Page 85 of A Drop of Anguish
Instead, I turn to the girl in the little red dress leaning into the vamp against the railing. “What’s your name again?”
She faces me with a grimace. “Samantha.”
“Samantha, truth or dare.”
She tilts her head curiously. “Truth.” She sighs.
“You implied you were going to come on to Jarron earlier. Why didn’t you?”
Her nose flares. She’s definitely imagining my death right now. “Because I knew he’d turn me away.”
My brows rise. Was that an honest answer?
“Jarron has never responded to shallow or sexual interactions. He wants something deeper. That takes time.”
My mind stutters to a stop.
A gust of wind sends a scattering of snow into the gathering then disappears over the heat of the flames.
Does that mean this girl is trying to get close to Jarron? I mean, logically, I know girls have been trying for years, so it’s not exactly news, but for some reason it gets to me.
What if it worked?
Damn, I’m messed up.
“Thompson,” the girl in the red dress says seductively. “Truth or dare.”
“Truth. I’m not buzzed enough for dares yet.”
I snort. Isn’t that the truth?
“Why did you gravitate straight to Candice on the very first day at this school?”
The group goes quiet. Everyone stills. This is the question everyone has been asking, isn’t it? Even me. I have no idea what his agenda is, but it’s something.
“Her winning personality.” He grins, exposing sharp canines.
“Bullshit,” Samantha spits.
“You didn’t even know my personality until after you sat with me,” I say.
He grunts. “Fine. You want a real answer? Why does anyone powerful go to this school? We don’t need to learn to use our magic, not really. We come here to be around others of influence. We come here to network. I decided she was an ally I wanted.”
The girl scoffs, still not buying it. Manuela looks especially interested, though. Those predator eyes narrow in on someone other than me. Manuela was once on Jarron’s inner circle list. She’s close to him.
Is she acting as a spy for him tonight?
“Your first choice in ally is the magicless human?” Samantha puts her hand on her hip like she doesn’t believe it for a second.
“A human who was recently in a romantic relationship with the most powerful student to attend here in a hundred years,” Manuela says smoothly, swirling her drink with one hand and gripping Lucille’s thigh with the other.
“A human who is kickass at potion-making and is the daughter of the most influential potion masters in the world,” he adds.
“That’s a lot of truths for one round,” I mutter.
Thompson chuckles. “I quite agree.”
They were all things I’d considered or that Thompson tried to pass off as truth. It doesn’t reveal anything new.
