Page 20 of Chess

It wasn’t that late and the way home wasn’t dreadfully far, but she still would’ve preferred taking a taxi. Ever hadn’t hailed one, though, because she didn’t want to distance herself from Chess too much, just in case he decided to go rogue and plot something else. Like skulking away to Rav and confessing where Ever was staying in exchange for a pardon.

The trees grew thicker around her as she entered the woods, their branches creaking with the wind. A pale moon shone through the limbs, and a few hedgehogs scampered about. She approached the tree in front of her safe house, then sank down to the ground, propping her back against the trunk. Chess’s shadow lingered several trees away, but she didn’t look in his direction. She waited outside to see how this charade of his played out.

After ten minutes of Ever’s thoughts bouncing back and forth, hoping March was all right, Chess stepped from the trees, making his presence known with heavier footsteps. What a cocky fool.

“There you are, Princeling.” She smiled, lifting her head, pretending only then to notice him. Even in the night, his yellow eyes shone like a cat’s. “I thought I was going to have to hunt you down.”

“Aww, were you worried about me, Queenie?” He smirked as he stopped across from her, fiddling with the edge of his shirt sleeve, rolled at his elbow. “All went well at the club. You should thank me.”

Ever inwardly rolled her eyes as she stood. She reached into her dress pocket to take out the key when a leaf crunched behind Chess. Snapping to attention, she watched as a female wearing a short, skin-tight vinyl dress stepped into view. Her orange hair fell in thick curls behind her back. It was one of Rav’s vampire friends from the club.

Ever’s fangs lowered and she prepared to leap forward when the female spoke to Chess. “I knew that was your arse I saw leaving Serenity.” The female chuckled, barely sparing Ever a glance. “I lost you for a while but finally found your booted tracks in the woods.”

“Ari…” Chess offered her a flirtatious smile. Did the fool not realize the vampire had been with Rav? But then again, Chess hadn’t seen Rav or the other vampires he’d been with. “What are you doing here?”

“I was with the king back at the club.” She shrugged.

“With Rav?” Chess asked, arching a brow. “Since when do you frequent the mortal world with him?”

“Since he asked me to. He needed vampires he could trust to assist, so he asked me, Anna, and a few others who Imogen considered friends.” She pressed closer. “He wanted to recruit Osanna to help find you, too, but found her dead. He suspects you may have had something to do with that as well.”

“I’m a little busy right now.” Chess’s voice came out clipped.

Ever hid her smile, liking where this was headed and waiting to see what Chess would do. Then Ari’s focus latched onto Ever. “Who is this?” Her brow furrowed before her eyes widened in recognition. “You did it—you finally found the bitch? I’ll bring her back to the king and tell him you found her, unless you want to kill her first?”

A pity that things had to turn south so quickly. Chess and Ari seemed to be friends, so it looked as though Ever’s time with Chess had to come to an end. The White Queen readied her hands, her fangs still lowered, prepared for their attack. But when Ari launched forward, Chess moved faster, gripping her head and ripping it off with one fatal yank. The female’s body slumped to the ground, crimson pooling from the wound.

The prince stared at Ever, his chest heaving as he held Ari’s head. Blood dripped from her severed neck to the ground.

For a moment, Ever thought he may have killed his friend to ensure her safety, though she would have easily torn out the vampire’s heart. Yet she knew the true reason why he’d done it—Ari was a threat to his lies.

“She was your friend?” Ever asked.

“Not exactly, but my mother’s,” he said softly. “Yet she did come to my bed on several occasions.”

Ari hadn’t tried to drag him back to Rav so Ever believed the vampire had considered him to be more thannot exactly. The female must’ve thought taking Ever to her brother would pardon Chess, perhaps even lead to them having another tumble after. She briefly wondered what it would be like to take a lover to one’s bed when they weren’t friends. And then an image slid forward—she shoved away the thought of her sitting in Chess’s lap back at the club, on top of his cock. There had been areasonfor that.

She needed to discuss other things, not think about her pretend tryst with the prince at Serenity. Ari had mentioned Osanna, so Scarlet knew she was dead. But Ever didn’t seem to be a suspect. She needed to continue playing her part, making it seem as though she knew nothing. “Who do you think killed Osanna?”

He scowled. “I don’t know, but Osanna had many enemies.”

The Hatter being one. And she bet with what recently happened with Maddie’s boyfriend, Noah, that Chess believed there was a strong possibility the Hatter had killed Osanna. Yet Ever couldn’t tell him that it was her who murdered the twat because he wasn’t supposed to know she’d returned to Wonderland.

Ever peered at the tree trunks, wondering if Rav or one of his other female vampires was going to break through the foliage. But no one came.

“We need to take the body to the nearest lake,” she finally said. They couldn’t leave the body there in case one of the vampires tried to track Ari down before she turned to ash in the morning.

Chess nodded and handed Ever the vampire’s head, then lifted Ari’s body. The lake wasn’t too far away, and they used their speed to get there, easily ducking beneath low-hanging branches.

After tossing the remains in the murky water, Chess washed the blood from his arms and hands, but crimson still stained his shirt.

They then slipped into the woods, heading back to the safe house. Ever lifted the door and allowed Chess entrance before locking them both inside. The prince unbuttoned his shirt and slowly peeled the fabric from his lithe body. As he turned to face her, she averted her eyes from each taut ab. When he’d come to the Ivory Palace with his mother, he’d always worn an open vest so it wasn’t something she hadn’t seen before. But a flame ignited in her chest anyway.

Taking a steady breath, she blew out that flame and lifted her viola from the mattress. She let a Chopin song fill the space around them as her bow slid across the strings.

Chess lowered himself to the floor on his stomach, his hands tucked beneath his head while he studied her. She waited for him to tell her to quit playing the damn instrument, but he didn’t. Instead, he murmured, “You’re quite lovely with that thing.” Then he closed his eyes, his breathing growing even. It wasn’t anywhere close to morning for them to be tired, but she knew he hadn’t slept well in days.

Ever halted her playing. This was her chance. She thought she may have needed to knock him out again, and perhaps she should, but she chose to let him sleep.

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