I shrug. “You’ve spent more time in prison that I have.”
That wipes the triumph right off her beautiful face.
“Beingimprisonedby the CCP is not the same,” she spits. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed the change in subject. There must be something really juicy in those empty, dusty rooms of yours.”
She stalks into my space, all anger and pent-up emotion, and I’m more than happy to meet her. We’re nearly chest-to-chest as she looks at me with those sharp eyes. They miss nothing, and yet are so blind in all the wrong ways.
“Let’s make a wager,” I suggest. “If you win, you can poke around in the family quarters to your little, black heart’s content.”
“And if you win?”
Her breath hitches as I run my fingertips along the fine curve of her jaw. I lean in, dropping my voice an octave as her chest brushes mine. I rest my cheek against hers, her skin surprisingly cool. “I want to know how the CCP captured you.”
“No.” Her posture stiffens. “Anything else.”
“I don’t want anything else.”
Her eyes search my face, and I can’t help but wonder what she sees there. For so long, we hid from one another behind masks and threats, games and forced decisions. A rivalry, yes, but a kinship like no other.
“Why does it matter?” Her bottom lip quivers, her arms wrapping around herself.
“You’re mine.” My knuckles trace over the curve of her cheek, the shadow of a caress. “Whoever hurt you will consume theirown fingers bite by boney bite, fully aware and unable to stop themselves, until they understand the price of my displeasure. Until they regret touching what belongs to me.”
Something changes in her eyes then, something hard coming into focus.
“One condition.”
“Name it.”
“Backgammon, not chess.”
“You like a bit of luck in the games you play.” A notion I could appreciate.
An ember sparks behind her eyes. “Lady Luck owes me, and it’s time for the bitch to pay.”
I take her hand and for the first time she doesn’t pull away.
My grandmother loved challenges of any type, but cards and board games were her favorites. She would spend hours playing Rummy, Parcheesi, Yahtzee, or Risk. No one could take a hand like she could in Texas Hold’em. She was the one who taught us about strategy and how to turn the tides of luck to your favor, no matter the roll of the dice or the lay of the cards. She loved it so much that she dedicated a room to it. A room that remained her refuge until she passed from this world.
An ocean of memories greets me as I open the door, its tidal pull sweeping me out to sea. Of rainy afternoons and winter days, teas sipped in the massive armchairs by the fire. Of boards set up between us and plates of buttery cookies close at hand. A layer of dust coats it all now. It rises like a cloud as I wipe the surfaces clean.
“You don’t come here often.” Kaye palms the white cue on the billiard table. The dust parts like the Red Sea as it sinks perfectly into a corner pocket. I bet she’s a crack shot at that too.
“Who would I have played with?” My back is to her as I bend to rifle through a chest filled with games, but I hear the satisfyingwhooshas she sinks into one of the chairs. “George is a sore loser. I like my balls where they are, thank you.”
The sound of her laugh warms straight through my bones.
She chose my favorite seat, the one facing the gardens just beyond the smoky, lead-paned glass. As I sink down into the soft, cracked leather of the chair my grandmother always preferred, I can almost smell the sweet floral scent of her magnolia perfume. She would have loved Kaye, would have devoured every sordid detail of our feud like she devoured her favorite Agatha Christie novels.
The mystery of Checkmate.
She would have solved it long ago, and never let me live it down.
I feel her eyes upon me as I prop the case on the table between us. I trail my fingers lazily over its soft, lacquered surface, all satin wood and ebony. The clasps open with a softsnick, then the elongated triangles jutting out from either side in alternating colors unfurl. “What’s your poison?”
She starts placing the light pieces on the board.
“Typical.” Though if I’m being honest, I’ve always preferred to play as the darker color in any set. This one is jade, while Kaye’s pips are white marble with gray veins running through them.
