Page 60 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
She gave me the strangest look. “Says who?”
I promised Bastien I wouldn’t drink with them. He’d told me there was no exception to this rule, and I thought that meant it was codified forallsanguine partners, but I guessed that was another rule crafted just for me. I bit my lip. “Never mind.”
Okeri playfully tapped Alec on the shoulder. “Go find some chairs for the table, my darling.”
“Of course, My Lady,” he replied excitedly, bowing. Then turned to me. “It would be an honor to be on your team.”
My team?
Okeri and Tyson hadn’t taught me to play the game with teams. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but didn’t want to seem foolish. Besides, I wanted him to feel like he could tell me anything.
“Who else’s team would I be on?” I replied.
He grinned that too-charming smile, then scurried off to find more chairs. My attention shifted back to Lady Okeri, who posed the same question to the room. “Who wants to be onmyteam?”
Many hands rose, and after careful perusal, she selected a pretty brunette with curvy hips and full breasts. Deferring tome, Okeri asked, “Miss Donadieu, do you mind if this one plays with me?”
“I think she is the one you should be asking.”
She agreed, asking the woman, who heartily consented. Meanwhile, Tyson had ordered the buffet table cleared of food and was sloshing amber liquid into little crystal cups. Once again, I was way out of my comfort zone and had no idea what I was getting myself into, but everyone seemed excited to play, including Tansy and Devlinn, so I committed to enjoying myself despite my reservations.
“Don’t let me drink too much, ‘Keri,” Tyson said, downing the contents of his glass before refilling it.
She raised a brow. “And why is that?”
“Because I have a council meeting tonight, and I don’t want to be sweating booze from every pore. My uncle won’t approve.”
A few people giggled, but I didn’t. If he strolled into the council meeting drunk, and Bastien asked where he’d been, he’d be livid. At him. At me. I stopped that line of thinking and reminded myself I was a grown woman who was allowed to make her own choices. Who could stand in her power. And all these special rules Bastien had for me were nothing but overprotective nonsense.
If I was so special to him, then he would treat me like a princess, not a prisoner. Everyone was taking their seats, and the pretty brunette was being pulled into Lady Okeri’s lap. Her twin on Tyson’s. Alec had chosen a seat between them, and he beckoned me over. Oh.Right.I was going to be sitting on his lap since he was on my team. That was going to be… interesting.
Smoothing a hand down the front of my dress, I took Alec’s extended hand and lowered myself into his lap. The black satin robe he wore was doing a very poor job of covering his legs, oranything else. I folded my hands anxiously on the table, not allowing all my weight to rest on him, and fixing my attention on Okeri as she shuffled the cards around the woman on her lap.
I needed to be confident like her. Flirty. Happy. It’s what I wanted. To feel good and enjoy the moment, but something was holding me back. Something…or someone.That needed to stop.
Reaching for a small crystal glass, I threw back a shot of amber liquor, and immediately regretted it, coughing into my arm as the flavor burned down my throat.
“Look at you downing the hard stuff!” Alec said encouragingly, and copied me, drinking a shot of liquor.
Both of the cups were refilled by Lena, who was fluttering around the room, ensuring everyone was having a good time.
Tyson set his arm on the back of our chair and leaned conspiratorially in. “You’re going to love this version of the game. The only difference from the one we taught you in the coach is that if a Jack is on the river, everyone takes an article of clothing off, regardless of if they’re winning or not. You do a shot if someone plays a spade. And of course, all the losers have to remove an article of clothing for each number of tricks they’re short.”
I stared blankly back at him. “Most of the people here are only wearing robes.”
He winked. His dark hair not quite shadowing the mischievous look in his eyes. “Exactly.”
It would seem the point of this game was to get all of us naked and drunk as quickly as possible. And I was sitting on Alec’s lap. I closed my eyes, dragging in a breath through my nose, trying to steady myself.
The last time I’d been pulled into a man’s lap, Bastien had undone me with a single hand. Touching, teasing—driving memad with a need I hadn’t known I could feel. But this… thiswasn’tthe same. This didn’t feel intimate and inevitable, like it had last night. In fact, this felt like the opposite. I was tense, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to strip in front of all these people, especially Tyson. On the other hand, I didn’t want Bastien to be the only one who could make me feel that way, because he’d told me he would never touch me again. And I was supposed to be spying on him.
So, here I was, surrounded by beautiful people who were allowed to touch me. This had to be good enough. Alec was very handsome, and if I had never met Bastien, I might’ve thought him the most handsome man I had ever seen.
Cards slid across the table. Two to each team. Three were turned face-up in the center. A ripple of anticipation passed around the circle; the promise of losses and wagers more intimate than coin. I tried to remember all the rules I’d learned, but it was so loud. Lilting strings competed with the hum of conversation and the occasional gasp of pleasure. Bursts of laughter broke my thoughts.
Alec’s arm slid easily around my waist, warm and steady as he tugged me closer. I let myself rest against him, if only because the liquor in my veins and the noise in my head made it easier than resisting.“Look out for the Lady to the right. Everyone I’ve played Dépouiller with from the capital cheats,” he announced, voice pitched just high enough to draw another ripple of laughter.
“It’s not cheating if you don’t get caught,” Okeri fired back.
