Page 41 of The Grandest Game

“Feel for one that’s loose.” He just couldn’t stop ordering her around.

Lyra forced herself to breathe and focused on her hand, on the cool crystals beneath her fingers.Not on him. The gown, his hand, my thigh—

She touched first one crystal, then another, and beneath her, Grayson began to rotate. Slowly. Delicately.

Crystal after crystal after crystal.

Lyra breathed, and shefelthim with every damn breath. And then she feltit—a loose crystal. “I’ve got something.” She triedgrasping it between her finger and her thumb, and when that didn’t work, between two fingers. “I can’t—”

The next thing she knew, both of Grayson’s hands were on her thighs. Lyra’s legs split in a V, her back straightening as he lifted her straight overhead. Her hand closed over the crystal.

“Got it.” The words came out guttural.

Grayson dropped her. Lyra snapped her legs together as her body fell. Grayson caught her around the waist an instant before she would have landed. Just like that, Lyra was standing on her own two feet.

Just like that, his touch was gone.

Lyra’s body ached like she’d run a marathon. A tremor threatened to go through her. Gritting her teeth, she looked down at the crystal in her hand. Etched into its surface was an image.

“A sword.” Lyra’s voice came out low in volume, low in tone, a honey-whiskey whisper that sounded raw, even to her own ears.

“You, Ms. Kane,” Odette said, coming to stand in front of Lyra, “are a dancer.” The old woman turned her attention to Grayson. “And you are very much a Hawthorne.”

Very much a Hawthorne.It was clear Odette meant that as a compliment, but Lyra took the words as a reminder of who and what she was dealing with.

Grayson didn’t rise to the old woman’s bait. He also didn’t say a single word to Lyra as he turned and stalked away.

“A sword,” Lyra said again. She lied and told herself that her voice sounded more normal this time. “We need to—”

“I need a moment.” The muscles across Grayson’s shoulder blades pulled visibly at the fabric of his tuxedo jacket.Tense.Just like his voice.

Lyra refused to read a thing—a single damn thing—into that. Instead, she walked to the screen and hit the blinking cursor with her right index finger.

“What are you doing?” Grayson’smomentmust have ended—either that, or he could multitask.

“I’m trying the wordsword.” Lyra did her best to project a calm she did not in any way feel.

“It won’t be that simple.” Grayson’s voice was rough.

Lyra hit the letters harder than necessary.S-W-O-R-D.She pressed Enter, and the word flashed green. A familiar chiming sound filled the air. An image appeared on the screen.

A scoreboard.

At the top, there were three shapes: a heart, a diamond, and a club. Beneath the heart, a score appeared.1.

“You were saying?” Lyra resisted the urge to turn around. She wasn’t gloating. Much.

“Simply thatswordis not merely an answer.” Grayson didn’t even miss a beat. “It is, almost certainly, also our next clue.”

Chapter 32

GIGI

Gigi stared at the scoreboard. One of the other teams had just gotten an answer correct.

“Probably my sister’s team,” Gigi said, because Savannah wasSavannah.

“Or your half brother’s, assuming they ended up on different teams.” Knox swiped his hand angrily through the magnetic words he’d been obsessing over and stood, finally vacating the throne of swords. “The Grandest Game is a real family affair this year, isn’t it?” he said bitterly.