Page 10 of Chess

Ever

Cocky prick.

Who the hell did the bastard think he was? Chess was no prince of anyone’s heart. Ever was easily able to wound him again—this time making him unconscious, his lying words trapped away. She should rip his heart out right there, relish in spilling his blood.

Not yet, the tiny voice of reason murmured in the back of her mind.

“Fine,” Ever huffed. Chess was the one who had lived in the palace the longest. He knew Rav best. Better than her. Ever only knew the old Rav before they’d come to Wonderland, or the one who she’d lived with inside the Ivory Palace’s walls. Even then, he’d always been full of lies and secrets. It had been centuries since he’d truly been her brother. Chess had been right under his mother’s wing, performing deeds for her and Rav. No one else still alive had been that close. According to March, all of Rav’s other guards and servants were dead. Too bad it couldn’t have been the Ivory guards who’d betrayed her. It would’ve served those bastards right.

She peered down at Chess as she stood above him. After she’d twisted his head, breaking his precious little neck, he’d tumbled to the ground in a heap. It was nothing less than what he was trying to do to her—she had just used a more expedient method to render him unconscious. The Princeling wanted a chat? She supposed he would get one. But it would be her way. Not his.

Heavy footsteps sounded behind her, and she whirled around to find a short man wearing tight trousers and a silky plaid shirt.

“Shit, sorry,” the mortal mumbled when he discovered Ever and ran his hand through his shaggy red hair. “Just needed to take a piss. That line isn’t moving at—” His eyes widened when they landed on Chess. “Is he all right?”

“He’s fine.” Ever waved her hand nonchalantly in the air. “Just passed out drunk as usual. I really can’t bring him anywhere.”

The man blew out a breath, hesitantly approaching her. “I know it’s not my business, but sometimes it’s best to leave people like that. They need to want to help themselves first.”

“Oh, I know.” She shrugged. “We won’t be together for much longer.” Before the mortal offered to help or waste more time, Ever thought of the perfect plan. Her gaze met his and she focused on him, swaying him with her influence. “You will drive us back to my home.”

The mortal’s dark irises glazed over as he nodded. Ever could easily scoop Chess up and carry him to her safe house, but it wasn’t every day a female toted a male around in the mortal world. With a closer look from prying, immortal eyes, even with her disguise, she would be recognizable, and Chess even more so.

“First, help me take my boyfriend to your car,” Ever instructed, unable to contain her smirk at what she was about to do.

Without a word, the man lifted Chess on one side while Ever held him on the other, the prince’s feet dragging across the pavement as they walked the short distance. The vehicle was an older model with chipped green paint and a dent on the passenger side door. Above them, the full moon shone brightly while most of the stars were hidden from the light pollution. Back in Wonderland, the werewolves would be in human form on this night, but it was rare they would slip out in the mortal world. However, she still kept a gun with silver bullets in her safe house just in case.

The man unlocked the door, and they propped Chess in the backseat, his head leaning against the window. He shouldn’t wake any time soon, but if he did, she needed to have the advantage, which she wouldn’t have if she slipped into the front, so she slid in beside him. No one had seemed to pay them any mind since it wasn’t unusual to see someone drunk or passed out from the club. This was positively perfect.

The mortal remained quiet as he sank down into the driver’s seat and started the engine. He stayed focused on the road after she gave him the instructions on how to get to the old park.

“Put it on a classical station please,” Ever said, needing a bit of calm after this tedious night.

A harder melody with fast bow movements across cellos came through the car stereo and she relaxed in her seat. She peered up at the ceiling with a smile while moving her index finger side to side as though performing her own symphony to the music. Imogen was dead. Ever had Chess in her clutches. And her brother would come soon enough. It was like the notes of a song, falling splendidly into place.

After about ten minutes, the car stopped in the crumbling parking lot of their destination. Not a soul was inside the park and only a few cars passed down the dimly lit street.

Ever leaned forward as she spoke to the mortal in an even tone. “After we shut the door, return to the club, and if you were planning on meeting someone, tell them you’re late because you forgot something at home.” She then opened the door and wrapped her arms around Chess’s waist, yanking him from the vehicle, before hoisting him over her shoulder. With a grunt, she adjusted his lithe body and shut the door using her foot. A pleasant aroma of pine and rain radiated from him, and she held her nose, brushing the smell away for a second.

“Come on, Princeling,” she whispered as the mortal drove away. “You get to come to my home sweet home.”

A light breeze with the scent of earth blew around her. An owl hooted in the distance, and the branches of the trees rustled. Ever walked past the dilapidated playground, then used her speed to hurry through the trees to the safe house—she didn’t want to hold Chess a moment longer.

The gnarled walnut tree came into view, and Ever fished out the key from her small cross-body purse. She held onto Chess’s legs as she knelt to the ground, pressing the key into the small lock. If it weren’t for her vampire sight and knowing the precise location of the keyhole, she would never have been able to find it. After lifting the door, she carried Chess down the ladder.

As her feet hit the bottom, she scanned the small space and thought about where she should rest her newguest. The mattress or the floor?The floor it is. Ever dropped Chess’s body on the wood with a thump and retrieved a few items from a crate in the corner. Rolling the prince to his stomach, she drew his arms behind his back and circled them with a heavy metal chain, then used another to tightly bind his ankles. He wouldn’t easily escape those since he would have to be a magician to tear through the metal.

Smiling, Ever stood and brushed her hands together, silently thanking her lucky chess piece for this. She then removed her heels and picked up her viola and bow. With a satisfied sigh, she sat atop her mattress, running her bow across the strings of her instrument as she waited for the villainous prince to wake.

“Mmm,” Chess groaned, rolling to his side, facing her.

Ever stopped playing her viola and perked up, finding the prince’s eyes still shut. She arched her brow when he let out another deep groan, the edges of his lips pulling back into what looked to be a smile. It didn’t sound like a painful awakening as she’d expected, or wished for, but as though he was having apleasurefuldream. She gripped her viola in one hand and her bow in the other, then stood from the mattress in front of him.

Chess’s spine arched while he tossed his head back. “Right there,” he whispered. “Fuck. You’re so good at this. Keep sucking. Harder, faster.”

She snickered to herself. “What a fool.”

“Don’t think you aren’t getting a turn, sweetness,” he purred. “Let me taste you now, Ever.”

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