Finale Caraval Series Book 3

Hairline cracks formed along the edges of Legend's illusionary windows. “Which Fate?" "The Poisoner again. He turned an entire wedding party to stone near Idyllwild Castle. They're fine now," Jovan added quickly. "But the person who saved them isn't. The Poisoner left a note saying that the party would only become human again once someone willingly took their place. The bride's sister sacrificed herself." Scarlett clasped her hands together, as if she wanted to send up a prayer to the saints. "Is the sister stone now?" Jovan nodded grimly. "I'm sorry, sir. We took all the precautions you asked."

Julian offered his condolences first. Somewhere during her story, he'd moved close to Scarlett and wWrapped an arm around her shoulder. Legend still remained distant. He leaned against one of the gleaming walls, but when he looked at Tella, all the earlier anger and wariness had disappeared, replaced with a look so indescribably gentle, she would never have pictured it on his face. “I wish it was in my power to bring her back. I know how much she meant to you, and I'm sorry you lost her the way that you did,"

"Did you really have to use your guards?" She tried to keep her voice as even as his was, but it was difficult. She could feel Jacks's spell cracking. Her chest was tight and her head was pounding. And Legend still hadn't unlocked her cell door. "If you'd wanted to find me, why didn't you just visit me in my dreams and ask me where I was?" A quick clench of his jaw. "I tried to." Then why couldn't you?" Tella said. Shortly after he'd first showed up in her dreams, he'd taught her how to control parts of themlittle tricks to change what she wore and larger tricks in case she didn't want certain people entering her dreams. But even when she'd been mad at Legend, she'd always let him in. "I wasn't keeping you out." "I know. But something else was."

And then she felt the hard press of metal as the female darted forward and quickly linked chain cuffs around Tella's wrists. "What are you doing?" Tella shouted. We're placing you under arrest, by order of His Highness, Prince Dante."

"Go ahead!" Tella cried as she barreled up the stairs. She didn't know what was going on, but she needed to see her sister and- Tella crashed to a halt just outside the door. Only fragments of defenseless wood now hung from its hinges. Someone had nailed a sheet to the frame, but somehow that made it even worse, like a closed casket at a funeral. Tella yanked the fabric back with one pull. "Scarlett?" she called. But her voice was met with only silence and chaos. and The furniture was splintered and charred, the mirrors were cracked, shards of the chandeliers covered the ground in sharp glass tears.

"Wait- Tella grabbed the edge and held tight. The woman must not have recognized Tella in her current state of dishevelment. I have a suite here on the second floor with my sister:" "Not anymore." The owner puckered her mouth. You and your sister have been evicted for destruction of property. Leave or I'll have you arrested."

He kissed her harder, possessively, nipping her jaw, then her neck, as his lips and teeth trailed down to her collarbone. Before, he could feel her emotions, but now she could feel his. Even though he'd taken both her pain and her sorrow, that wasn't what he was feeling now. He felt desire. Desperation. Lust. Obsession. He wanted her. She was all he wanted. All he thought about. She felt it in the way the kiss began to shift from reckless and hungry to languorous and savoring, as if he'd considered this for a very long time and now he was acting out all the things he'd imagined.

Maybe she should have let him kiss her ... maybe it wouldn't hurt her this time. "I promise it won't hurt this time," he rasped against her mouth. Tella let her lips pass over his again. He was a liar and a Fate. But when she pressed her mouth to his, it felt better than anything else had that day. Her pain shattered as he kissed her back. Everything was a tangle of tongues and tears and blood and heartbreak as Jacks continued to take her

"Look at me," Jacks hissed through his teeth. Tella opened her eyes. Jacks's forehead was damp with sweat and his chest moved unevenly as his ragged breathing matched hers. He wasn't just removing her pain, he was taking it. Bloody tears streaked his cheeks and agony turned his eyes pale. Tella clutched his hands tighter and pressed her forehead to his. "Is this transaction too intense for you," Jacks panted, "or are you actually worried about me?" "Don't flatter yourself." "Don't lie to meH feel everything you're feeling right now." His lips moved so close to her mouth she could taste his bloody tears dripping down

"I don't," he bit out. “I still can't control emotions the way I used to, or give someone feelings that they don't have. But I can temporarily remove unwanted feelings. I can take away your pain for tonight." His icy fingers lingered on her cheek, a numbing promise and a warning all at once. I won't be permanently erasing it, my love. You'll still experience it. But when your sorrow returns tomorrow, it won't be as powerful as it is now."

"Why are you helping me?" Tella finally managed. Unlike Legend, who either hid his feelings or pretended to have them when he didn't, Jacks never pretended to care. When he had an agenda, he just made threats to get what he wanted. You're not fun when you're this pathetic. I can't torment you if you're already miserable." His hand left her hair to press against her cheek and brush several tears away. The touch was as soft as the last kiss her mother had pressed to that very same cheek, and Tella lost what she'd been able to keep together.

