Page 87 of Queen of the Crimson Throne

“One question. That was the rule.” Nico picked up a shot and drained it. “If you want another you’ll have to earn it.”

“Fine.” Luka picked up the cards, shuffling them before dealing out another round.

We all flipped our cards again, this time Kara was the winner.

Kara looked around the table assessing until they landed on Luka’s two placed in front of him. “Luka.” Her smile was vicious, one borrowed from my own book. “Have you ever been in love?”

The table quieted. Apparently we weren’t playing around.

“Yes.” He said without hesitation. His gaze locked with mine. “Once,” he admitted.

The breath in my lungs stilled as we continued to stare at one another.

Nico coughed into his arm. “Next round.”

Kara dealt the cards again.

“Fuck.” I laid down my three and looked around the table. Declan smirked at me, his card displaying a twelve flipped in front of him.

“Lennox, what’s something you regret?”

Did I have regrets?

I wasn’t one that regretted much. Everything happens for a reason. My eyes itched to look towards Luka.

He might have been my biggest regret. Letting him go. Refusing to let him back in.

I reached for a shot. Not hesitating before I slung back the alcohol. It burned as it went down. Almost as much as the regret of not answering the question.

I guess I had plenty of regrets now.

I ignored everyone’s stares as I set the glass back on the table, harder than necessary.

“Next round.” I shuffled the cards.

Luce won again.

“Nico, have you ever had more than one partner at the same time?”

He smiled like a wolf. “On several occasions.” He leaned forward, taking one of Luce’s braids between his fingers. “But if you want to know about my sexual exploits all you had to do was ask, Lucy.”

She swatted at his hand and leaned away. “It’s only a game, Nico, don’t work your pretty little brain too hard.”

“You think I’m pretty.” He beamed.

“I think it’s time to go,” Delcan declared.

“Yeah if we stay too much longer we might see one of Nico’s sexual exploits,” Kara remarked.

“Kara!” Luce screeched.

“What?” My sister shrugged. “I’m only saying if you two are going to fuck, I’d rather it not be on this table in front of us.”

“Little Kara Adair.” Nico beamed at her before placing a hand on each of her cheeks. “I love you.” He planted a kiss on her forehead and let her go.

“Okay, now we really need to get out of here.” Luka took me by the elbow and led me toward the door. “When Nico gets like this there’s no predicting what’s going to happen.”

I let out a small laugh. “I have to admit, I kind of want to see what might happen.”

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