CHAPTER 42: JAMESON

After Jameson survives twenty rounds with a house fighter, Zella escorts Jameson and Avery to an opulent private room in the Devil’s Mercy. Jameson is badly injured, but he focuses on the fact that the Proprietor will choose the Game’s players that night and insists that he cannot remain hidden away while the decision is pending.

Avery forces Jameson to acknowledge that his injuries matter because he matters. Jameson admits that he went to see Ian the previous night, though he insists he knows what he is doing. Zella urges him to let them clean and bandage him, partly because the Proprietor would not appreciate Jameson leaving blood through the Mercy.

While Avery and Zella tend to Jameson’s wounds, Jameson calculates his next move. He has won at the tables and in the ring, leaving the other rooms of the club and their books of binding, unconventional wagers as possible routes to the Game. Jameson asks Zella how to get the Proprietor’s attention, and Zella advises him to surprise the Proprietor, make the Proprietor want something he has, or make the Proprietor see him as a threat.

Avery challenges Zella, recognizing that Zella knows about the Game and may want to compete herself. Zella admits that helping them serves her own strategy because choosing competition means knowing competition. Zella claims to know risk-takers, privilege, and love, then hints that there is more than one way to shatter glass before leaving.

Alone with Avery, Jameson reveals that Ian offered to leave him Vantage after Ian’s death if Jameson wins it back now. Avery points out that Jameson could win Vantage for himself, but Jameson is preoccupied with first securing an invitation to the Game. Despite his pain, Jameson resolves to return to the club floor and force the Proprietor’s attention, and Avery joins him.