Page 20 of Games Untold (The Inheritance Games #5)

Chapter 14

L ate at night, the Old Town Square was empty. I stood at the base of the astronomical clock, Jameson beside me, Oren a shadow somewhere in the dark. Sculptures of Death and Catholic saints adorned the clock. The astronomical portion of the clock was designed to show the positions of the sun and the moon .

Sun, moon, saint, death.

“And so the game ends.” There was a richness to Jameson’s tone, a depth, an unspeakable something that I felt all the way to my bones.

I’d beaten Jameson’s game, but there were still more games to play. With the two of us, there always would be.

“Shall we wait for the clock to strike midnight?” I asked.

“As it happens,” Jameson told me, “the clock doesn’t go off at midnight. Last official procession of the day is at eleven, and right now, it is eleven forty-four.” He gave me a loaded look.

In other words, yes, I’d beaten his game—but only just.

“I’m liking my chances tomorrow,” he told me.

I took that as an invitation to open negotiations. “Give me until noon.” I said, and then I sweetened the deal. “In exchange, I will agree to having three steps in my game instead of five. You’ll still have until midnight to solve it.”

Jameson looked down at me in the dark. I could barely make out the outline of his face, but my mind filled in everything my eyes couldn’t see.

“It’s possible that I could be talked into those terms,” Jameson told me. “Do go on.”

“Well…” I latched my hand on to the front of his shirt and pulled him toward me. “If you don’t agree to give me until noon, I’ll have to work all night to get my game ready. I won’t be going back to the hotel with you.”

“Straight for the jugular,” Jameson said. “I approve.”

I arched a brow. “You’ll give me until noon?”

Jameson smiled. “I can live with those terms.”

Without a single word of warning, I pushed him back and took off running into the night. “Catch me if you can, Hawthorne.”