Finale (Caraval, 3)

Hairline cracks formed along the edges of Legend’s illusionary windows. “Which Fate?”

“The Poisoner again. He turned an entire wedding party to stone near Idyllwild Castle. They’re fine now,” Jovan added quickly. “But the person who saved them isn’t. The Poisoner left a note saying that the party would only become human again once someone willingly took their place. The bride’s sister sacrificed herself.”

Scarlett clasped her hands together, as if she wanted to send up a prayer to the saints. “Is the sister stone now?”

Jovan nodded grimly. “I’m sorry, sir. We took all the precautions you asked.”

Legend rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Move the girl to the stone garden and see if any of the potions Delilah peddles during Caraval can reverse it. Did the wedding party at least get a good description of the Poisoner this time?”

“Not of him,” Jovan said. “But one member of the wedding party had the impression that the Poisoner might have had someone with him.”

Legend cursed under his breath.

“Do you think we should cancel tomorrow night’s Midnight Maze and tell everyone to stay indoors?” Jovan asked.

“No,” Legend said. “We can enact a citywide curfew for the people who aren’t invited, and tell them it’s because of preparation for the coronation. But if we cancel the maze, everyone will know something is wrong.”

“But there is something wrong.” Julian gave his brother a hard stare, but it still looked friendly compared to the cold gaze that Legend was capable of.

“The Fates feed off of fear,” Legend said. “I don’t want to turn an entire city into a feast for them. And as far as we know now, only the Fallen Star, the Poisoner, and the Prince of Hearts are awake.”

“Jacks isn’t a threat,” Tella protested. “The Fate we need to worry about is the Fallen Star—we can’t even hurt the other ones until he’s dead. But Legend won’t tell us how to defeat him, because he’s too afraid of sharing his own weakness.” Tella shot Legend her sharpest scowl.

Legend’s nostrils flared, and Tella doubted it was a coincidence that the stained-glass windows filled with bleak storm clouds and lightning. “Give Tella and me a moment alone.”

No one had to be asked twice. Julian and Jovan turned and walked quickly down the hall. Only Scarlett glanced at Tella, but she nodded that it was all right for her sister to leave them. This conversation with Legend was overdue.

As soon as the others were out of sight, Tella whirled on Legend, but she was caught off guard as the corridor shifted again.

The ceiling stretched four stories high as the walls transformed from white soapstone to rich mahogany wood, inlaid with bookshelves covered in pristine volumes, and cabinets full of treasures lit by delicate lights that floated like lost pixies. Her old prison cell was now a roaring fire, warming her back as extraordinarily soft furs cushioned her feet. Chairs appeared next, red-velvet with wide clamshell-shaped backs, like the ones she often favored in the dreams she shared with Legend. They rested in front of the blazing fire, inviting her to sit, while gentle violin music trailed down from the domed ceiling.

She couldn’t help but compare the scene to Jacks’s dark study with its worn whiskey-leather couch and its carpets dotted with burned specks from the fire. It was a place for making mistakes and bad deals. Although she hadn’t mentioned spending the night with Jacks, somehow she felt as if Legend was trying to make a point with his grand illusion—that what Jacks could give her would never compare to the things that Legend was capable of.

“Are you trying to show off? Or just distract me?”

“I thought you’d be more comfortable here.” Legend strode across the elegant study to lean one jacketed elbow against the mantel of the fireplace. “If you don’t like it, I can change it. What was that dream you were so infatuated with? Was it the one with the zebras?” He gave her a teasing smile, looking much more like the Legend of her dreams than he had when he’d first shown up in the dungeon. His grin grew wider as Tella felt her dress change, turning sleeker as her feathers shifted into black-and-white lines of silk, mirroring the fitted gown she’d worn in the dream he’d just mentioned. She’d been excited about the zebras, which he’d created after she’d told him she wasn’t sure she believed the curious animal was real. But it was the way he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of her in the dream that had given her the real thrill.

“Stop trying to distract me,” Tella said. “And take the illusion off my dress. I don’t want to be your next Esmeralda.”

Legend’s smile vanished. “You and Esmeralda—”

“Don’t tell me we’re not alike,” Tella said. “I already got that impression from spying on you.”

