Page 78 of The Grand Mistletoe Assembly
Oddly, she didn’t feel watched. She felt seen.
They found a picnic table with marble chess squares. A set of wooden pieces was in total disarray. Wolfgang sat on the bench and arranged them. The set was complete.
He inclined his head and invited her to sit across from him. “You’re white. You’re the bride, after all.”
“And the bride playsagainsther groom?” She grinned. She was good at being bad. And she liked it.
“It’s just a game. You play, don’t you?”
She remained silent and made her opening moves.
White started. As usual. She moved a pawn to e4. Classic. Easy.
He mirrored her with his pawn on e5.
Then she brought her bishop to c4. Wolfgang eyed her suspiciously. “Il Calabrese?”
“Certainly. Greco’s opening gives white forty-three percent advantage.” She smiled as she made her next move.
“But twenty-one percent are draws.”
She shrugged and took his knight. In less than fifteen moves, she had checked him twice and mated him in one with the queen.
“That queen’s a problem, Sophia. She cleans up the board.”
“Just like Eve Pearler,” she mumbled, but he heard her and nodded.
“So how would this plan of yours work, exactly?”
“I’m not sure yet. There are a few obstacles I have to—”
“Like what?”
“Well first, nobody knows me, and I haven’t been introduced to society.”
“I could take care of that.” He nodded. “What else?”
“If you bring me to the ball—”
“Wait.” He froze and looked at her. “Sharing the mission is a high price to pay, Sophia. I don’t even know if I can trust you.”
“You cannot.” She cast a dangerous smile, and he appeared to quite like it again. “But what is your plan once you are at the ball? How will you take the queen?”
“What did you say?”
“The Queen of the Jews, Eve Pearler. We have to get her off the board.”
“She’s not a chess figure they will sacrifice. She’s worth too much.”
“Agreed. But she’s our easiest angle of attack. If we take the queen, we take down the entire dynasty. I befriended her daughter-in-law.”
“It might take more than that, but I see your point. Let’s find out who we’re up against.”
They spent the afternoon scheming and devising a plan to take down an entire family.
CHAPTER 4
Two days later, Sophia moved into Wolfgang’s rented townhouse, not too far from St. James’s Park. Like all the houses in this part of Town, it had a carved oak door, black rails on either side of the entrance steps, and a small receiving room next to the parlor facing the street. It would have been charming to come here as a loyal wife to a baron, even if he was an outcast, as he called himself, but Sophia knew this was only a show and would likely be over if their mission succeeded. Except, she wondered, what if it didn’t? How long could she pretend to be the besotted bride of the handsome blond aristocrat who led her inside?
