Page 62 of The Grandest Game
At the sword.
She lunged for the rotary phone, and Rohan remembered her promise in the previous room, with the sword:This was the last time you will ever beat me to anything.
Fortunately, in Rohan’s world, promises were made to be broken.
He swept Savannah’s legs out from underneath her.No warning. No mercy.She landed in push-up position, biceps flexed, then threw herself back up as Rohan cut past her.
Savannah went for his knees.No hesitation.
Rohan twisted, taking the brunt of her attack with his shinbone and staying on his feet. He locked an arm around her body, and shebithim, hard enough that he felt it through his tuxedo jacket—hard enough that, without that jacket, she would have drawn blood.Vicious, winter girl.
She damn near dislocated her own shoulder to grab him by the hair, fisting it. Rohan let loose of her body to return the favor with the long, pale braid of hers.
A stalemate of sorts.
“A piano,” Savannah said, pulling Rohan’s head back, just a little, and he responded by doing the same to hers, angling her face upward toward his now-raised jaw. “Eighty-eight keys,” she continued as calmly as if they didn’t have each other in painful holds. “Black and white.”
“Indeed,” Rohan said. “But it appears that you and I are at an impasse.” His mind was already calculating the next move.
“What impasse?” Savannah said. “Our wager was about solving the riddle, not making the call. By those rules, by stating the answer first, I won.”
Sweet hell, she wassomething. “But did you reallysolveit first?” Rohan countered. “After all, the wording of our wager said nothing about speaking the answer out loud. Is it your claim that youdidn’tsee me solve it, track my gaze to the sword, and then realize whatIhad just realized?”
Savannah pulled his head back farther still, her own expression sharp as glass. “Prove it.”
With a smile, Rohan threw his head back into her hand. Hard. He grabbed her arm above the elbow, forcing her body to turn, then pulling it flush with his own, and bowed his head, bringing his lips to her ear.
“I work for a secret society of sorts.” Some whispers were weapons. “One that caters to the very powerful and very wealthy. My job is information, leverage, and control.”
Without warning, he let go of her and made it to the phone. He picked it up.
“Xander Hawthorne’s House of Riddles, Xander speaking. Answer correctly and move on. Answer incorrectly, and I can only hope that you appreciate the truly undervalued art of yodeling.”
Rohan gave their answer—his and Savannah’s. “A piano.”
Almost immediately, the walls of the chamber began to whir. When a new opening was revealed, Rohan fully expected Savannah to stride past him and through it, but she did not.
“Perhaps you did solve the riddle first.” Her voice was cool, but her eyes were hungry.
Someone liked fighting dirty.
“I pay my debts, love.” Rohan allowed his gaze to lock on to hers. “Do you?”
He’d given her an answer, the one she most wanted, the one it cost him the most to give.Tit for tat, Savvy.
“Always.” Savannah strode past him into the unknown. “And if you must know, I am doing this—playing the Hawthorne heiress’s game,winningit at all costs—for my father.”
Chapter 48
LYRA
Acorrect answer. A new door.Lyra stepped out of the metal chamber and into a darkened room. Strips of lights burst to life around the edges of the room, illuminating a windowless space with lush carpet and fabric on the walls.
A theater, Lyra realized. There was a large movie screen to her right, framed by curtains. They were a dark golden color, the velvety fabric on the walls and ceiling a deep forest green. Lyra stepped forward, then turned and stepped down. The floor was leveled—four levels, each bare of theater chairs.
The metal chamber closed, and an instant later, an old-fashioned projector whirred to life near the back of the room. A film began to play, text appearing on the screen.
PLEASE CIRCLE THE BEST ANSWER.
