“Why pretend?” Scarlett asked.

“Because I knew you wouldn’t leave if you thought I was awake. But you need to be wiser.” Her voice turned whisper-soft and her inhuman eyes shifted from purple to white, as they had earlier that night. “Leaving here for hours at a time will get you caught with that key far sooner than you’re supposed to be.”

32

Donatella

A full day had come and gone and Legend was still dead. He needed to come back to life. Legends weren’t supposed to die, and Tella wasn’t done with him yet.

“How long does it usually take him to return to life?” she’d asked Julian during their initial journey to the count’s estate.

“It’s usually shortly after sunrise, always less than a day,” Julian had answered. It had been difficult to get him to say much more. Tella sensed there was magic at play that kept him from revealing too many secrets. He did confess that Legend had a connection to all his performers—Julian would sense it when Legend was alive again—and if Legend wanted to find Julian, he’d easily be able to do so. But Legend hadn’t appeared and Julian still hadn’t sensed him.

Tella didn’t know what time it was now, only that it felt like the darkest part of the night as she and Julian exited the count’s estate to head to the Vanished Market.

Jacks had said the Vanished Market could be summoned by going to a set of ruins to the west of the Temple District. Since Nicolas lived outside the city, the trek was several miles. Julian was silent for much of it. The type of silent that made Tella think he planned to hold his breath the entire time Scarlett was away.

Tella could have done the same thing. She was all for making mistakes and doing better next time. But Tella feared that if Scarlett took one wrong step, there might not be a next time.

Tella sent a prayer up to the saints—even the ones she didn’t like that much. She added a prayer for Legend’s safe return as well, but she knew it wasn’t up to the saints.

Legend had only one weakness that could allow him to be truly killed: love.

She’d been trying not to think about it. She didn’t want to remember the way she’d practically begged him to love her just before he’d been killed.

That night she hadn’t fully believed him when he’d said he wasn’t capable of loving her. She’d believed he was just afraid of it because he didn’t want to sacrifice his immortality and become human. And now she understood why.

She told herself to stop worrying. This was Legend, and he was ruthless when it came to magic and immortality. He would never let himself die for love. But Tella still found herself trying to remember the way he’d kissed her the night of the maze. Had he only felt lust, desire, and obsession that night? Or had his kiss been fueled by love? There’d been a moment during the maze when she’d thought the words I want to keep you had sounded possessive instead of romantic. But now, she found herself hoping he’d only felt the feelings she’d found so hurtful that evening.

“We’re almost there,” Julian said.

Tella could now see a vague outline in the distance. In the dark it was hard to tell the difference between stones and shadows, but it looked as if the ruins ahead of them contained a road, lined in fossilized trees, with crumbling archways at either end and a few frighteningly lifelike statues, which Tella desperately hoped weren’t petrified humans.

At least there weren’t any Fates around.

Tella halted just before they reached the edge of the ruins in a perfect patch of pale white moonlight.

“Am I foolish?” she asked.

Julian stopped and looked down at her. “Depends on what you’re referring to. If you’re talking about the fact that you’re planning to make a blood sacrifice to visit one of the Fated places based on the words of another Fate, then no, because I’m here and I’m not a fool. But if you’re talking about anything involving my brother, you might be.”

“Thank you for putting that so gently,” Tella said.

Julian gave her a one-shoulder shrug. “I’m just trying to be honest. When I lie it gets me in trouble with your sister.”

“I don’t want you to lie. I just wish you had something true to say that I wanted to hear.”

He rubbed a hand across his jaw. The combination of moonlight and shadows made him look a little bit like his brother, a little sharper, a little harsher. But even in the dim, Julian’s gaze was softer and kinder than Legend’s ever was.

“If you want me to tell you that my brother will love you someday, I can’t. I’ve known him my entire life. I’m one of the few people who knew him before he became Legend, and he’s never loved anyone. But he has other good qualities. He doesn’t give up or quit, and if you matter to him, he’ll make you feel more important than anyone in the world, and…” He trailed off, as if he wanted to stop, but then added reluctantly, “I do think you matter to him.”

But was that enough?

“Now, come on,” Julian said gruffly. “If Legend were to come back right now, he might kill me for letting you stand in the road so exposed.”

“Wait.” Tella jumped in front of Julian before he could continue into the ruins.

“I just have one more question. He asked me to become an immortal.”

“That’s not a question, Tella.”

“I don’t know what to do.” Tella thought she’d known. She’d wanted Legend’s love, but his death had made her realize she could never ask for his love again.

“That’s still not a question,” Julian said. “Even if it was, that’s a choice I wouldn’t want to make for anyone.” He started to walk past her, but then he stopped and turned around. “If you do say yes, make absolutely sure it’s what you want. There’s no going back from becoming an immortal.”

“Unless I fall in love.”

Julian shook his head. “Don’t count on that happening. Immortals can’t fall in love with each other, and very few humans tempt them to love. No matter what my brother’s done, I’ve never stopped loving him, but he’s never loved me back.” Julian’s voice was perfectly even, as if it didn’t really hurt, but Tella knew it had to destroy him. Legend was his brother. She couldn’t imagine how devastating it would feel if her sister didn’t love her.

But Tella sensed Julian didn’t want her pity. He turned around almost as soon as he finished and walked toward the ruins with a quickness to his steps that made it clear he didn’t want her to catch up right away.

When he did slow down, they searched the ruins together in silence. He’d said all there was to say, and even without Fates lurking nearby, they knew they needed to be discreet. They didn’t use torches to seek the hourglass symbol, which Tella feared they would never find. Julian claimed to have perfect night vision, but despite what he’d said about not lying earlier, she was doubtful of this claim.

“Found it!” he said, smug and too loudly.

The hourglass was no bigger than a palm, hidden inside of a dilapidated stone arch, and gleaming as if lit by magic. It gave just enough illumination for Tella to see that spikes jutted out from the top of it, as if begging for the blood Tella needed to use in order to summon the market.

“Are you sure you still want to go in alone?” Julian asked.

“Every hour inside is a day that passes out here,” she reminded him. “If for any reason Scar tries to use her key to find you, it’s not safe for her inside the market. She could get caught by the Fallen Star if she takes too long to return to the Menagerie.”

“What if she looks for you instead?”

“Now that’s sweet of you,” Tella said. “But I think we both know that she won’t come looking for me with the key.”

Tella had only watched from the hayloft when Scarlett had first returned, so she’d not heard all that had been said between Scarlett and Julian, but she’d seen the way Scarlett had looked at him. It was the look some people lived their whole lives waiting for, and others lived their whole lives without receiving. It was the look that Tella had kept hoping she’d see from Legend.

“I’ll always be her sister, you can’t steal that role from me. But I think you’re her first love now, and you should be. If you kept choosing your brother over my sister, I wouldn’t think you deserved her. All that I ask is that you don’t muck it up. Don’t just love her back, Julian, fight for her every day.”

“I intend to.”