I wanted her to join us too, but if I offered now, it’d look like I was trying to tag along.
“Only if you want,” Tadhg said over his full glass of wine before drinking half of it in three swallows.
“I do. I really do. But I don’t have any money.”
“Oh, we don’t bet money,” I said before either of the other men could butt in, shifting a cufflink from my collection. Tadhg ruined his waistcoat by ripping off a button—and a piece of my soul. Ruairi added an ancient pooka medallion to the pot. I already had a fistful of them up in my room but wouldn’t mind adding one more.
Aveen glared down at the bowl, her lips pursed. Then she untied the blue ribbon from her hair. Tadhg didn’t seem to notice, but Ruairi did.
She shifted, getting comfortable in her spot on the floor around the coffee table. “What’s the challenge?”
Before anyone else could suggest something, I told them we were going to play snap dragon. Both men whined as I knew they would. Tadhg would be too drunk to move quickly and keep missing the fruit at the bottom of the bowl, and Ruairi’s arm would be bare as a baby’s arse by the time the game ended.
I shifted the bowl we needed; Tadhg got the bottle of brandy, then I added the fire.
“The lads never miss a chance to show off,” Ruairi whispered in Aveen’s ear, scooting a little closer until their knees brushed.
Don’t murder him. Don’t murder him. Don’t murder him.
I extinguished the candles around us, wishing there were some way to extinguish my murderous thoughts. He wouldn’t be foolish enough to make a play for her. Would he? No. I’d marked her as mine. He’d be facing certain death.
Blue flames licked at the air from inside the bowl.
When I told Aveen to go first, she balked, saying she wasn’t going to do it.
I showed her how easy it was, sticking my hand right in and fishing around for a brandy-soaked raisin. Sure, there was a snap of pain, but that was part of the fun. Maybe I burnt my tongue a little as well, but wine made it all better.
Ruairi cursed, muttering about how it took a month to grow back his hair the last time we’d played.
“Then sit this one out,” I muttered under my breath.
His glowing golden eyes locked with mine as he reached into the fire and withdrew a flaming almond.
Tadhg was surprisingly quick for how much he’d had to drink.
“This isn’t fair,” Aveen insisted, the flames reflecting in her eyes. “I’m not as fast as you are.” Still, she did it, winning a raisin, then cursing when she ate it and drinking deeply afterwards.
I grabbed another raisin; Ruairi got one as well; Tadhg got an almond. Around and around we went. With everyone distracted, I shifted Aveen’s ribbon from the bowl, hiding it inside my pocket. No way in hell was I going to let my brother or the mutt wear my human’s ribbon. Not a feckin’ hope.
My head started growing fuzzy, and I found myself smiling more than usual. Which wasn’t hard considering I rarely smiled. At least, that’s the way it used to be before I’d met the giggling human with hooded eyes sitting next to me.
Tadhg had gone full melancholy, whimpering about life having no meaning or some shite that none of us paid any attention to.
“How do you pick a winner?” Aveen hiccupped, then giggled again.
With the stolen ribbon in my pocket and her in my bed, I’d already won the whole feckin’ thing.
“Oh, we’re not finished yet.”Not by a long shot,my little viper.I cleared the mess to save us from having it everywhere once the next round of games began. “Now we play blind man’s bluff.”
“In the dark?” Hers were the only eyes that didn’t glow, but that didn’t make them any less bright.
“Everything’s more fun in the dark.”
Tadhg shoved Ruairi’s shoulder, sending him falling back into the settee. “Ruairi’s it.”
“Dammit. I’m always first.”
“Stop whinging and blindfold yourself.” Tadhg thrust his wrinkled cravat into Ruairi’s massive hands.