I’d played the game in two grids so far—three if you counted my unlucky experience with the fake laser tag in the forest.
Water was our biggest weakness. I had to know it better.
“Very well,” Sascha replied. “The game will fall outside of the new moon this month. Three days after.”
The wolves’ power had everything to do with the sun. At the new moon, when sunlight wasn’t reflected off the moon, the Luthers became most volatile. “The game will obviously go ahead.”
“Obviously.” The gravel in his voice strengthened. I couldn’t glean a thing from his expression, but his eyes didn’t shift from mine. If he had a straw in his mouth, I’d say he was drinking me in.
“Unless there’s another obvious point you’d like to make, Luther, there are other places I’d like to be.”
Leroy’s eyes narrowed, but Hairy nudged him like a good little beta.
“Until Wednesday, Miss Booker.” Honey eyes bore into me.
My chest tightened. Never again. I’d never let myself fall for those eyes again. “I go by Miss Thana.”
I nodded at Roderick, and the screen blanked, cutting off Sascha’s reply.
Twisting, I eyed Rhona’s murderous grip on the armrests. “You alright?”
“I killed him ten times in my mind.”
“Therapeutic.”
Her mouth crooked in a smile. “It will tide me over until I can do the real thing.”
My stomach twisted, and I ignored the magic voodoo telling me Sascha’s death should be avoided at all costs, even with my own life.
“Now to win a grid we’ve never won,” my sister murmured.
I stood. “Win? No. Learn? Yes.”
Luck wouldn’t help me destroy Sascha Greyson. And I didn’t want to win with luck. No.
When the Luther pack went down, it would be because I controlled the puppet strings.
2
I stared at my buzzing phone.
Unknown number.
We need to talk
I strongly disagreed.
Sascha had shown his true colours, and I could only feel stupid for believing some of his act. I never had a problem with the wolves before, not really. Part of me even felt for their situation at one stage.
Now.
If I’d sometimes winced at Herc’s blatant disgust toward the Luthers, that Andie had learned her lesson.
Another message arrived.
His last words. They’re pack secrets.
He shouldn’t have known them.
Red fury blinded me, and I dropped my gaze to where my hands strangled the phone.
Herc’s last words. Which fucking ones?
I’d rather lose a grid than see this happen to her.
I’ve seen this before.
I won’t fail again.
You can be fixed.
Your death won’t kill her.
I deleted Sascha’s messages and blocked the number without replying. His information gave me nothing about what I truly wanted to know.
Why did Mum steal me from Herc? If I knew that, maybe I could feel warm again. Maybe…
I’d understand how she could have hurt me so badly.
Only one port of call came to mind. Scrolling through my contacts, I turned the speaker on.
“Baby girl, what can I do you for?”
With Wade, the sexual innuendo was always intended. “Hey, do you know the Freys?”
“Sure do. Gotta say, they’re not the biggest fans of your family. They causing trouble?”
I didn’t get bad vibes during my short conversation with Margaret, but good to know. “They’re my—” Fathers… “Well, my, uh, Mother was with a Frey when she left the valley. I’d like to ask them questions.”
“I’ll set it up. How soon?”
“As soon as they can.” The faster I put this plaguing curiosity to rest, the better I’d sleep, and the more energy I could dedicate to Grids.
My phone buzzed. “Someone else is calling. I’ll catch ya later.”
Hanging up, I checked the name. “Roy. Good news, I hope.”
I needed rid of Mum’s debt yesterday.
In two months, I’d accumulated nearly four thousand dollars in interest. The debt was getting beyond what the house sale could cover. Another month would screw me.
“Good news,” he said. “There’s an offer. Young family. One child and another on the way. Looking for a house with a bit of a yard.”
If they bought the house, they could be flying pigs for all I cared.
“Offer is three ninety-nine.”
My heart sank. “That’s less than I expected.”
“Remember that’s the initial offer,” Roy rushed to say.
I needed 416,000 to cover conveyance fees, the commission Roy would take, and the new interest. “I can go down by four thousand. That’s it.”
A brief pause. “They have some wiggle room, but probably not that much.”
I got paid an allowance for leading the Ni Tiaki. The money pulled from the trust that contained Deception Valley land and this manor. The allowance was better than my saxophone gig at The Dens, and I no longer had any living costs. I could pay off a thousand dollars in the next month. If I sold short of the debt amount, I’d still have a fight against interest, but it would only be calculated on a few thousand as opposed to hundreds.
I could win that fight.
I leaned back in the office chair. “If they’re willing to pay a higher deposit and can authorise release of that deposit to me immediately, I can meet them at 412,000.”
“I’ll take that back to them.” His grim tone told me what the answer would be.
Dammit. “If they’re willing to meet me there, I’ll throw the house furnishings in too.”
Storage was a cost I didn’t need, and I just wanted everything to do with Queen’s Way gone. The new owners would be doing me a favour.
Surprise coloured his voice. “Could you send a list of the contents?”
Could I squeeze that between three hours of meetings, study, overseeing Sandstone, Iron, and the council of this valley, managing disputes between stewards, and the endless documents requiring my attention?
Herc had once asked Rhona and me how we’d juggle such a load. I’d given a beautiful answer. A textbook answer.
What an idiot.
This had to take priority. I was drowning in problems. “Give me until the end of the day and you’ll have it.”
Rhona entered without knocking as I slid my phone away.
“Done with study?” she asked.
It was midday so I had to be. And I’d done approximately none. The situation grated sorely at my straight-A pride, but I couldn’t do much about that. Only a pass was realistic. “All done. Are you alright?”
She blew out a breath, taking the seat opposite mine. “I’ve thought more about the last two weeks. There were signs I should have picked up on.”
I tensed. Sascha killed your father because of me. “Like what?”
Rhona licked her lips. “I think Dad tried to tell me the truth a few times—about you. He was acting weird, you know?”
I refrained from wiping the beading perspiration from my brow. Working undercover in The Dens had taught me subtlety at least.