Page 16 of The Human’s Heart

Kian nodded, so I placed a card down. “Boom. You’re dead, and you take twenty damage points.”

“Oh, man! Shit! Twenty? Really?”

I nodded.

“Hot damn, Hugo, I only have fifteen.”

That made me grin at him. “I know.”

Kian laughed as he removed his monsters and took himself off the board. “Ugh, I was finally in a great place to take out Zay too.”

I shot him a wink. “Don’t worry, I’m gonna get him too.” I pointed at the card. “It says if I have more than thirty points, I get to play the card a second time, and I can aim at someone else.” I gestured to the counter in the center of the table. “I’m at thirty-two, so now I’m aiming for Zay.”

“Nooooooo,” Zay whined, making Key and me laugh. “I’m dead. I’m completely dead.”

“Looks like we all are, bro.” Kian shrugged and pointed at the counter again. “Guess that means Hugo wins. Again.”

“Well, shit.” Zaos sighed and leaned back in his chair, putting his arm around me. “You little sneak.”

I snickered. “Yep, that’s me. Sneaking up and taking my revenge.”

“Revenge? What did I ever do to you?”

“Killed my crew in the first round.”

He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. “Oh. Right. Forgot about that.”

I snorted and nudged him. “Nice try, but you know I’m the champion.”

Kian laughed and threw the cards in his hand to the table. “How are you so good at this?”

I shrugged and started cleaning up. “My sister and I played a lot when we were teenagers. It was basically the only game we owned.” Not basically. It was the only game we owned growing up.

“Ugh. Well, I’m going to buy this game so I can practice at home. Next time, I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

He snorted and leaned back, putting his arm across the back of Phia’s chair. I didn’t think Kian noticed, but I definitely saw her move away from him slightly and give him a small and silent sigh, almost exasperated-looking.

What. The. Hell.

“Did you see that?” I asked Zaos through our link.

I heard him sigh in my head. “Sure did. What’s her problem?”

“I think… I think she might be… acting like she likes Key when she really doesn’t.”

“Fuck. That kinda goes along with what Grandpa said. Shit.”

I grimaced internally because it was clear we had a problem, and Kian was going to be the one who suffered from the blowback.

Before I could say anything else, Phia pulled out her phone and asked the table, “Have you all seen that crazy witch video that’s been going around?”

I had absolutely zero idea what she was talking about, and apparently Zay didn’t know either because he said, “Nope. I don’t know what that is.”

Kian shrugged. “I dunno either.”

Phia got a strange look on her face, like she was eager or maybe like she was a lioness and we were her prey. Okay, that was kind of mean and uncalled for, even in my own head. She wasn’t that bad. Just maybe bad for Kian.