Page 15 of The King's Maiden
After a few flicks of my thumb, the flame sparked to life. I held it close enough to heat the invitation, but not so close to singe the paper. Drawing it back and forth under the back, my excitement plummeted when nothing appeared.
To be sure, I waved the tiny flame over the side with the inscription, eyes widening as thick, black letters appeared over the elegant script.
“Holy shit,” I breathed.
Gia sprung to her feet, coming to my side as I read the hidden message—a short list of items that came with no further instructions or explanation.
“Red soled heels, a string of pearls, and black silk garter?”
“I don’t get it. Are you supposed to wear those?”
I shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe the girls wearing the items get a special prize for showing up? Or a get out of jail free card!” I suggested hopefully, before my hope sank like a capsized ship. “Too bad I don’t own a single one of those items.”
Gia’s eyes lit up, and she raced into her bedroom. I picked up the wine bottle from the coffee table and took a sip, padding over to her room with my exceedingly low expectations. This hadn’t turned out the way I thought it would, and I still had to wait another week to find out my fate.
As I leaned against the doorjamb, Gia rifled through her vanity drawers, pulling out a long string of pearls. “Thank you, Audrey Hepburn costume of 2022.”
She tossed the pearls at me, and I nearly dropped the wine in surprise. Disappearing into her closet, she rustled boxes and grunted a bit. I eyed the door, wondering what the heck she was doing in there and if I should go in after her.
“Ha!” she cried, coming out with a black silk garter balanced on her finger. Swinging it around, she made her way back over to me. “Two secret items,My Fair Vampire Lady.”
She slingshotted the garter at me, and I laughed, snatching it from the air like an eager groomsman in a cluster of eligible bachelors. Tugging it on over my jeans, I looped the pearls over my neck.
I posed, turning this way and that so she could see me from all angles. “How do I look?”
“Marvelous, darling,” she drawled. “We still don’t have red soled heels, but we can do some thrift store hunting this weekend.”
Chewing on the inside of my cheek, an idea came to me. I went to the bathroom and dug through the drawers by the sink, searching for what I needed. Gia came up behind me, waiting as I rifled through the cabinets and finally found her stash of nail polish. Hunting through the rainbow of colors, I pulled out a crimson shade and held it up for Gia to see.
Her eyes lit up with excitement. “You crafty bitch.”
I laughed, rising to my feet and going to my closet to grab my black heels. “One pair of red soled heels coming up.”
We dissolved into a fit of giggles, taking the wine back to the couch so I could paint the bottom of my shoes.
I slipped them on when the polish dried, still dressed in my other secret items, and glanced at the invitation where I’d propped it in front of us.
For a second, a tiny spring of hope welled up in my chest.
At that moment, with my best friend at my side, I felt like I could do it—win their games and walk away with the money I needed to remove the debt collector’s ax over my head.
But in three weeks, on Friday evening, April twenty-ninth at exactly seven o’clock, I would have to walk into Camelot Court alone, where a darker, more depraved threat would hang over my head.
I had just embarked down a very dangerous path.
And the temptation stirring to life inside me, the desire coiled deep in my belly, and the moisture building between my thighs at the thought of what was to come…
Those felt like the biggest threat of all.
Chapter Five
QUINN
Over the many times I’d driven past Camelot Court on my way to doctor appointments, I never spared it a glance.
From my side of the poverty line, and the vantage point provided by my beat-up Honda Civic, the high brick wall blocked my view of the main building.
I would’ve climbed over it to get a closer look, if I’d known everything the grounds held.
