She had no idea what it took to wear that particular crown.
“You’re welcome to try to find the Mercy, of course,” Rohan told her, “but it’s remained hidden for centuries, plural. Even if you could find it, you’d never gain access, and even if you did, I can guarantee you the duchess won’t be found until shewantsto be found.”
Without the Mercy, Rohan was nothing. And without the buy-in that would win him the throne, Rohan would never step foot in the halls of the Devil’s Mercy again.
Go on, love. Take the bait. Ask me.
“And what,” Savannah said, “could possibly make the duchesswantto be found?”
Rohan knew then that he had her. “Leverage.”
“What kind of leverage?”
Rohan smiled. “The kind we’ll need your sister’s help to obtain.”
Chapter 3
GIGI
Gigi couldn’t stop running—up staircase after staircase. And everywhere she looked, there were more stairs. When she finally managed to stop, there was utter silence.
And then she heard footsteps.Coming down.Gigi whirled, but no matter where she looked, all she saw was stairs. And then—a flash of red. She turned, more slowly this time, and came face-to-face with a hooded figure.
Red cloak.
Red gloves.
Red boots.
The woman’s face, however, was bare. “Avery?” Gigi blinked.
“Remember,” Avery Grambs whispered.“Asks may be answered, invitations declined.”
Gigi’s eyes flew open, and she rapidly registered three facts: She’d been dreaming; she was curled into a little ball like some kind of human-hedgehog hybrid; and she was alone. Unfortunately,alonewas the one thing that Gigi Grayson did not excel at being. That, andsensible. Maybe alsodignified. But regardless—
Where was Savannah?
Gigi stared at the empty space on the bed where her twin should have been and tried to shake off the dream. So much had happened in the past few days. Gigi had entered and been eliminated from the Grandest Game. She’d been kidnapped. Twice. Kidnapping number two had culminated in Gigi getting a visit from the long-missing Calla Thorp—now, the Woman in Red, also rather ominously known as the Lily and the Watcher, who hadsuperominously declared thatthe time for watchingwas over.
And immediately thereafter, Avery had disappeared. Those things had to be connected, but Gigi couldn’t do anything about any of it.Unless…
The door opened, cutting off any plotting and/or planning Gigi might otherwise have been inclined to do.
“Savannah!” Gigi sprang from hedgehog position, then tilted her head to the side. “You have Savannah Face.”
“Seemingly by definition,” Savannah replied, but Gigi wasn’t fooled. She knew her twin. She knew that face. It was her sister’strying-not-to-feel-anything-and-feeling-everythingface.
“You had a rendezvous,” Gigi concluded, her eyes lighting up. “I hope it was scandalous.Veryscandalous… and yet also very British.” Gigi wasn’t sure if her twin had fully forgiven her for keeping the truth of their father’s death a secret, but if there was one thing Gigi Grayson excelled at, it was having hope. “What’s he like? Rohan?”
“Heartless,” Savannah replied with a graceful shrug and all the poise in the world. “Vexing. And persistent.”
Persistent.Gigi thought back to Rohan’s offer. He’d wanted an accomplice, and though Gigi knew for a fact that she made anexcellentaccomplice, she’d said no—or rather, she’d allowed Savannah to say it on her behalf.
“Heartless,” Gigi echoed with an earnest nod. “Vexing. And his shoulders—they’re very broad. I shall call him Code Name—”
“Please don’t give him a code name.”
“Code Name Vex-Buddy. See also, Shoulders McBroady-Broad.” Gigi had missed this, missed being half of a pair. “If he hurts you,” she toldSavannah cheerfully, “I’ll kill him.” Gigi nodded to the sheet of paper in her sister’s hand. “What’s that?”