Page 134 of A Light in the Dark
It took five months of playing twice a weekend to progress the game to three experienced gamers standing, one of which was Joel. Allasandro and Calden were the other two.
Half my conspirators lived, although they would fall soon enough to my minefield and my headshots.
I’d gotten a lot of practice at executing players from my tower of queenly might.
As Joel wanted to visit his family, I told Coraline that she should encourage them to come try my fort, as surely two wolves could handle the perils waiting for them there.
Joel, who played at a desk nearby, laughed at the insanity. “This is the longest tournament I’ve ever seen of this game, and you’ve killed most everyone. Are you sure you’ve never played this before?”
“I’ve never played this before. I just really like my town, and people keep insisting on approaching my town. I am forced to annihilate them fordaringto come near me and my doggy.”
“I can’t believe you bought the unicorn doggy. Where the hell did you get the resources for that thing?”
“My kills. If they hadn’t come near my town, I wouldn’t have stolen their shit—and their shit helped me get my doggy!” I turned to regard him with wide eyes. “Can I buy the doggy on the live servers, too?”
“Everything you have in this version is available on the live servers, although we have quick play rules enabled. It will take you a while to earn the doggy.”
“I must have the doggy on the live servers, where I will rule as the pirate queen with my doggy at my side.”
“I wish you the best of luck with that.”
“Just kill Allasandro and Calden already. I want to go to bed. I’m tired, and I don’t want this to drag on for a few more weeks. Lure them to my gates. I’ll kill them if you won’t!”
“They aren’t going to just walk to your gates and let you kill them,” Joel reminded me.
“Serve as bait, then.” I pointed to the edge of my minefield on the map. “Go stand there and be bait.”
“Valerie,” he complained. “If I do that, they’ll ambush me, and I’ll die.”
“And then I will destroy them with my boomies.”
I had an entire arsenal of boomies just waiting to go off,and I would scorch the entirety of the neighboring forest and leave nothing but rubble in my wake.
My conspirators were already in place, aware there’d be nothing left but me, my doggy, and their corpses by the time I finished.
“Fine, fine. But you owe me, Miss Chester.”
“What do I owe you?”
“Your hand in marriage would be a good start. I feel I deserve that if I have to go serve as bait so you can kill those two bastards.”
I laughed, as Joel had taken to suggesting that I should marry him twice a day, once in the morning at breakfast, and once before we went to bed to sleep, using his body as part of his campaign. While I’d already made my decision, I enjoyed our daily routine. “And as I told you this morning, last night, yesterday morning, the night before that, and the morning before that, if you want this hand in marriage, you’re going to have to acknowledge Shifter Five has the best silk while offering me a ring.”
“I’m going to put a hit out for Shifter Five at this point,” he groused. “His silk isnotthe best silk. My silk is. Admit it, woman. My silk is the best silk.”
“And the ring?”
“I already have that, but I refuse to admit any luna moth’s silk is better than mine.”
I giggled, well aware he had the goods and hadn’t had any luck finding out Shifter Five’s identity thanks to some help from Yolana. “Still haven’t figured out who Shifter Five is?”
“Yolana won’t even give me a hint, and she’s gone and changed all the numbers to letters in the shop!”
I snickered at the frustration in his tone. After witnessingme rolling around on sheets made from his silk like some damned fool, he should have figured out the truth already, but no.
I loved him, but he could be an idiot sometimes.
“Very well. If you sacrifice yourself for my victory, I will permit you to propose without the condition of admitting Shifter Five’s silk is the best silk.” Then I grabbed my phone, texted Coraline, and informed her I had convinced my luna moth to sacrifice himself for the cause. “But you’re definitely going to have to convince me in bed.”
