The Rose Society (The Young Elites #2)(46)

Gemma’s voice comes to me first. She’s arguing with Lucent. “At least Raffaele is safely there,” she says.

Lucent lifts a brow and shakes her head, as if this were the first time she’s hearing the news. “He’s going to get himself killed,” Lucent replies, “the instant they leave him alone with Teren. Why couldn’t we have just asked for an audience directly with the queen?”

I hold my breath. Raffaele is back in the Estenzian palace, by his own choice? What are they planning now?

“Giulietta would never hold an audience with us and risk her life,” Gemma says. “Trust your queen, Lucent—Maeve knows what she’s doing. Giulietta will be forced to dine with her and celebrate her arrival, which should give Raffaele time to deliver what he wants to say.”

Maeve. Queen. I think back, remembering after a moment that Lucent is originally from Beldain. If Maeve is her queen, then Maeve must be the Queen of Beldain. Beldain is working with the Daggers.

“Maeve will act in three nights’ time,” Gemma now says. “That’s when the festivities will end in a night of raucous performances. It will help to hide what we’re doing.”

“She will make her way to the arena at midnight,” Lucent says to the others whom I don’t recognize. “She needs to be in the exact place where he died. During the process, she will be entirely defenseless. We have to make sure she is safe and untouched.”

Lucent’s words send a prickle down my spine. The exact place where he died. What is she talking about?

“We’ll ensure it,” the men reply. I wonder whether they are Queen Maeve’s own soldiers in disguise.

“And Raffaele must be there, yes?” asks another.

Gemma nods. “Yes. The dead cannot exist in this world on their own. Enzo must be bound to someone in order to have the strength to live again. Maeve already has her brother bound to her. She will bind Enzo to Raffaele.”

Enzo.

Suddenly, I can’t seem to catch my breath. The world shifts around me, and my invisibility is in danger of flickering out. I struggle to hang on to it, then stumble back until I hit the edge of the tavern wall. I must not have heard Gemma say the name correctly—this must be some misunderstanding, a different name. It cannot be Prince Enzo. My Enzo.

The bald boy shakes his head and gives Gemma an apologetic look. “I don’t understand. Raffaele never informed me of this. Why are we bringing him back?”

Lucent shoots him an annoyed glare, but Gemma gives him a pat on his shoulder. “You are a new Dagger,” she replies. “You’ll be brought up to speed soon enough. Kenettra lost a leader when Prince Enzo died at the hands of the Lead Inquisitor. Maeve had counted on him to be the one to bring trade and prosperity flowing again between our two nations. When she brought her little brother back from the Underworld, he returned with strength unheard of in mortal men. If she can also bring back Enzo—an Elite—he may return with his powers strengthened in ways we cannot even fathom. She can place him back on the throne, where he belongs, as her Kenettran ambassador.”

I close my eye. Blood roars in my ears. The dead cannot exist in this world on their own.

I cannot possibly be hearing their conversation correctly. Because if I am, then that would mean that the Daggers are planning on bringing Enzo back. My mind spins. Maeve, Maeve … she will bind Enzo to Raffaele.

Hadn’t Raffaele once mentioned rumors of an Elite who could raise the dead?

That’s what the Daggers are here for. The realization finally makes my invisibility break down, and for a second, I’m exposed.

Instantly I fix it, melting myself back into the scene around me. Gemma’s eyes dart in my direction—she looks confused for a moment, but then she seems to shrug it off and return to the conversation. I swallow hard and try to ignore the thundering of my heart.

The bald boy narrows his eyes. “But—I have seen the queen’s brother. He is not of the living. Will the same not happen to Prince Enzo?”

Gemma sighs heavily at that. “We don’t know. Perhaps. Perhaps not, as he is an Elite. The queen has never brought back anyone else, aside from her brother. But he will walk the world again, with Raffaele at his side.”

Lucent addresses the bald boy. “Leo,” she says. “We need to get Enzo out of the city once he returns. None of us have any idea how he will be—not even Maeve. He may not have his powers at all, or he may be exactly as he used to be. Regardless, he will cause a scene. Maeve said that her brother’s revival caused a whirlpool in the lake where he’d”—she pauses for a moment, and I detect a hint of guilt in her voice—“where he’d originally drowned. Then he was bedridden for a week. Do you think you know your power well enough to distract the Inquisitors at one of the gates?”

The boy named Leo sounds nervous, but he still lifts his chin. “I think so,” he replies. “My poison is temporary, but it will last long enough to weaken them.”

“Maeve will be weak as well,” Gemma adds, turning her attention to the others standing beside Leo. “You need to get her to safety as quickly as possible.”

One of them steps forward. He lifts a hand, and a tiny flash of blinding light sparks in his palm. Another Elite. “We are the queen’s personal Elites,” he says, as if insulted. “We know how to protect her. Just handle your prince.”