His eyes clouded over. “Then why are you upset?”

“You deceived her. You took all of her magic. Then you kidnapped her!”

Legend’s expression didn’t change, but behind him the fire blazed hotter and brighter, shifting from orange to scorching red. “If you knew her, you wouldn’t feel sorry for her, Tella. She isn’t innocent. I collected her so she could pay for her crimes. Esmeralda is ancient. She used to be the Fallen Star’s consort, and before she trapped him and his Fates in the cards, she helped the Fallen Star create the Fates. She’s responsible for their existence, and the Temple of the Stars wants to make her face trial for that.”

“What does that have to do with you?” Tella asked.

“You might remember that I made a deal with the temple.” Legend removed his jacket, took out a cufflink, and folded back one of his black shirtsleeves.

It might have looked as if he were doing it because of the sweltering heat from the fire, except as he moved, Tella caught a glimpse of the brand on the underside of his wrist.

The mark was not nearly as brutal as the first time Tella had seen it seared into his skin. It was now so faint she could barely detect it, as if it were healing and disappearing. But she still remembered what it had looked like before—and what it signified. The Temple of the Stars had branded Legend in exchange for allowing Tella to enter the vault where her mother had hidden the cursed Deck of Destiny trapping the Fates.

“I vowed to the temple that I would bring them the witch who helped created the Fates. When I did, I swore it on my immortality. If I hadn’t delivered Esmeralda to them, I would have died that night, and nothing would have brought me back to life this time. I know you’re angry with me right now, but I’d hope you wouldn’t want me dead.”

Of course she didn’t want him dead. Just thinking Legend was in trouble had driven Tella to chase him into another world. But saying that felt like giving too much away when he still wasn’t giving anything away.

When Legend had first accepted the brand from the Temple of the Stars, in Tella’s place, it had felt like such a great sacrifice on his part. But knowing the lengths Legend was willing to go to in order to get what he wanted, Tella was no longer sure if he’d made the bargain to prevent her from being owned by the temple, or if he had gone through with it to ensure she’d enter the vault and retrieve the cards for him.

She wanted to think he’d done it for her, but she still wasn’t certain, and right now that wasn’t what mattered. He might have given her answers about the witch, but he still hadn’t given her the answers that she wanted most.

“Is that why you won’t tell me your weakness?” she asked. “Have you actually thought I wanted you dead? You think I’d use your weakness against you?”

He looked into the fire, avoiding her gaze. “The weakness I share with the Fallen Star won’t do us any good when it comes to defeating him.”

“Since when do you care about good?”

“I don’t—” Legend broke off. His eyes shot past her, as if he’d heard a noise outside of their illusion.

Whatever it was, Tella couldn’t see where it came from until a door appeared on the wall next to the fire, and Armando stepped through it.

Tella cringed away, moving closer to the fireplace, and to Legend.

Armando was the performer who’d played the role of her sister’s fiancé during the sisters’ first Caraval. Tella couldn’t stand the sight of his smug smile, his calculating green eyes, and the irritating way he tapped his fingers against the blade he wore at his hip. Like Jovan, he was also dressed like a member of Legend’s guard, in a navy military coat with a shining line of golden buttons.

“Why is he here?” Tella asked.

“Armando has agreed to guard you when I can’t be around.”

“No,” Tella said. “I don’t want him following me, and I don’t need a guard.”

Legend pierced her with a look that was hotter than the flames at his back. “I didn’t free you from the cards just to see you killed by the Fates.”

Tella opened her mouth, but she couldn’t find the proper response. Legend never talked about what he’d done to free her from the cards. The only time he’d acknowledged it at all had been that same night, when he’d told her that he hadn’t been willing to sacrifice her. But then, after she’d called him her hero, he’d walked away, making her question everything.

“You’re welcome to stay here in the palace.” Legend pushed off the fireplace mantel and picked up his jacket from the clamshell chair. “Your old room in the golden tower is still yours if you want it, and your sister’s old room is hers, too.”

Tella narrowed her eyes. “What do you want in return?”

“I never wanted you to leave in the first place.” Legend turned and walked through the walls of the illusion, as if he’d just said too much.

Although to Tella, it didn’t feel like nearly enough.