Finale (Caraval, 3)

“What are you doing here?” Tella demanded.

“It’s lovely to see you too, darling.” Jacks looked only at Tella as he tossed a black apple back and forth between his long fingers as though he didn’t have a care in the world. His lazy gaze grazed over her elegantly layered dress; she hadn’t gone to the coronation but she’d wanted to be prepared in case she needed to blend in. The gown was all deep-water-blue ribbons mixed with sky-blue lace that made her look like a package that could easily be undone with the right tug.

He, on the other hand, hadn’t changed from the awful night before. There were bloodstains on his shirt. He looked as if he’d just buttoned it up over his wound after she’d left—as though she’d not stabbed him in the chest last night and ended an immortal bond. She’d thought he was letting her go too easily, but clearly he hadn’t really let go.

“How did you find us?” Tella asked.

“The Fallen Star has been holding your sister here for a week. This isn’t exactly a brilliant hiding spot, and I’ll always be able to find you, Donatella.” He took a bite from his apple before dropping it to the floor. It thumped against the marble and rolled out of the room and through the open doorway until it disappeared under the Lady Prisoner’s gilded cage. “We might not be connected any longer, but what was between us will never be fully undone.”

“That’s why I want you to leave!” Tella tried not to yell; Jacks always seemed to enjoy it when he was the one upsetting her. But the thin control she’d had over her emotions fled the moment he appeared. “I’ll never trust you again.”

“You will if you want to save Legend.” Jacks leaned against the closest column and crossed his legs at the ankles. “Gavriel is having Legend brought to the throne room as we speak. He likes magical pets. Gavriel plans to have the Apothic put him in a cage and then seal it like Anissa’s, so that Legend won’t be able to use his full powers or escape—unless Gavriel is dead.”

Tella shook her head. She didn’t want to believe him, but she feared something had happened the moment Julian explained how Legend had helped them escape. Legend had insisted Tella stay with the Assassin as she searched for Scarlett while Legend went to look for Julian. He was supposed to find him and leave. He wasn’t supposed to be a distraction or a martyr.

Julian released a curse, saying several of the things Tella was thinking.

Jacks laughed as he took in the crude mask covering half of Julian’s face. “Seems as if you’ve also had a visit from the Apothic and Gavriel.”

Julian gave him a foul look. “I can live with it.”

“That’s the point,” Jacks hummed. “This cage will keep Legend as his pet and his prisoner. Even when Legend dies and returns to life, he’ll come back in the cage, and only Gavriel’s final death will free him.”

There was a scratching noise, like a match being struck, as the Assassin disappeared and reappeared within the same heartbeat. He’d been by the window and now he was standing closer to Scarlett, holding a bundle of bright clothes in his hands. “He’s telling the truth. The Apothic is almost done building a cage around Legend right now.”

“Then get him out of there before it’s done,” Tella said.

The Assassin didn’t move, except for the shadows that clung to him, which seemed to grow even darker. “If I do what you ask, Gavriel will know it was me and it will ruin our chances at killing him.”

“See?” Jacks clapped. “I told you that you need me.”

“No, we don’t,” Tella said.

“Yes, you do.” Jacks gave her an indulgent smile, as if he knew this argument was already won. “I heard your plan. You’ll never sneak in there successfully. No one else here can help you. The Assassin will be with your sister. Gavriel knows his Maiden Death hates him. The only way you’ll get close enough to kill him is if you enter the throne room with me. Gavriel already expects it. He sent me to look for you so he could use you as leverage against your sister. He’ll let me bring you in.”

Tella shook her head furiously. There had to be another way. Jacks would betray her again. He always helped her and there was always an unexpected cost. But he did always help her.

“What’s in this for you?” Tella asked. “Why betray the Fallen Star for us?”

Jacks gave her a knife-sharp smile. “It’s not for all of you. Just you. And I won’t be helping for free. Gavriel will expect your emotions to be under my power when I deliver you, and it can’t be an act. He’ll see through it. If you want to get close enough to kill him, you’ll have to let me control your emotions so you adore me.”

Tella snorted. “I’m supposed to believe that once this is done you’ll just let me go back to hating you?”

“No, once this is over, your emotions will belong to me forever.” Jacks’s voice was unabashedly unapologetic. “That’s the price of my help. You get to save your Legend and kill your monster, and I get you.”

“You’re delusional!” Tella said. “I’m not living the rest of my life under your spell.”

“Then Legend will live the rest of his immortal life in a cage. Do you want to save Legend and the empire, or yourself?” Jacks flashed his dimples, giving Tella a playful smile.

“You’re mad,” said Julian.

“Don’t do this,” said Scarlett.

But both of their objections sounded reedy and dull compared to the ringing in Tella’s ears. Because Jacks wasn’t mad; despite her words, she knew he wasn’t delusional. He was determined and willing to do whatever it took to get what he wanted, and unfortunately, he wanted her.

“If you do this,” Tella said slowly, “I will hate you forever.”

