I licked my lips. What the heck was I doing? But the human’s eyes had lit up with hope, and there was no going back now.
“Yeah, I want to play.”
He crossed his arms. “I’m listening.”
“Let me take part in your house games. I win, and every human gets the option to leave if they want.”
“Serenity, no,” Drayton cried.
A tray or something metallic clattered to the floor to my left. I kept my gaze on Dorian, my muscles vibrating with adrenaline. “Unless you’re scared your big, bad Sanguinata players will lose to a girl.” I batted my eyelashes. “I mean, they’ve already lost to the Lupin two years in a row. Maybe you’re just not that good.”
His lips twisted in amusement, and some of my bravado evaporated. What did he have to be cocky about?
“Do you even know that the games are, little neph?” Dorian asked.
Shit. No one had filled me in on the details, but there was no way I was telling smug-arse that. “Of course, I know what they are.”
“Damn it, Serenity,” Drayton snapped.
“Hush!” Dorian replied. “Let her speak. She has fire. I like that in a woman.”
Ew. I crossed my arms under my breasts. “Do we have a deal?”
Dorian’s lips peeled back exposing lethal fangs. It wasn’t a snarl, it was more of a … a come on? “You have deal, neph. But I have a condition of my own.”
My mouth was suddenly dry as a subconscious part of mind picked up on a threat I’d failed to consciously recognize. I shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “Go on.”
He leaned in, so his sweet, coppery breath wafted into my face. “If you lose, you give yourself to me.”
“Serenity, no.” Drayton yanked me toward him. “Stop this. Stop it now.”
But I couldn’t, not with all those eyes on me—the serving girls and boys with their hearts filled with the possibility of freedom.
I gently extricated my arm from Drayton’s grasp and turned back to Dorian. “If I lose, you can do what you like with me. If I win, you let go every human who wishes to leave, and you change the house recruitment contracts to allow future recruited humans to leave if they wish.”
Dorian smiled smugly and my hands itched to slap him.
Time to take a step away from temptation. “We have a deal?”
“Oh, yes, neph. We have a deal.”
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Other books by Debbie Cassidy
The Gatekeeper Chronicles
Coauthored with Jasmine Walt
Marked by Sin
Hunted by Sin
Claimed by Sin
The Witch Blood Chronicles
(Spin off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles)
Binding Magick
Defying Magic
Embracing Magick
Unleashing Magick
The Fearless Destiny Series
Beyond Everlight
Into Evernight
Under Twilight
The Sleeping Gods Series
Forest of Demons
Desert of Destiny
Novellas
Blood Blade
Grotesque – A Vampire Diary Kindle World book
About the Author
Debbie Cassidy lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Obsessed with building new worlds and reading about them, she spends her spare time daydreaming and conversing with the characters in her head – in a totally non psychotic way of course. She writes High Fantasy and Urban fantasy. Connect with Debbie via her website at debbiecassidyauthor.com or twitter @authordcassidy.
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