Page 90 of Cruel Cravings

It would disrupt their luxurious fantasy.

Jael releases a breath as we enter the room that’s been assigned to her—and the room where I will be lurking like I always do, watching and observing.

“I don’t know if this was a good idea.”

“We will find out the information we need.”

She frowns. “But you heard the Hostess—my sister’s not even here. She doesn’t know if Kaden’s going to show up either.”

“We can find other ways at these games.”

“Maybe Imani,” Jael whispers. “The girl keeps claiming she’s my sister’s best friend. Why else would she be here if not to find her?”

It’s a question I don’t have an answer to as the first night begins.

We watch from outside the game room as the players fight among themselves, slaughtering each other for a chance to advance.

Blood spills as the players wielding the machetes attack those they deem a threat to their survival.

The club members roar with laughter. Their faces shine with mirth. They’re all entertained, having the times of their superficial lives.

Only one person at the member’s table seems disturbed.

Imani Makune leaps out of her chair in disgust before she attempts to flee the manor. The warden’s on the situation at once.

She’s brought up to the same parlor we were taken to for a one-on-one with the Hostess.

“She knows something we don’t,” Jael hisses. “She’s come here because she believes it’ll lead her to my sister. What does she know, Brontë?”

“It could be anything,” I answer. “It’s too soon to tell.”

“Not too soon. I’m going to figure it out.”

I turn my head toward her. “No.”

“This is about finding my sister. If this Imani girl, who thinks she’s her best friend, has info we don’t… then I’m getting it out of her.”

“The Hostess has been having her followed. We are not to interfere in any plans she has for her. It will complicate our search.”

The corner of Jael’s lip quirks. “Sometimes things change.”

Days bleed into each other in the Midnight Games. The nights are the opposite, filled with either bloodlust and violence or hedonism and excess.

Players drop like flies. The club members wager their bets like they’re spectators at a horse race. They want their steed to come out on top.

The games differ. A human-sized boardgame where the players have to cross to the other side and make it out alive. Puzzles that have deadly consequences. More duels that force them to square off with only a handful of victors.

My participation is minimal, relegated to the final round of the games. I’ll be a part of the maze the players will have to make their way through.

I have no qualms about fulfilling this role. The players are aware of what they signed up for.

My mission is finding Jael’s sister. Protecting Jael and being what she needs me to be as I do so.

But it proves more difficult than usual when she insists on interfering in places she shouldn’t. She doesn’t heed any warnings about the girl she believes is her sister’s best friend.

I catch her watching Imani more than once. Following her more than once.

She’s trying to drive the girl crazy, make her think Lyra is at the manor when she’s not.

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