Page 43 of Baron in Check
I want to take you home now, black lace or not. I cannot wait any more.
CHAPTER 20
The discussion unfolded like a chess game, each sentence a move, each reply a counter. Sofia baited Greg and all but laid out the trousseau that Hermy had ordered from Madame Giselle. She played on Greg’s weak spot, his heart. Or perhaps she’d be his weak spot, a distraction from achieving his goal of mating an opponent? Was she standing in the way of Greg’s victory?
Greg played queen on c5.
Oh no. His queen was protected by both knights but if he sacrificed his knights for the queen, Hermy saw no way to a quick mate.
List capitalized on Greg’s weakness and captured one of the black knights. The only strong moves Greg could make were with his black knight and black queen.
Sofia walked to a cabinet and turned the key in the oak door. It screeched.
“Schatz, what are you doing?” List asked without turning away from the chessboard. He called her his treasure. Hermy shuddered.
Sofia filled the room much like the sight of a lone, proud foxglove dominating a field, its striking blooms demandingadmiration even from a cautious distance. Yet, for all its beauty, her home, like the poisonous but pretty foxglove, offered no true comfort or sanctuary.
“Here it is.” Sofia stood on her toes, nimble despite her pregnancy, and pulled down another chessboard. “I found it.” She took the chess set and a wooden box to the side table. “I will teach you,” she told Hermy. “I want to have fun this evening, too. Shall we make it interesting?”
Hermy didn’t return Greg’s gaze and moved to the settee with Sofia. She sat primly as her role demanded, among her Jewish friends’ lethal enemy, chaperoned by a pregnant Russian spy who wanted to teach her chess. If the stakes were not so high, Hermy would have laughed.
“If you win, I will pay for the trousseau,” Sofia offered, setting up the pieces. She took black, leaving Hermy with white.
“But I don’t know what you want me to do,” Hermy said.
They were no longer mere pawns in society’s games but players in their own right, challenging the status quo with every word.
“Have some fun while the gentlemen are concentrating on their game, shall we?” Sofia spoke with the toxic sweetness.
“Alright.” Hermy was itching to mate Sofia anyway.
“This is how you start.” Sofia moved a white pawn for Hermy, the f-pawn, the worst one to move before castling. Hermy guessed her hostess wasn’t testing whether she knew how to play chess, but she assumed Hermy had no idea and was easy prey. “Then you move the bishops only in the diagonals. This bishop can only move on the white squares, this only on the black.”
Hermy nodded, as if Sofia’s lesson were new information to her.
“The knights jump in L-shape, like so. And the queen can move in straight lines or diagonals until she reaches a square that’s occupied.”
“So she captures the piece on it,” Hermy said.
“Exactly.” Sofia looked pleased. “Now, let’s play.” She put the white pieces back where they belonged. At least she set the white queen on the right square. Amateurs often confused the correct positions.
Time flew by and Hermy heard the faint clink every time Greg and List made their moves. Ever so often, she cast a look at their board, but it was mostly blocked by Greg’s wide shoulders.
Before her, Sofia had developed her major pieces and taken the center, thus commanding the highest-traffic area of the chessboard. She looked rather smug every time Hermy hung a pawn, not recognizing Hermy was baiting her into the exact positions she wanted.
“Lady von List, I must say I rather enjoy chess.” Hermy wasn’t lying.
“You’ll understand soon enough.”
“What do you get if you win?” Hermy asked. “You said, I’d get the trousseau.”
Sofia folded her fingers over her belly. “I get the wedding.”
Hermy tried to suppress the urge to throttle her. “In which way?”
“Your guest list. I will dictate who’s invited.”
Greg turned and gave Hermy a warning look.
