Finale (Caraval #3)(96)

The horrible mask was still covering half of his face. But the chains around his wrists were gone. He was standing up without any help. His chest was smooth and brown instead of red and sweating, and he was taking even breaths as he unfolded a damp cloth to cover her neck and her chest.

“Is this real?” she asked.

“You tell me.” He pressed an affectionate kiss to her forehead with the side of his mouth.

“But … how are you unharmed?” Scarlett sputtered.

“You told me that we were getting through this together, or we weren’t getting through. And”—Julian’s brow wrinkled in something like confusion—“whatever was in Poison’s goblet healed me.”

“I wish some would have been poured on Scarlett,” Tella said.

Scarlett turned to see her sister. She was perched on the other side of the bed, her delicate hands pressing another cold cloth to Scarlett’s other shoulder. At first glance, she looked stunning in a gown covered with dark blue ribbons and pale blue lace. But when Scarlett looked closer, she saw her sister’s eyes were puffy and her cheeks were splotchy, as if she’d been fighting back tears all day.

“Tella? How did you get here?”

“I had a little help.” She nodded toward the columns flanking the window, and the room’s other guests. Fates.

Scarlett jolted back.

Tella had gone insane. She’d brought the Maiden Death, along with another cloaked Fate who looked extraordinarily out of place, as gauzy curtains fluttered behind him. He wore a rough woolen cape over slouched shoulders and a hood that kept his entire face concealed. Scarlett had to run through the list of Fates until she remembered the Assassin, the mad Fate who could travel through space and time.

“It’s all right,” Tella said, though Scarlett swore her sister’s voice was higher than usual, as if she was still convincing herself of this. “They want the same thing we do.”

Scarlett didn’t want to trust any of them. But, she knew her sister hated the Fates as much as she did. Tella wouldn’t have trusted these two without a good reason, and Poison had probably saved Julian’s life with whatever he’d thrown on him.

“Is Poison working with you two?” Scarlett asked.

“We have no alliance with Poison,” answered the Maiden Death as the Assassin shook his head.

“Poison works for himself,” called the Lady Prisoner.

Scarlett shot up in bed. She’d forgotten all about the other treacherous Fate on the opposite side of the open doorway. “We need to get out of here!” Scarlett yelled. “She’s a spy.”

“Of course I’m a spy,” the Lady Prisoner said. “That’s why he put me in here. But I’m also on your side.” She hopped off her perch in a dramatic whirl of lavender skirts and clutched the bars in front of her. “I want out of this cage. Why do you think I sliced his throat that day?”

“Maybe you were bored.” Scarlett knew the Lady Prisoner couldn’t lie, but she really didn’t want to listen to her.

She wanted to hate all the Fates. She didn’t want to look in the Maiden Death’s sad eyes and remember how awful it had felt to be inside of a similar cage.

Scarlett didn’t know why the Assassin would be aiding their cause—he was more powerful than anyone and yet the sooty-charcoal emotions swirling around him conjured feelings of brokenness and misery.

“Tella, why did you bring them here?” Scarlett asked.

“They sort of brought me. The Maiden Death is the one who told me you were in danger, and the Assassin is how we got inside. He brought me here to search for you, while Legend went to look for Julian. Did you two see him?”

“He helped us get away,” said Julian. “He was using his illusions to fight the Fallen Star and keep him busy while we left.”

Tella’s face went paper-white. “You shouldn’t have left him down there.”

“He can handle himself,” Julian said.

“What if he’s been captured instead and they figure out who he is? They’ll drain all of his magic. We need to get him.” She turned to the Assassin. “You—”

“If you go down there to save one person, you’ll never defeat Gavriel,” Anissa interrupted. “You’ll just keep repeating the same mistakes—sacrificing one of you to save another one of you.”

“But we can’t just leave him!” Tella’s face went from pale to red, as if she was afraid Legend would lose more than just his powers. She looked ready to battle the Fallen Star herself.

Scarlett’s ribs tightened. Her gaze darted to the empty space on the floor in front of the Lady Prisoner’s cage, where a body had rested earlier that day. Murder was how the Fallen Star solved problems. “We’re not going to leave him.”

“The only way to win this battle is to become what the Fallen Star wants most of all.” Anissa’s violet gaze met Scarlett’s.

“I can’t do that,” Scarlett said. “I tried. If I come into my full powers I’ll become someone else—”

It hit Scarlett then. Maybe that was what she needed to do. Her father wanted her to change, but he also wanted someone else. Scarlett saw it whenever he looked at her with a brief bit of tenderness. He still wanted Paradise, the only women he’d ever loved. He’d killed her, but he regretted it, because like all immortals, he was obsessive and possessive. He missed her. Scarlett’s mother was what he wanted most of all.