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Porfirio stepped toward her "Why wait? We’re doing this now"

"Now?" she repeated, but her voice faded a up, she realized alathered around them now, and they were all riled up for a ers on Mae and her opponent "There’s no roo to back out?" Porfirio pitched his voice for her ears alone "Afraid to go one-on-one with azes with hiled, unsure if there was a legitiht

"You wish," she hissed "I just don’t want you cheating"

"We have a deposit on the place," et canes?" deo wo up You’re good at this stuff" She nodded and scurried off, which sos omen? A quick command and they juainst her

Wagers flew fast and furious around them Porfirio listened with amusement as he carefully retied the ponytail at the base of his neck When he finished, he slanced at Mae "What do you say? Want to put some money on the line? We can keep it low, if you want I don’t want you to have to write home for a loan"

"I don’t want your money," she said She paused for effect "I want your hair"

A few Indigos nearby fell into awed silence at her words, confir what she’d suspected Porfirio was a rew and touched his hair like that if he wasn’t completely obsessed with it And, if he was like her, he’d probably been raised to flaunt his Cain-free features

He smiled at her, like this was just soht the punch line on "My hair?"

"Sure If I win, I want you to cut it" Mae helpfullyscissors "I want to keep it on my dresser"

More people--especially those who knew hierly Porfirio’s sto win, right?" Mae felt like she was getting control of this situation now and had taken histo the crowd "I ot catcalls and cheers, and then everyone waited in anticipation for his response After several tense ance returned "Fine If that’s the wager you want, so be it Like you said--et when I win?"

Mae smiled at the choice of "when" over "if" "Pick," she told him "You want me to cut my hair?"

He looked her over with as much intensity as he had in his initial assessible quality Only this ti behind the table, she had ested signing on for a fight in a dress and heels was, perhaps, not the wisest choice

"That would be a sha it fanned across er You come hoh dra;torians loved it

"Done," said Mae without hesitation She shook his hand as the others whooped, and she tried not to i hands would feel on her body

Porfirio’s lackey surfaced soon thereafter and had ah certainly not regulation, weren’t that far off from what canne players used A space was cleared on the far side of the roo;torians’ unease that their venue was about to get trashed Mae realized then that they actually had no clue as about to go down Porfirio strode boldly toward the makeshift arena’s center Mae followed, and Val fell into step with her

"You don’t have to do this"

Mae scoffed "Of course I do Can you i said It’s the principle of the matter And stuff"