She summarizes the four opportunities perfectly, and I look at her in astonishment, not bothering to hide my amazement.

“How did you know that?”

She rolls her eyes at me. “You explained it to me five times during Mike’s game.”

“And you remembered?”

“I thought there might be a quiz later,” she sasses me.

I laugh. “You passed.”

Once dinner ends, Robert asks if I’d like to have a drink with him in his study. I’m worried this is his way of getting in his own interrogation, but there’s no way I can turn him down. He’s literally a king.

“Sure,” I reply, hoping no apprehension has leaked into my voice.

Evelyn leaves the dining hall after saying good night, but Viv lingers.

“Are you good?” she asks.

“I’m fine, Viv,” I reply, noticing Robert watching our whispered conversation.

“Okay. If he asks to play chess, try to get out quickly after the first game,” Viv murmurs to me. “Or he’ll have you play best of three.”

I nod, smiling.

“Good night, Papa,” she calls to Robert.

“Good night, Vivienne,” he replies.

I follow Robert down another unfamiliar stretch of lavish hallways and into a dark-paneled study. A massive window is centered behind an imposing mahogany desk. A spiral staircase leads up to a second level.

“Bourbon?” Vivienne’s father asks as I gaze around. I look over to see he’s standing at a table with several glass canisters of brown liquid lined up along the surface.

“Sure.”

“If you’d prefer something else, we have it all. Vivienne prefers—”

“Whiskey,” I finish.

“Yes, exactly.” Robert looks surprised by my response.

He fills two glasses with amber liquor and hands me one before walking over to the plush armchairs sitting next to the fireplace. He takes a seat. I follow his lead and sit down in the matching one opposite him. An antique chess board sits on the small table between the two chairs.

“This must be where the matches happen,” I observe, nodding to the checkered board.

“It is,” the king replies, studying me intently. “Vivienne’s mentioned our games to you?”

“Um—yes,” I reply, suddenly unsure. It seems like an innocuous enough detail, but something in Vivienne’s father’s expression makes me second-guess that.

“Would you like to play?”

“Sure,” I reply, apprehensive. This feels like a test, and I wish chess was ever part of my family’s Friday night game rotation. I have no doubt I’m about to embarrass myself. In front of a king and Vivienne’s father.

Robert sets up the board while I take a few more sips of the bourbon. It slides down my throat easily, leaving a smoky burn in its wake.

“You seem to know my daughter quite well,” Vivienne’s father remarks as he moves his first pawn forward a square. “Much better than I expected.”

I gulp down another swallow of bourbon nervously before moving a pawn of my own. I have no idea how to respond to his statement.

“Vivienne has always been fiercely independent,” Robert continues as he moves another pawn forward. A grudging, proud smile crosses his face. “She holds people at arm’s length. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. Useful traits in a monarch, but they make for a lonely life.”