“Yes. We’ve met.” Sasha squinted at him suspiciously. Wondering if her heart rate could be heard beating faster with the dragon’s more sensitive hearing.
“Okay.” Aleera raised her hands to her lips as if praying. “Here’s the thing. The reason for us to pluck you out of the crowd. My brother and I want to establish a reputation here in the fight pit. However, neither of us can show our faces or reveal our identities. This is because the, ah, owner of the establishment happens to be our dad, and he’s not particularly happy that we’re doing this thing.”
Sasha’s eyes widened as she listened to the story.Their dad? The owner is their dad?A powerful man. Even as she reflected on this, an extra obvious puzzle entered her mind – why the hell would they select Sasha of all people to be here? What was their intention?
“You with me so far?”
“Yeah.”I think. “Dad rules the roost, you can’t show your faces.”But I don’t know why you’re talking about this with me.
“Exactly. Now, I’m my brother’s agent, but not showing my face kind of makes things really awkward in certain situations. This is because agents can get interviewed and be asked questions, sometimes they need to meet with other people’s agents to negotiate deals for winning and losing, and sometimes they have to make a public appearance. I can’t do that because if someone recognizes me, it’ll get back to my father, and he’ll boot us both out. As long as we don’t reveal our identities, we have permission to do this.”
Sasha pursed her lips. “I see. So… where do I come into this?”
Aleera glanced at her brother before letting out a sigh. “We need someone who is willing to pretend to be the agent for Cyrus. Someone who doesn’t need to wear a mask, who can present themselves to the public. Someone who is human because it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll sabotage or betray us or be affiliated with any of the sketchy groups down here. And… someone who might need the money.” Aleera smiled then. “After all, I don’t imagine you’re coming here as a fun, casual activity.”
After a pause, Sasha shook her head. She wasn’t sure if she trusted this situation. All the same, what they stated was… intriguing. “You want me… topretendto be the agent for Cyrus here?”
“I believe that’s what I said.” Aleera tried to smile again, but this time there was obvious tension in it. She wasn’t sure if Sasha would agree. Neither was Sasha.
“Um… would I get… paid for this?”
“Yes. We would pay you, and you would get a chunk of the winnings that Cyrus accumulates. It’ll be small at first until we’re properly established, then it’s likely to get to pay pretty well. One thing though – you won’t be able to bet on my brother the same way you’ve been betting now. As an official agent you’d be tied up with our earnings, so when bets are made, it’s with our joint money and negotiations. If it’s discovered you’re also betting on the side on top of this, you can get into trouble.”
Sasha took a step back, still trying to process all the information. So… they wanted her to be the face of the operation. A fake face, but a face all the same. All of it sounded intriguing, and like the opportunity Sasha had been waiting for her whole life.
However, she still didn’t really know why exactly they were talking to her about it, even with their explanation. Whyherof all people.
Surely, there must be better candidates out there other than her skinny ass. Surely, not her.
“Okay, as much as this sounds really exciting and everything, and I sort of get the logic as to why you want someone unaffiliated with the supernatural stuff to help out. Still… why me? Of all the humans?”
At this, Aleera gave a rather long glance at her brother. “Perhaps my brother can explain this better.”
“Really, now.” Sasha gave Cyrus an expectant look. Cyrus looked a little embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck.
“You were the first person I thought of for this. You made quite the impression on me. And I thought – this arrangement could benefit all of us.”
Sasha closed her eyes, considering the potentially life-changing decision. Knowing that she’d say yes anyway, even though it meant changing everything. Would it be smart to embroil herself deeper into this world she only ever intended to dip her toes into, just to make enough money to get on her feet and actually have good aspirations in her life?
She thought of the friend she extracted information from about the gambling world. How he seemed together to her when she phoned or visited, but she knew his life was falling apart and that he was risking far more than she did on a daily basis. She thought of her family, poor but wonderful, happy people, still living in a rented property today because they just couldn’t afford anything else.
They had lost everything in a fire some years before. Everyone survived, but things worth a lot of money were lost, and insurance essentially fucked them over. In addition, her father could no longer work due to severe spinal injuries and chronic fatigue. It’d been quite the bad break for her old man to lose his ability to earn for his family, so her mother had stepped up – and so did her little sister along with Sasha herself.
The family – they were wonderful people. But their minds revolved around money and survival and weighing whether to go to the hospital or not if some health issue cropped up because they didn’t think they could afford it or were convinced their insurance would somehow scam them.
They were just one step away from a disaster that would bring them down completely, and Sasha needed to prevent that.
Even if that meant risking her life in a gamble. She reached out a hand to Cyrus, looking at his glorious blue eyes. “I’ll do this. I need a change of scenery anyway. But the pay better be worth my no longer being able to bet on you.”
“I think we can easily start you on at least fifty thousand a year, fixed. I know it’s not… huge, but you’ll also get extra bonuses and commissions from matches I participate in. This industry brings in hundreds of millions of dollars a year. People really like gambling things away – especially the bored and rich of the supernatural world.
Fifty thousand? Sasha suppressed the attempt to exclaim at that. Right now, for her, that soundedamazing.“I can accept this. But… I don’t really know what I’d be doing, exactly.”
“Don’t worry, I can show you. I’d be cultivating the contacts. You don’t need to do that work yourself – we just need to make sure our identities aren’t revealed to the general public.”
Fine by her. At this point, it seemed prudent for them to exchange numbers. To arrange a meeting where she would go over to his apartment as soon as it was convenient. For her to consider putting in her resignation at work. A lot of changes to make in a short space of time. For something she didn’t really know that much about in the first place.
But perhaps the thing that intrigued her the most, though she didn’t want to say it out loud – was the fact that Cyrus had pushed for this. He had wanted her in on the plan. Perhaps she’d made a bigger impression on the dragon shifter than she’d hoped for.