Page 27 of Chess

“I’m surprised they haven’t torn any of this down,” Ever whispered as they reached the nearest gazebo. Marble benches ran along the interior walls with a small, empty brazier at the center. “This used to be one of my favorite places. The music from my viola traveled so well here and everyone would sing and dance the night away.”

“Even the humans?” Chess asked, genuinely curious. In Scarlet, no one danced unless it was in someone’s blood.

“Sometimes.” Ever sank onto the bench and looked out over the lake. “Most of the time they were …busyafter feeding a vampire.”

Chess smirked, knowing exactly what sort of activity usually followed. “At least Scarlet has something in common with this place. A good fucking after a good feeding.”

Ever snorted. “No, Princeling, both the feeding and the fucking in Ivory are never simplygood.They’re always amazing. What sort of court were you running?”

“To be fair, I wasn’t running anything. If I had been home more often, maybe I could’ve saved those poor souls from mediocre pleasure.” He winked as he sat down beside her and scanned the area, looking for any sign of vampires, finding none. As much as he would love to tell Ever tales of his prowess and watch her reaction, they were there with a purpose. “Your friend is late.”

Ever drew in a steadying breath. “March will be here.”

If he wasn’t discovered. Or killed. Or a traitor.

Ever said she trusted the male but she seemed to trust Chess too. Obviously, she was mistaken with Chess since he planned to betray her by killing Maddie, so she could be wrong twice. He looked at her again and sucked on his bottom lip. The thought of seeing her dead—or worse, alive and aware of his duplicity—made him shift uncomfortably on the bench. His blood warmed in shame. Was he really going to go through with it? Ever wouldn’t forgive him once he killed Maddie, but that was the only reason he could think of for continuing down this path. They both wanted Rav dead and, once he was, his gut told him that they would be able to rule their respective kingdoms without too many issues. Maybe if he gave up his revenge…

Don’t go getting soft,he warned himself. Imogen had been a shit mother, sure, but she still needed to be avenged. Even if she had forced immortality on him—he liked it now, after all—and lied to him. Ever said his father had been a good male, wanted Chess to have a choice about immortality, while his mother only ever disparaged the male. It was too late to know for sure now that he was dead. His mother had been his only blood relation for centuries and that counted for something.

Right?

Regardless of what he decided to do about Ever, the truth was he might not get the chance to double-cross her now that she knew the truth about him. Apparently Ever knew theentiretime. She’d been playing with him, letting him spin his lies. She must’ve justlovedthat. Allowing him to look like a fool. Embarrassment burned beneath his skin, but the fact that she hadn’t actually cared about his predicament cooled him slightly. She hadn’t treated him any differently now that the truth was out. In fact, the wall he had created seemed to have crumbled, allowing them to see each other over the ruins. Somehow. He scowled. Was that normal? During his long life, he hadn’t bothered to connect with anyone on an emotional level…

“He’s here,” Ever whispered.

Chess sat up straight and shifted a bit closer to her. A blur of motion came from the other side of the lake, a quick flash of red. Then March stood before them in his guard uniform, crimson with black piping along the front. They were very different than the stark white ones Chess had seen at the ball four years ago.

“Your Majesty,” March said, bowing slightly, his braids slipping over his shoulders. “It’s so good to see you.”

Ever leapt up from her seat and hugged him tightly. When he returned the hug, Chess gripped the edge of the bench to keep himself seated. “It’s good to see you too,” she said with so much sincerity that Chess rolled his eyes.

“All right, all right,” he snapped from his seat. “Enough with the touchy-feely. What information do you have?”

The two broke apart and March glowered down at him. Chess gripped the marble harder—he wouldnotgive the male the satisfaction of knowing how agitating his presence was. Though agitated might be too mild a term for the growing emotion inside of him. The sight of March’s hand still on Ever’s waist woke a territorial part of Chess that he hadn’t known existed.

“I don’t take orders from you,” March said calmly.

“Whodoyou take them from, then?” Chess arched a brow. “Your queen? Or have Rav’s cohorts put you under their spell yet? I know from experience just how alluring it can be to strive for Scarlet’s ideals. All that gorging on blood, the death, the carefree—”

“Chess,” Ever said in a flat tone. “Not now.”

He narrowed his eyes at her and, reluctantly, snapped his mouth shut. It wasn’t like him to take orders from anyone—especially her—but the faster they got March’s intel, the faster they could get away from him. Leaning back into the gazebo’s railing, he motioned to March for them to continue.

“I have to be quick in case I was followed. They’re keeping a close eye on me since I’m new,” March said in a low voice. No one outside of the lake area would be able to pick up on his words. “As we already knew, Rav took out a lot of the guards here.”

“How many are left of the ones who betrayed me?” Ever asked.

March cast a wary glance at Chess and hesitated before speaking. “Three, that I know of. They’re the ones in charge of the new vampires Rav’s been sending as replacements. One of them is on duty at all times. The good news is that the rest of us aren’t trained as guards—we’re given uniforms and told where to stand watch. The bad news is that the palace is now run by cutthroats with no morals and have no problem murdering citizens if they look at them sideways.”

Ever’s expression turned stony. “How many guards in all?”

“Twelve.” March took Ever’s hand and tugged her a few steps away from Chess, toward the opening to the gazebo. “Are yousurehe should be hearing this?”

“He’s fine,” Ever assured him with a distracted wave of her hand. “What’s the best way to get inside?”

“The—”

Chess leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and tilting his head as if this answer were particularly intriguing. It wasn’t—he was simply along for the ride on this part of their journey—but he knew it would make March squirm. And squirm he did. The vampire leaned closer to Ever, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders, and positioned her so they could flee together. As if Chess would suddenly decide to murder the White Queen after all this time when she had back up.

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