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“A favor,” I said, as I stood from my seat. I could hear Thorn resetting the board behind me. He then came around to my side.
Brock’s eyes narrowed. “And if I win?”
“Whatever you want.”
Thorn’s eyes flickered to mine in warning, but Brock grinned. He rose, removing his cloak and straightening the rings on his fingers. His green eyes gleamed.
“Did you know,” he remarked, taking a step toward me, “that every other Mortal Queen at this time had already acquired five additional alliances to go with their original House alliance?” Another step. Nerves tensed through me. “But you . . . you have only made two. Lord Winster and Bastian.” His lips curled at Bash’s name. He stopped a pace away. “That makes those two alliances very strong. Bastian has some lands I desire, so that their inhabitants pledge themselves to me, but I suspect his alliance with you is keeping them on a leash.”
His eyes landed on mine. “I win, you annul the alliance with Bastian and distance yourself from him.”
I froze. I wasn’t prepared to do that. Cutting ties with Bash would be like cutting off a piece of me, and a surge of regret tore through my veins.
You can’t lose Bash. It’s not worth it.
But I thought again of Gaia’s face streaked with tears and our desperation to survive. “Deal.”
The word was out. There was no backing down now.
Thorn took his place beside the other kings to watch our every move. My hand lingered over the pawn I had previously moved first before suddenly choosing another.
Brock’s lips tightened. I wore an innocent expression, but he’d see the cunning underneath soon. He moved a pawn, and I moved my knight out.
He eyed me. “You’re playing different.”
“I’m playing to win.”
He moved his knight. I moved my pawn to give my rook a wider range. His bishop advanced, and his focus drifted to his knight again.
The minutes stretched by, each one spent with us huddled over the board in silence, eyes prowling the pieces. A smile that frightened me crossed Brock’s lips, until he whispered, “You’ve gotten better. You are a worthy opponent now.”
I had nothing on his hundreds of years, but those three grueling months with Troi of relentless gameplay had taught me well.
He fell silent again and the game continued. I kept my play slow, deliberately. Minutes were soon hours, and each time he moved his piece opened trails that my mind followed into potential moves, while I knew he was doing the same.
Nearby, Thorn would fall from his throne if he leaned forward any farther. Sweat glistened on his creased brow. If Brock won and my alliance with Bash broke, the path would be clear for an alliance with Thorn. I wondered who he cheered for in this match.
If it was for me, he had nothing to worry over. The play Brock was setting was familiar. Only because Troi bested me this way four times. Did she finally show me a clever trick to get out of it if I acted soon enough?
I acted, sliding my king forward.
Not even the slightest flicker crossed Brock’s face, and uncertainty pricked me. But he thought for a very long time about his next move, and when he finally made it, I spotted a tremor in his hand.
Troi did better than teach me to avoid this trap. She taught me how to use it against him. His bishop was too far away now and would have to pass through two pawns to get back, while his other pieces couldn’t be maneuvered in the way needed to help.
I moved my knight. “I’m generously informing you that I shall soon win this match.”
His eyes narrowed, flicking once to the kings beside us before falling back to the board. “I could take that with my rook.”
“Then it’s out of the way for my own rook. You could come at that with the queen or else my knight takes the queen. The rook could also take the queen then, if you’d rather. Or perhaps you’d like to avoid all that, and my knight will simply take the queen now. However your queen dies, which she will, I can move a piece next to your king.”
His lips tightened. “I see that.” He moved his king the other direction.
I chuckled. “That made it easier.” I moved one piece. His frown deepened.
“Choose how you die,” I said.
He sighed. “You needed a win. So be it.” He took my knight with his queen. Two more moves and I said the word I hadn’t been certain I’d get to say against him. It tasted like sweet retribution.
