Finale (Caraval #3)(78)
When Scarlett took a seat beside him on the marble bench near Anissa’s cage, he grinned and stroked the curving ruby bars surrounding Scarlett’s face. “My Fates have finished tracking down the members of the royal council. Now all their severed heads are sitting on pikes at the docks. There are no more barriers to stop me from claiming the throne tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow.” Scarlett tried to keep the panic from her voice. “I thought you were waiting another day?”
“I’ve never been good at being patient.” He jumped up from his seat. “But don’t worry, to help prepare you for tomorrow’s coronation, I’ve brought a gift that I’m hoping will aid you in finally conquering your abilities.”
The Fallen Star called for his personal guard to open the door, and a young woman who looked as if someone had taken a magic cloth to wipe away half of her coloring stumbled into the room. Her hair was a faded shade of red, and her skin was pallid white, with dull black tattoos peeking out from beneath her long black gloves. Yet the colors of her feelings were anything but dim. Vitriolic shades of rotted plum swirled around her in spiteful, enraged circles.
The Fallen Star strode toward his captive the way a hunter might approach trapped prey. “I rescued her from the Temple District when it was on fire yesterday. Unfortunately, she’s not very grateful; I’ve already had to punish her. She might be difficult for you to work with, unless you find a way to control her.” He ran a finger down the young woman’s cheek.
The woman snapped her teeth over his fingers, biting the tips.
The Fallen Star ripped his hand from her mouth before she could draw blood. “Behave.” His voice remained gentle, but his words were followed by a burst of flames that singed the ends of her hair.
“If you succeed in controlling her emotions, then I will take that cage off your head. But if you don’t, I’m afraid the results will be unpleasant.” His gaze traced the lines of rubies imprisoning Scarlett’s head. “I’ve been wondering if perhaps you haven’t conquered your powers because you’ve lacked the proper motivation. Hopefully you have it now. I’ll come back in the morning to view your progress, and for your sake, auhtara, I really hope there is progress.”
43
Donatella
Tella couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned until she’d ripped all the cool silk sheets off her bed. But as soon as she did, they rearranged themselves, tucking her back in. She didn’t know what kind of glamour it was, but she knew it was somehow Legend’s doing.
He was so frustrating and confusing and impossible not to think about.
He hadn’t come to see her after his conversation with Julian. And now that Jacks had taken away his ability to meet Tella in her dreams, she knew she wouldn’t see him there, either. But even if he had, she didn’t know what was left to say.
She needs to save you.
But Legend didn’t want to be saved the way Julian wanted him to be. And Tella didn’t know if she could really save him, or if she might just become the reason he died and didn’t come back to life.
She sat up, abandoning the idea of sleep, and pulled back the delicate blue curtains that surrounded her canopy bed. Everything in the room had a dreamlike quality, from the sparkling chandeliers to the fur-thick rugs and extraordinarily fluffy cushions on her chairs. She imagined that like the sheets that tucked themselves back in, it was all mostly an illusion, but she enjoyed it just the same.
Padding over the soft floors, she wandered to the Ruscica sitting on her desk. It glowed faintly, full of Fated power. But unless Scarlett appeared with the Fallen Star’s blood, none of that power would be unlocked, and they’d have no way of defeating the Fallen Star. Her mother’s death would go unavenged, Valenda would burn, and Scarlett—
Tella stopped her runaway thoughts before they went too far.
Scarlett might not have appeared with the blood yet, but the night had only just begun. It was too soon to worry. She was probably going to come later, with or without the blood. Scarlett possessed a magical key, and if something had gone wrong, she’d have used it to escape.
Tella ran her fingers over the ancient cover of the Ruscica. She’d never even opened it, and yet she was putting a lot of faith in it. She wished she didn’t need blood to read it. But when she opened the book, her wish didn’t come true. The pages were blank and untouched.
Tella eyed the writing set on her desk. The nib of the glass-tipped pen was sharp enough to draw blood. Jacks had said she needed the Fallen Star’s blood to read his story. But Jacks was rarely entirely honest.
Curious, Tella pricked her finger with the pen nib and let the blood drip into an ink bowl, filling it with red, until there was enough to write inside the magic book.
Tell me a story.
She watched as her blood soaked into the paper and slowly re-formed into a new set of curving words: Welcome to the life of Donatella Dragna.
Not what she’d hoped for. Tella already knew this story, and yet she was curious to read what the book said about her.
A table of contents formed beneath the greeting. She’d have expected it to mark her life in years, but the table favored significant events. They appeared to be listed in order of their occurrence. Some were obvious, like The birth of Donatella Dragna, Donatella and Scarlett’s mother vanishes, and Donatella’s first kiss. But she was surprised by some of the other captions: