Page 8 of House of Lilith

I hear Max let out a scoff. “As if we couldn’t have done the same.” And my eyes snap to him and I see that his face is tense with hurt pride.

I know better than to ask “Why didn’t you then?”

But for a second, my eyes stay fixed on the alpha. And they narrow in irritation.

I scoff and I turn back to my table, grabbing Max’s hand and leaning in for a deep kiss. It’s my anniversary, and I won’t let anything ruin our night.

*

Nowthey want to play a game. Now that it wasn’t me who suggested it. But I have a really good buzz going on and I’ve always loved Shadowscape. Max had sent for my favorite drink, and it reignited the butterflies in my stomach. Sometimes he can be so attentive, I can’t help but feel special. Seen.

Max and Nikolay still being hush about something, they get up and start leading me and Hilde to the playing tables they’d set up to the right of the Dame Gothel statue.

“So,” Hilde starts, her face flushed and her words slurred, as I watch drunk, giddy students take their seats, “I hear it’s yours and Max’s third anniversary today.”

My eyebrows pulling down, I throw her a side glance. Being of the Schwarz line of the family, Hilde has spent most of her life across the country, rarely visiting and only last year arriving to study with us at Grimm Academy. She wasn’t here when Max and I first started dating.

“It is,” I tell her.

She looks positively giddy as she asks, throwing me a knowing little look, “Anything special planned to celebrate?”

I ignore the look. “I don’t really like celebrating those kinds of things,” I say, although it’s not the complete truth. But it will do for Hilde.

She stays silent for a second. “Of course,” she says, as if she’s just realized something. And she lets out this annoying little chuckle. “You’ve probably already done it, haven’t you?”

It’s only then that I realize she’s talking aboutthe kiss. And it instantly makes blood rush to my cheeks. Doesn’t she realize that’s more intimate than talking about sex? But I guess she’s too drunk to care.

“I’d tell you all about it, but look, Hilde,” I tell her, trying to distract her by motioning at a vampire girl and a shifter guy sitting at the table closest to us, preparing their board, “our first players.”

“Sure sure. Will you be my partner?” she asks with giddiness in her voice.

“Why not,” I say. I seem to remember she’s not very good, but I’d pick her playing Shadowscape over her sniffing around my sex life any day of the year.

I choose our table wisely. As Nikolay and Max keep walking to the one at the center, I lead Hilde straight to the one to the far left. If I lose, I’ll just retreat into the audience, but if I win, I won’t have to switch seats to play with the winner closest to me.

I’m excited so I don’t waste time. I throw myself into one of the chairs, finishing putting all the pieces back in their places before Hilde’s even managed to settle in. I hear someone say that they’ll be bringing out themagicboard for the finalists to play on.

Nowthatmakes my excitement turn into a cutting resolve to win. It was when Nikolay came home for his first winter break that I first heard about the Grimm Academy Shadowscape board, and I’ve wanted to play on it ever since. I just thought I’d never get the chance. Magic items are rare and even more rarely used, simply because it takes a powerful magic wielder to burn the spell into an inanimate object and keep it active. And it never stays active forever.

I let my eyes sweep over the crowd, my opponents, that is. I see that Max and Nikolay have already started and that their table even has a couple of spectators.

My own partner is excruciatingly slow and a couple of moves into the game, I start doubting she even understands the game. But it doesn’t matter. I’m still having fun, enjoying the way everyone around me is totally immersed, cursing their opponents whenever they manage to take one of their strongholds and shouting in excitement whenever their strategy works and they get their hands on a particularly good piece of land, all represented by neat squares on the board.

So as not to make her feel bad, I take my sweet, sweet time beating my cousin. But once I do, I still have to spell it out to her that she lost. She chuckles, drunker than I’ve ever seen her and goes to find the bathroom.

I throw a glance at Max and Nikolay and see that there’s a whole crowd around their table. Nikolay seems to be winning.

I myself move on to a fae-blooded guy who looks so sure of himself, it gives me much greater pleasure to wipe the floor with his ass.

Then a shifter from our Academy and then one from theirs.

It’s only when I’m done with himthat Max and Nikolay finish their own game. Max strolls over, gloating under the watchful eyes of the audience he’s built.

“Would you do me the honor?” he asks as he takes a seat at my table. He’s in a good mood, thank gods. This will be fun. His admirers just arrange themselves in a neat circle around us. “I’ve just beat your brother and I’m ready to take on another Romanov.”

“Not all Romanovs are made the same,” I tell him with a smirk.

He throws his head back, laughing. It’s my favorite version of him, a little tipsy and playfully competitive. It gets me excited, the prospect of showing him what I’ve got.

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