"Who is Gavriel?" Tella choked out. "Which Fate is he?" Jacks's cold fingers tensed against her back. "I'm only telling you this because I like him even less than I like you. Gavriel is the Fallen Star." The same Fate who, according to Legend's witch, had created all the Fates. A venomous surge of rage briefly broke through Tella's shock. If Legend really did want to kill the Fallen Star to defeat the other Fates, he'd have to get in line. "Tll find a way to destroy him," Tella vowed.

Tella managed to crawl forward an inch. She wasn't ready to give up yet. Her mother couldn't be dead. Her mother was too strong to die. Tella had fought too hard to lose her. The story wasn't supposed to end this way. I will rip your arms from your chest! "You sonofa" A hand clamped over her lips. Cold and sweet, like apples and Fated magic. "Quiet, my love," Jacks whispered. There's nothing you can do for her now except keep yourself alive." His cool fingers stayed in place until after Gavriel finally died from the wound her mother had inflicted. His massive body fell to the ground. The cavern should have filled with silence, but Tella could hear the pieces of her heart as it shattered.

"Do you still want revenge?" Paloma gasped finally. "Or do you want to be "Maybe revenge can wait." His mouth returned to her mother's. Tella started to close her eyes; she couldn't watch any more of this. But other's hands as Paloma pulled out a knife and quickly dug it into the Fate's with me, too?" just as she was about to stop looking, she caught a glimpse of silver in her heart. A roar echoed across the cavern. Tella could have cheered. But she wasn't sure what her mother was doing. Fates were immortals; if they died, they just came back to life. But maybe her mother knew something Tella did not. She held her breath as the wheel came around yet again. But the Fate wasn't lying on the ground or falling to a temporary death. He was standing, staring at Paloma as if she'd truly surprised him. Then, in a flash, too quick for Tella to see, his massive hand pulled out the dagger and thrust it into Paloma's chest and twisted.

"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.

"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. Whwhat " 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.

Paloma looked like a wicked version of Scarlett. Tella didn't know where her mother had found new clothes, but she now wore a floor-length black leather coat with short sleeves that showed off long garnet-red gloves. They were the same color as her corset top. On her legs, Paloma wore fitted bone-white breeches, which tucked into black leather boots that went over her knees. A dagger rested in a sheath, snug against her calf, while a thin silver rope wrapped around her opposite thigh like a pet snake. She looked brutal and beautiful, like a criminal who'd just escaped from a Wanted poster-a myth who'd ripped herself free from a story to give it a different ending. And Tella desperately wanted to be a part of that ending. "Please, don't leave again!" Tella cried.

My loves, I'm so sorry to leave you, but I knew that if I waited any longer, it would be too hard for me to go. Please forgive me, and do not look for me again. All I ever wanted was to protect you, but my presence will only put the two of you in more danger. If I am awake, then the Fates are waking up as well, and all of Valenda is in peril. As long as you are in this city, you are not safe. You must get as far away from the Fates as possible. immediately. Leave Valenda The Fates are as vicious as the stories say.

The room was colder than it had been when she left, and quiet. Too quiet. The only sound came from a fly buzzing toward the stolen feast in her hands. "I'm back!" Tella tried not to be nervous at the lack of her mother's response. Being anxious was her sister's role. But Tella couldn't stop her sense of growing unease. An apricot fell onto the floor as Tella quickened her pace. And then the entire tray threatened to fall from her trembling hands. The bed was vacant.

She ran into her mother's room and immediately crashed to a halt at the sight of her mother sitting up in the bed. The world stopped. The outside noises from the festival vanished.

"What's the first challenge?" Nicolas asked. Scarlett tried to remember what she'd read in the history books. But this was her game; she could do it however she wanted. "Each of you must bring me a gift within the next three days, but it must be something you've never given to anyone else," "Will we get a prize if we bring the best gift?" Julian asked. «yes," Scarlett said. "Il give a kiss to the winner of each individual challenge, and at the end of the game, I'll marry whoever wins." It was the sort of thing Tella would have said. It was bold, and it made Scarlett feel bold as well.

"They did this in the early days of the Meridian Empire," she went o "Young ladies from wealthy or noble families would arrange a series of tasks, so that their gentleman suitors could show off their skills. Whoever completed them first or best would then mary the young lady." Nicolas ran a hand over his mouth, as if trying to hide his expression, but she could tell he was intrigued. This shouldn't be a game," Julian said. "Afraid you'll lose?" Nicolas definitely puffed his chest this time. Julian muttered something under his breath. His posture was tense and his jaw was clenched, making the scar that ran from his jaw to his eye turn into an aggravated white line. "Crimson, don't make this a game."