Page 73 of Glorious Rivals

“And ninety-eight,” Rohan finished.“For ‘Clair de lune’.”

There was a click, and the marble door swung open.Rohan forced himself to hold back: another test—another trap—for Savannah.She squeezed past him.She did not, however, attempt to close the marble door in his face.

That answered thewhen, in the vaguest terms at least.Not yet.They had some waltzing to do still, a deadly little tango, and more.Rohan followed Savannah past the marble door and shut it, just as he heard two sets of footfalls hit the top of the stairs.

Savannah practically body slammed Rohan out of the way to throw a golden deadbolt.

“They aren’t getting in here,” Savannah said primly, triumph and sweat both visible on her angular face.“At least, not until we leave.”

“Victory is sweet, isn’t it?”Rohan lingered on Savannah’s eyes for a moment longer than he should have, and then he turned to the room at large to take in the lay of the land.

The room had walls made of the same marble as the door.The seams of said walls were barely visible, but Rohan marked them all the same—quite a few on one wall and one large seam on another.

On the marble ceiling, red numbers appeared.A digital clock, counting down.Five minutes.

“What happens in five minutes?”Savannah asked.

Rohan glanced back at the deadbolt.“My guess is that we’ll have company.”If there’d been anything in the room, he would have used it to block the door, but the only item in the entire room—as far as Rohan could see—was the ledger.

He let Savannah be the one to pick it up, let her add her name—right below Brady’s.

To Rohan’s left, the wall with the large seam parted.Behind it was a series of floating shelves, each bearing one player’s name.Brady’s shelf was already empty.A familiar rule had been inscribed over the shelves.TAKE ONLY YOUR OWN.

The game makers were awfully fond of fair play for the rich and mighty.

Rohan wasted no time in signing the ledger, then sauntered to his shelf.There were two items on top of it.He grasped the first: a charm—a music note this time.“Quite the collection we’re amassing,” he commented, as he hooked it on to the bracelet next to the others.

The charms would matter eventually—or the bracelet would.Rohan was as sure of that as he was of the fact that Savannah’s betrayalwouldcome.

He picked the second item up in his hand.A worn leather pouch.

“And how did our Mr.Daniels respond to your offer of an alliance?”Rohan asked the question the exact same way he would have had he not borne witness to the event himself.

Lie to me, Savannah Grayson.

“Counteroffer.”Savannah kept her answer to a single word.A true one, as it happened.

“What kind of counter?”Rohan asked.He opened the leather pouch and withdrew a compass, a very old one by the looks of it.

“One I haven’t decided on yet.”

More truth?Perhaps.But Rohan was not in the habit of living forperhaps.He flipped open the compass, taking in the words written on the underside of the lid.A riddle.

“That’s it?”Savannah said beside him, examining her own compass.“No further interrogation?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, love.”

“Liar.”

“We’re all liars, Savvy.”Rohan read and reread the inscription on the compass.“Knowing that, living it…” He glanced up at the timer on the ceiling.“That’s the grandest game of all.”

Chapter 53

GIGI

As Gigi came to, the world swam in front of her eyes.She liked to think of herself as a person who had a solid appreciation for duct tape.Gigi did not, however, appreciatebeingduct-taped.She blinked.Repeatedly.

The first thing that came into focus was Slate.