“No, my love. If I do this, you’ll finally stop hating me.” Jacks’s smile vanished and for a moment he looked like pure desolation, a shell of a person with hollowed cheeks, fractured eyes, and bloodstains on his chest. He was an immortal who couldn’t die but who could never fully live, because the things he wanted to consume were devouring him instead. Tella imagined wanting someone without loving them was like an endless hunger—even if you managed to hold the person you wanted in your grasp it would never be enough, and letting them go would be even worse.

She should have known that things between them couldn’t be severed with the slice of a blade. Or perhaps that cut had led to this. Maybe Jacks had let her end their marriage because their bond had made him care for her in a genuine way, which went beyond his immortal feelings of obsession, fixation, lust, and possession. But now that their connection was severed, all that remained were his selfish impulses.

Mistress Luck had warned her that if Jacks didn’t love her, his obsession with her would destroy her. If Tella said yes, that was exactly what would happen. If Jacks controlled her emotions, she would only feel things that gave him pleasure or worked to slake his unquenchable thirst for her.

Tella desperately wanted to believe there was another way, but she couldn’t think of one. And as she looked around the room all she could see was the damage Gavriel had inflicted. Julian in his metal half-mask. The Maiden Death in her cage of pearls. The Lady Prisoner kept like a human pet. Then she pictured Legend, trapped in a cage far less lovely than the Lady Prisoner’s, wearing a mask like Julian’s while the Fallen Star showed him off to his friends, forever.

Tella took a shuddering breath. Legend was supposed to spend forever with her, not trapped inside of a cage, and even though that was never going to occur, she still couldn’t let this happen. She couldn’t let Legend be trapped for eternity, and she couldn’t be the reason that they failed to kill the Fallen Star. She might have first wanted to destroy him because of her mother, but it was about far more than that now.

She hated it, but Jacks was right—without his help she’d never get close enough to kill the Fallen Star.

“Tella,” Scarlett said, “you don’t have to do this.”

“Yes … I think I do.”

“My brother wouldn’t want this,” Julian said. “We’ll figure out another way.”

“We’ve been trying, and it hasn’t worked. The Fallen Star is the emperor, you’re in a mask, and Legend is in a cage. He definitely wouldn’t want me to do this,” Tella said. In fact, he’d probably be furious at her for it. “But I know he would do this for me if the situation were reversed.” He’d saved her from the cards, he’d saved her from Jacks, and now it was finally Tella’s turn to save him. She turned back to Jacks. “What do you need from me?”

“Wait—” Scarlett protested.

“Don’t try to stop them,” the Assassin said. “You wouldn’t like that outcome.”

There was another tiny scratch and then the hooded Assassin was taking Scarlett’s hand. An instant later they were both gone.

Jacks shuddered. “I forgot how creepy that always was.”

“You’re not one to judge what’s creepy,” Tella said.

“You’ll change your mind about that soon. Now, if you wouldn’t mind giving us some privacy.” His eyes cut to Julian and the Maiden Death.

Julian looked as if he wanted to argue. But the Maiden Death helped him from the room, leaving Jacks and Tella mostly alone.

Jacks had moved closer, to lean against the marble column opposite Tella.

She shoved off the bed but didn’t take another step, knowing this might be her last moment to consciously make the choice to stay away from him. Tella was so ruled by her feelings, she didn’t know how real her future choices would be once Jacks manipulated her emotions. “Do we need to cut our hands again?”

He looked intrigued by the idea, but then he shook his head. “I was only at half power when I changed your emotions before. I needed a strong physical connection to make the exchange work. I don’t now that Legend’s given me my full powers back. But because of the vow I made him, I do need your permission.”

“You have it. But—but—but—” There was something else she was going to say, only suddenly Tella couldn’t remember exactly what they’d been talking about. Her head felt light, and a little dizzy, as if she’d just drunk half a bottle of wine.

Cool arms wrapped around her as she started to sway. Jacks’s arms. His fingers were cold, perhaps a little too cold, and yet the gooseflesh they sent across her skin had never felt so wonderful.

A small voice told her that it shouldn’t have felt that way, that she was forgetting something she needed to remember, but then Jacks was whispering in her ear, “It’s all right, I’ve got you.”

He spun her around to face him. His mouth quirked into half a smile, as if he were a little nervous to give her an entire grin. Not that he had any reason to be anxious. His grin was feral and dazzling, and suddenly Tella had the overwhelming desire to become the reason for all of his grins.

Why was she always pushing him away?

She knew Jacks had lied to her and manipulated her. But so had Legend. Legend had rejected her over and over. Just thinking of it made her feel dejected, as if he were pushing her away all over again. He didn’t want her. He’d told her to find someone else—someone who looked at her the way Jacks was looking at her now.

His eyes glittered silver and blue. She usually thought of them as unearthly, but then they appeared deceptively sweet, as if he wanted nothing except for her to be happy.

“How are you feeling now, my love?”

Love. She liked it when he called her that. She knew he couldn’t actually feel love, but it would be all right because Tella could feel enough for the both of them. She might have started out as his obsession, but now Jacks was hers.

She gave him one of her prettiest smiles. “I feel like I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Jacks’s dimples returned and they were glorious. “I think we can make that happen.”