The confidence in his voice was admirable, even if factually unfounded.
As promised, Sarah stepped down from her seat. She gathered the remains of her dignity, sliding out of the high-backed chair with a sigh.
"Well," she said, brushing the imaginary dust from her sleeves, "at least I can say I played for as long as I could."
Lilianna glanced at the vacated seat and then out at the remaining spectators. "Would anyone else like to join?"
She asked that casually, but there was something in the way her gaze swept the room that looked like she was targeting someone specifically.
Helena, who had been leaning against the arm of one of the large sofas with a languid expression, met Lilianna's eyes.
The contact lasted perhaps half a second.
To anyone else in the room, it would have looked like nothing. Maybe a coincidence, a glance, the idle roaming of bored attention.
But not to Neville.
Helena uncrossed her legs and straightened.
