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three

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I came back to awareness slowly, blinking against the darkness that pressed in around me.

How long had I been trapped in Arisya’s devil’s snare, suspended in that strange, shadowy realm between consciousness and oblivion?

Minutes?

Hours?

I had no way to know.

A flicker of movement caught my eye and I turned my head to see Arisya lounging in a plush armchair, one leg crossed elegantly over the other.

In her hand, she held my earpiece, turning it idly between her fingers.

“Welcome back,” she said, her voice like honey over thorns.

“I was beginning to think you’d sleep the night away.”

I flexed my arms experimentally, but the snare’s vines held fast.

I was well and truly caught.

Humiliation burned through me, followed swiftly by anger.

“What do you want, Arisya?”

She tilted her head, considering.

“Many things. But for now ...” She held up the earpiece.

“I want to have a little chat with your accomplice.”

My heart seized in my chest.

Ryn.

I’d forgotten all about them in the dizzying whirlwind of Arisya’s games.

“Leave them out of this,” I snarled.

“Your quarrel is with me.”

“Oh, I intend to.” Arisya smiled, a slow, wicked thing.

“In fact, I’m feeling rather generous. I think I’ll let your little friend keep that grimoire you pilfered. For a while, at least.”

I stared at her, uncomprehending.

Keep the grimoire?

But wasn’t that what this whole thing had been about?

The reason for this elaborately laid trap?

Arisya must have read the confusion on my face, because she laughed, low and rich.

“Poor kitten. You still haven’t figured it out, have you?” She leaned forward, her eyes burning into mine.

“That grimoire you went to such pains to steal? It’s a fake. It’s still a book of spells, mind you. After all, the best decoys are barely discernible from the genuine article. The true Amethyst Grimoire is quite safe from your clever schemes, as it was never here.”

She waved a hand and an image bloomed to life in the air between us.

There, the Amethyst Grimoire—the true grimoire—glittered in a nest of protective spells, far beyond the reach of even the most ambitious thief.

I sagged back against my bonds, reeling.

It had all been for nothing, then.

All my planning, all my careful maneuvering, just another move in Arisya’s grand, incomprehensible game.

“Why?” I whispered, hating the broken edge to my voice.

“Why go to such lengths? Why toy with me this way?”

Something flickered across Arisya’s face, an emotion I couldn’t name.

She rose from the chair in a whisper of silk, crossing to where I hung captive.

“Oh, my love,” she breathed.

“When will you understand?”

Her fingers brushed my cheek and I flinched away, glaring.

“Understand what? That you like to play with your food before you eat it? That you’ll stoop to any depths to rub my nose in your superiority? Well, message received. You’ve won, Arisya. You’ve beaten me. There, I said it. Are you happy now?”

For a long moment she just looked at me, her expression unreadable.

Then, moving slowly, deliberately, she leaned in and captured my mouth with hers.

The kiss was searing, scorching, like a brand against my lips.

I made a sound, half gasp, half sob, as her tongue slid against my own, relentless and demanding.

Despite everything, I found myself arching into her, straining against my bonds, desperate to be closer, to feel more.

Arisya pulled back a hairsbreadth, her breath mingling with mine.

I blinked up at her, dazed and aching.

“Why?” I managed again, hardly knowing what I was asking anymore.

She smiled, a softer version of her usual wicked grin.

“Silly kitten,” she murmured.

“This was never about winning.” Her lips brushed my ear as she whispered, “It was always about the chase.”