Ace of Shades (The Shadow Game #1)(83)

“I’m her oldest—and only—friend.” There was an unmistakable sadness in Zula’s voice that Enne tried to ignore.

“Well, you weren’t wrong about her not listening,” Enne admitted. “Lourdes sent me to Levi, not to you.”

Zula barked out a laugh. “Vianca’s orb-maker? Ridiculous. As if she’d send you anywhere near a woman as powerful and terrible as Vianca Augustine.”

“But you know Vianca, too, don’t you?” Levi said. “That’s how you know about her talent. And us.”

“Vianca and I share some political connections,” Zula said carefully. “But no...that’s not how I know.” She closed her eyes, and a set of tattoos darkened on her eyelids. They, too, looked like eyes, though lacking pupils or any color. “I can see shades. That is my talent. Curses, secrets, regrets, passions, sacrifices, desires. I see them like shadows that cling to everyone.”

“That’s nonsense,” Levi said, and Enne shot him a look. He was being rude, and they needed this woman’s help.

“You see auras, don’t you? It’s not so different.” She turned toward Enne, her eyes still closed. Goose bumps shot up Enne’s arms. “Tell me, what do you see when you look at her?”

Levi cleared his throat and adjusted his shirt collar. “I, um...” He looked over Enne’s shoulder. Enne mimicked his movement, but there was nothing behind her. She felt strangely on display. She’d never known Levi could read auras, had never thought to ask about his split talent.

Levi’s gaze fell to the floor, an embarrassed expression on his face. Enne resisted the urge to fix her hair or adjust her clothes. What exactly could he see?

“Perhaps you can’t see it, then,” Zula said. “It’s a curse. Both of you share it.”

The Street of the Holy Tombs might’ve been a frightening place, but this was pushing the limits of Enne’s logic. “That isn’t why we’re here.”

“I can see it,” Zula said quietly. “The hallway.”

Enne instantly thought of the hallway from her dreams, the place of memories and fantasies, with the black and white doors. Both Enne and Levi quickly met each other’s eyes. They’d obviously both been struck by Zula’s words.

“That’s just a nightmare,” Levi said hoarsely.

Enne was startled, both by Levi’s admission and the distress in his voice. Had he seen the hallway, too? But how was that possible? She’d seen it only in her dreams.

“It’s a shade that binds you both,” Zula said.

Feeling a bit shaky, and her patience quickly wearing thin, Enne pulled the first item from the bank out of her purse: the king token.

“I came to New Reynes looking for Lourdes,” Enne said, placing it on Zula’s desk. “I need to know where she is.”

Zula looked at the token like it was venomous. “You shouldn’t have removed it. It was safe in the bank.”

Enne pursed her lips—she didn’t deserve Zula’s anger. “It’s hot to the touch. Do you know what it is?”

“It’s a tragedy,” Zula snapped. “Countless people died because of what it is. I won’t divulge its secret.” Zula’s vagueness was grating on Enne’s nerves. She’d traveled a thousand miles and overcome horrendous obstacles to find answers, and now this woman would withhold them from her?

“Please,” she said, but her aggravation was obvious through her mask of politeness. “I need to know.”

“Then you’ll be disappointed. You should return it.”

Enne slid it back into her purse, though she had no intention of returning it at all. She retrieved the second item and placed it in front of the woman. “What about the orb?”

Zula took a shuddering breath. “I know what it is. Where did you get it?”

“It was in the bank,” Enne said.

She frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. Lourdes wouldn’t own anything like that.”

Levi picked it up and inspected it. “These aren’t volts,” he said, which Enne already knew. “But...” He shivered. “I can sometimes feel traces of Mizer auras left on volts, but this isn’t a trace. It feels...alive.”

“Have you ever heard of the Shadow Game?” Zula asked them. Enne’s and Levi’s heads shot up, and a sickly dread caught in Enne’s throat. “So you have. The Phoenix Club hasn’t opened the House of Shadows since the Great Street War. At least, not until eight days ago.” She opened a drawer from behind her desk and pulled out a second black orb, identical to the other, except empty inside. “The Shadow Game is a game of death, and the players bet their lives. These orbs hold life energy. They are deadly poker chips.”

Levi hurriedly set the orb back on the table. “Whose life is inside this one, then?”

“That’s a very good question. Only one player in history has ever survived the Shadow Game, but now that she’s dead, there shouldn’t be any life left inside it.” Zula’s eyes narrowed as she inspected Enne—her gaze fixed more over her shoulder than on Enne’s face. “I don’t know the details of that night, but it’s possible Gabrielle didn’t play with her own life. She wasn’t alone in the Game.”