Page 50 of Glorious Rivals

I am no one’s weapon.

I am no one’s pawn.

And I am going to tell him.

Lyra made her way toward the door.She could feel Grayson on the other side of it, even with solid mahogany between them, and it suddenly occurred to Lyra that knowing that Eve had sent her here might change things for Grayson.The way he sees me.The way he looks at me.

Clearly, Grayson had a history with Eve.

Another knock.

Lyra snapped herself out of it and opened the door, and there he was, wearing the same plain black mask he’d donned the night before, a stark contrast with his icy blond hair.This time, his tuxedo was white.Perfectly tailored—with a black silk shirt underneath.

Just looking at him, Lyra viscerally remembered stepping out of time with their first kiss and proving to herself with the second that she was no one’s puppet, that whatever this thing was between Lyra and Grayson Hawthorne, it was theirs and theirs alone.

Grayson absorbed the sight of Lyra wearingDarkest Sunset, and he held out his hand.

Lyra took it, and she didn’t say a word.Not yet, she told herself.But soon.Lyra knew what it was like for everything to change in an instant, what it was like for there to be abeforeand anafter.

Once she told him, she might well be playing this game alone.

“Shall we make our way down to the dock?”Grayson asked, and then he smiled—a rare, actual Grayson Hawthorne smile, the kind fully capable of bringing the world to its knees.

I have to tell him.I’m going to tell him, even if it kills me.Soon.

Chapter 38

LYRA

Aboat was waiting at the dock.Lyra climbed aboard, ballgown and all.“No driver,” she noted, as Grayson joined her on the boat.

“No driver,” a voice repeated, “and no key.”

That wasn’t Grayson.Lyra whipped her head up to see Brady Daniels in the middle of the dock.She hadn’t realized he was there, hadn’t felt his presence at all.

She wondered how far he’d made it in the game.

“No driver,” a British voice reiterated.“And no key.Now thatisa dilemma.”Rohan stepped onto the dock and into the faint light cast by the boat, and Lyra noted that Rohan’s tuxedo was a deep purple to Brady’s traditional black, Rohan’s mask the less symmetrical of the two.

“It’s only a dilemma for some of us.”Savannah brushed past Rohan and looked pointedly toward Grayson.“Where is it?”she asked her brother.“The boat key.”

Lyra had time to register the color of Savannah’s dress—white—and the fact that there was something written on her arm in black ink, but that was all before Grayson responded to his sister’s question by leaning over the edge of the boat—and over some more to reach the side of the dock.

Within seconds, Grayson had the boat key, complete with keychain.Lyra zeroed in on the keychain, taking in its shape.She wasn’t the only one.

“Is that a narwhal giving an axolotl a piggyback ride?”Brady said, frowning.

“Let me guess.”Lyra met Grayson’s eyes through their masks.“This is Xander’s boat.”

Grayson wasted little time putting the key in the boat’s ignition.“Technically,” he told Lyra, “it’s Xander’s backup boat.”

Grayson turned the key, and by the time he’d done it, all five players were on board.The boat’s dashboard lit up with two blinking dots on what looked like some kind of grid.

Rohan took a seat at the back of the boat, his legs stretched out, his arms spread wide.“Who wants to bet that’s another map?”

Grayson pulled the boat away from the edge of the dock and throttled it, jetting out into the Pacific.It didn’t take Lyra long to confirm that on the dashboard, one dot was moving closer to the other, tracking the boat’s progress through open ocean—and toward their destination.

It was a full ten minutes before it came into view.