Free The Soulstoy Inheritance by Jane Washington Page A

had to cast a glance to the other cards. Quick had the closest with a four, and we all seemed to realise it at the same time. Four bodies, four sets of hands suddenly dove for the card with such ferocity that Quick was actually knocked off his chair, and Teddy tumbled the table over again. I found myself sprawled on top of Quick, who was laughing, with Sweet’s elbow wedged into my chest and Teddy’s foot digging into my stomach. I tried to control my own laughter as I rubbed at my chest and let Teddy help me back into my chair. The card appeared in Quick’s hands, and we all turned to Harbringer, who sat with his eyebrows arched.
    “You know…” There was a smile in Quick’s voice, a playfulness that reminded me of Cale and Nareon in parts; too wicked to belong to Cale, yet too harmless to belong to Nareon. “The Lady Queen felt pretty nice, pressed up against me just th—”
    “I’ll play,” Harbringer snapped, grabbing an extra chair from where it leant against the wall and setting it heavily between Quick’s and my own.
    I flushed, but the others just laughed as Teddy poured a glass for Harbringer, and each of us—barring Harbringer and Quick—drank down a horrible portion. Harbringer watched me as I struggled to succeed in the act of swallowing, and then he turned back to the table as Teddy started explaining the rules.
    “I’ve got it.” Harbringer saved him the trouble.
    “Well then what’s the rule, Quick?” Teddy asked.
    “First to coax a kiss from the fair Queen of our kingdom,” Quick declared, his eyes glimmering with mischief.
    I rolled my eyes, realising that I would have to introduce this one to Cale. It seemed that synfees had a penchant for kissing games. I didn’t chance a look at Harbringer’s expression, but realised a little too late, as Teddy turned over the middle card, that there was a reason Harbringer hadn’t objected. With his mental ability, there was no possible way that he could lose.
    Beside me, he laughed, as though he had heard the thought, and I shot him a glare.
    “One, two… three!” Sweet said, and Harbringer turned over his card, blinked and then plucked Teddy’s card right from his fingers, before he had even set it down.
    I jumped out of my seat and ran, putting the table and all three men between us, coaxing another laugh from Harbringer, though it had a tinge of danger to it this time. I didn’t, however, account for the man I had placed myself directly behind. Sweet swept up, grabbed my face between his two hands and planted a smacking kiss on my lips.
    I found myself laughing along with the rest of them, and moved back to my seat, no longer in danger of Harbringer embarrassing me.
    “Harbringer’s disqualified,” I said, snatching his cards off him and casting them back into the middle of the table.
    “I’ll be on your team then,” he said, dropping an arm over the back of my chair.
    I thought about this, chewing my lip, and then decided that it would be advantageous.
    “Deal.”
    “Hey!” protested Sweet. “Can we allow that?”
    “I don’t see why not,” Quick intoned, “as long as he doesn’t make a grab for the cards, there isn’t too much of a disadvantage. And we can even it out with the rules, I’m sure.”
    “Then the next rule will be the first person to finish their drink, I’m sure the Lady Queen will not manage that.”
    He was wrong .
    When it was my turn to decide the rule again, I found myself distracted by the heat of Harbringer’s body so close to mine, as he leaned over my chair. He had whispered the name of the cardholder to me on the last round, his lips brushing my ear, and I couldn’t quite shake the tingly feeling that had remained even when his lips had disappeared. I shrugged out of my coat, feeling the heat from the alcohol and Harbringer to be too much combined.
    “The next rule,” I decided, “is to shout the first word that comes to mind.”
    When the cards were dealt, I found myself woefully bereft