The silence following Alex's proposal was so thick it felt like it had physical weight, pressing down on the manicured grass of the De la Vega estate. I stood there, my hand still instinctively hovering near the mark on my neck, feeling the world tilt on its axis.
Alex stood in the center of the field, his chest heaving slightly, that manic, dilated light in his eyes making him look like a man who had just bet his last dollar on a spinning wheel. "How about a real challenge, Cassian?" he called out, his voice carrying easily to the gathered guests. "Unless you're scared."
Cassian didn't even look at him. He was methodically reloading his shotgun, the metallic snick-click of the shells sliding into place the only sound in the sudden quiet. "I don't compete with amateurs, Hendrix," he said, his voice a flat, freezing line of indifference.
