Read Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) for Free Online

printed rulebook for Devil’s Duel that Marni had given her. She flipped through the pages, stopping here and there to read short passages, but quickly became bored with it and dropped it on the floor. Aralia fixed her eyes on the boys below.
    An announcement blared through a distant megaphone. The entries were set and registration was closed. As soon as everyone wandered in and found their seats, the show would start.
    Aralia thought about her odds. She wasn’t very familiar with the game, and would have to depend on luck to place her in a matchup against one of the two boys. She didn’t like leaving everything to chance. Wasn’t there something she could do beforehand to increase her chances of success?
    In fact there was.
    The girl grinned to herself and she stepped down the stairs toward where Ash and Aura were seated. She hesitated a moment as the boys stood up. A group of men had approached them about being in their seats, and after showing the boys their tickets Ash and Aura gave up the seats. They moved back down into the competitor’s area, and Aralia followed.
    She found them in the private area below the stands. They were holed up in a corner with a table and a candle, seated on a leather couch. The handsome one had his legs up on the table, relaxing, as the average one flipped through his deck of cards.
    Aralia felt the lump of cards she had tucked into her skirt. She had at least a couple minutes before the tournament started. She should probably look over the cards to familiarize herself with the game. She knew that would be the smart thing to do.
    But then she thought: what would be the easiest way to knock these boys out of the tournament? She felt another lump in her skirt, this one the pocket knife she carried at all times. Good ol’ fashioned intimidation, huh? It was worth a shot, she thought. Who knows. She could get lucky and scare the guys away, and then she wouldn’t even have to play the game at all.
    So instead of doing the smart thing, Aralia set forward to do it the easy way. With fear and intimidation, the styles she was most accustomed to on the streets.
    She snuck up behind the boys. Peering over the average one’s shoulder, she could see his cards as he looked them over. He had some pretty powerful looking combatants in his deck. At least, they all looked impressive. Aralia still wasn’t sure what most of the numbers on the cards meant.
    An idea popped into her head. Maybe she could rob the boys. If she managed to pilfer a few of their most powerful cards before the beginning of the tournament, it would be a tremendous blow to their arsenal. She, or some other player, would take them out for sure.
    It was now or never. Aralia edged closer to the boys, her fingers wrapped around the butterfly knife in her pocket. Creeping up behind the average-looking boy with brown hair, she flipped her knife open.
    “Nice cards. Why don’t you hand over your rarest ones, nice and easy, and I won’t have to use this .”
    Neither of the boys looked at her. The handsome one even had his eyes closed. The brown haired boy just continued cycling through his deck. “Use what?” he said, only partially interested.
    “You have to look at me first to know what I’m talking about.”
    “Oh, sorry,” the boy replied. He still hadn’t looked at her. “So, what are you talking about now?”
    “You’d know if you just looked at me!”
    “I think she’s threatening you, dude,” the black haired boy said, having finally cracked an eyeball. He could see Aralia’s blade held low, so only the boys would see it.
    “Why? What’d I do?” the average one asked the other.
    “Just give me your rarest cards!” Aralia lost her temper as the clock ticked. “Let’s move it now! I don’t have all day!”
    “Ahh, you take care of this one buddy,” the handsome guy said, closing his eyes tight. “I’m going over the rules in my head and don’t want to be disturbed.”
    “Aww, come on!” the brown