“Fine, fine, I accept the terms. It’s your own folly. Let’s play.”
I pushed a stack of ten coins forward. Raphael put ten to match. Best to get this over with. He held out the stone dice to me and transferred them in a smooth movement, fingers grazing my palm.
I shook them once, twice, thrice for luck. High numbers to start would be good. Even just a five or six on the large die would do.
But that’s not what I got. I stared at the dice in disbelief. It was my worst roll all night—a full set of carved eyes staring up at me accusingly.
Raphael pulled my stack of coins toward himself. “It seems Lixa has left the table.”
I glared at him. “I was feeling charitable. Don’t worry, the next round will be different.”