Finale (Caraval #3)(20)

“I wish I could.” Paloma reached up and cupped Tella’s jaw. “I would go with you, but I have to do this, or you and your sister will never be safe.”

She stroked Tella’s cheek, one gentle touch, before she slipped her gloved fingers to the back of Tella’s neck and pulled her closer. “I love you so much, and I’m sorry.”

Something sharp poked out from the tips of Paloma’s gloves and pricked Tella’s nape. She felt a bite of cold and a sense of liquid being injected into her veins.

“Wh—what—” Her tongue felt suddenly heavy and useless. She wanted to ask what her mother had done. She wanted to ask why she suddenly couldn’t move her arms or legs. She wanted to say so much more. But nothing came out except that one powerless what.

Her mother had only pulled her close so she could paralyze Tella with the tips of the gloves. This must have been what she’d done to the knocked-out guards.

“It will be all right,” Paloma soothed. Her hands hooked beneath Tella’s arms.

But nothing felt fine.

Tella couldn’t believe her mother had left her, then drugged her, or that she was now dragging Tella’s body toward the mouth of the cavern. Tella tried to fight, but her limbs wouldn’t obey—she could barely even feel them.

Her mother finally stopped at one of the cracked wheels of death—the kind circus performers strapped women to and then threw knives at while the wheel spun and spun. Her mother didn’t strap Tella to it, but she did tuck her behind it, hiding Tella between the circle and the granite wall.

No! Don’t do this! Tella tried to object, but her tongue was so thick and heavy she couldn’t even manage a squeak.

“You should fall asleep soon. Once you wake up, leave this city with your sister. I’ll find you when I can.” Paloma kissed Tella on the cheek, her lips lingering longer than before. But despite what she said, this did not feel like an I’ll find you later kiss. This was an I’m planning on never seeing you again kiss.

Mother! Tella tried to shake the numb from her limbs. She wasn’t passing out like the guards—her mother must have used up most of her poison on them. Tella could feel tingling in her toes, but she couldn’t get them to move. She couldn’t even crawl after her mother as she walked away. All Tella accomplished was a ragged breath, but the sound was so pathetic, it was muffled by the grate of footsteps entering the cavern. Heavy and pounding, the sort of footsteps that wanted to make an entrance.

Tella didn’t know if it was her mother’s drugs, but the air grew hotter as the menacing sound became louder. The intruder moved close enough for Tella to see a pair of masculine boots caked in dust. But the figure continued past, not even pausing as he spun the cracked circus wheel in front of her. It groaned alive, ticking like an off-kilter clock as it rotated.

Click.

Click.

Clack.

Tella didn’t like the sound, but it allowed her to view the cavern when the fractured wedge of the wheel rotated her way. Her first peek between the broken crack only lasted long enough to see that sparks now filled the cavern, as if the air was on the verge of catching fire. The tiny flames danced around the man, making the gold on his red military coat sparkle. He stood right in front of her mother.

Paloma looked much smaller than before as she lifted her face toward him expectantly.

“I feared I’d seen you for the last time,” she said.

The wheel continued to rotate, obstructing Tella’s view once more. When the crack reached Tella again, the intruder was stroking her mother’s hair. And her mother was gazing up at him with adoration in her eyes, as if she’d been waiting for this clandestine meeting even more than Tella had been longing to reunite with her.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

“Gavriel.” Paloma said his name as if it were a secret that only she’d been told. “I’ve missed you so much. I hoped you’d come back to these ruins.”

The wheel continued to spin. When the fragmented piece came around again, the man’s hand was in her mother’s hair.

“You’re as beautiful as I remember,” he said. Then his lips pressed to hers, and Tella swore all the flames in the cavern surged brighter. The sparks in the air glowed like stars. Tella could feel their heat from behind the wheel.

Tella was going to be ill. She wanted the wheel to stop, to block her from seeing anything else, but instead it began turning faster, as if it was enthralled by the kiss. Tella prayed to the saints for the embrace to end, or that she’d at least regain her ability to move, to fully block it out. But her limbs remained numb and the kiss went on, intimate and burning and so, so very wrong.

Clearly, her mother hadn’t come here to murder anyone. She was here because she wanted to be with this man more than she wanted to be with her daughters. Tella might have felt a knot in her stomach if she’d had more sensation in her body.

“My memories of you did not do you justice.” His lips had moved to her jaw.

“I’m glad you missed me, too,” she said.

“I thought of you every day.” His mouth trailed to her ear, but what should have been a whisper echoed throughout the entire chamber. “I pictured all the ways I would get my revenge against you.”

Click.

Click.

Clack.

This love story had just gone very wrong. For several tense seconds Tella’s heart raced. She couldn’t hear anything other than the wheel until her mother’s strong voice grew louder when she said, “Gavriel, I made a mistake.”