The Inheritances Game (Jameson Hawthorne)

Chapter 100

Rohan didn't work for the Factotum he was the Factotum. This whole thing was getting more confusing by the day. I wouldn't even be able to believe this started with Jameson's dad. I still had no idea why Ian thought the Devil's Mercy would care about me but if it helped Jameson, I would do anything.

"Child labor?" I walked over to Rohan. "That can't be legal."

"A certain type of child knows how to keep secrets better than adults. The Mercy can't save every child it finds in a horrific situation, but those it does save rarely regret it in the end." The look he gives me after that makes me wonder how much he knows about me.

Rohan turned his back on them and placed his right hand flat on a black stone. It flared to like reading his palm and triggered the sounds of a dozen locks being turned. Rohan stepped back, and the door opened toward them.

"Where angels fear to tread, have your fun instead." Rohan's tone was almost musical, but there was something dark in his tone. "But be warned: The house always wins."

Like a person incapable of hesitation, which was probably an accurate description of him. Jameson stepped through the door. I quickly followed. The room beyond was round and domed, the ceiling at least two stories high, the architecture vaguely Roman. Other doors were barely visible in the walls. Many entrances, many exits.

Five soaring marble arches marked larger openings in the curved wall at equidistant intervals around the room. Thick, rippling curtains hung down from the arches, all of them black, each made of a different fabric. Velvet, silk... The floor beneath their feet was made of golden granite.

In the center of the room, there was a circle of columns. On top of each of the smaller columns, there was a shallow golden pan filled with water. Floating in the water in each of those golden pans was a lily. I watched Jameson walk closer to the columns, but I stayed where I was.

"Onyx" Rohan spoke from next to me "And white agate" Jameson spun around to look at him. Rohan held his arm out to me. "I have business to attend to, but The Proprietor has given me leave to get you situated first." The Proprietor. I took his arm trying to ignore Jameson's glare. as Rohan showed me around the room.

"The Mercy has five archways," Rohan said, his words seeming to echo all around them. "Each leads to entertainment of a different sort." Rohan said the word entertainment with a wicked sort of smile. A roguish one. "Each area is dedicated to a deadly sin. We are, after all, the Devils Mercy." Rohan swept aside the curtain to their left. Beyond, you could make out dozens of canopies, whatever was beneath them obscured by layers of chiffon.

"Lust?" Jameson guessed.

"Sloth" Rohan replied with a smirk. "We keep several masseurs on staff, if relaxation is what you're after." I doubted most members of this club came here to relax. "Gluttony, next." Rohan led them to the next archway. "You'll find our chefs second to none. All beverages are, of course, top-shelf and complimentary."

Next, archway number three. Rohan pulled a velour curtain barely back. Inside, there was a spiraling staircase, the same shade of gold as the atrium's granite floor. "Lust." Rohan let the curtain drop. "There are private chambers upstairs. What members use those chambers for is up to them." Rohan's eyes hardened. "But lay a hand on anyone who does not want a hand there or who is too inebriated to consent, and I cannot guarantee that you will still have a hand in the morning."

That just left two archways. As they approached the first, I realized that its curtain was much heavier than the others. The moment Rohan pulled it back, they were hit by the roar of a crowd. Past the archway, it looked to be two dozen people, and beyond the crowd—a boxing ring. "Some of our members like to fight," Rohan stated, lingering for just a moment on that word. "Some like to place bets on the fights. I would caution you against the former, at least as far as facing off against our house fighters is concerned. Those who fight for the Mercy never pull their punches. Blood is shed. Bones are broken." Rohan's lips pulled back from his teeth into something like a smile. "Caution must be exercised. If you end up in a disagreement with another player at the tables, however, you're welcome to take the disagreement to the ring."