“Not usually, but it always feels good to say.”

“You need more in your life that feels good.”

“Thus telling you, the bringer of all doom, to go away.”

The Maiden Death sighed. “You refuse to understand me. I try to prevent the doom, not herald it. But, after tonight I will not come to you again unbidden. For if you do not summon the Assassin and me when you wake, then it will be too late to save your sister or the empire.”

The Maiden Death lunged forward, grabbing Tella’s hands and—

* * *

Tella shot up in bed, drenched in sweat from her head all the way down to the backs of her knees. Her hands were dry, but as soon as she opened them they turned damp.

Two luckless coins rested in her palm, one for the Assassin and the other for the Maiden Death.

Tella jumped out of bed and threw on a robe. She didn’t want to believe the Maiden Death, and she really didn’t want to call for her help. But even if the Maiden Death had not come to her in a dream, Tella would have known something was wrong—she should have been woken up much sooner.

The night before, she’d crawled into bed with the windows open, hoping the sound of the ocean waves would drown out the echoes of Legend’s rejection.

You deserve someone who can love you … rather than an immortal who only wants to possess you.

She didn’t know if he’d just said it to push her away—if he’d taken his brother’s advice to let her go—or if that was how he truly felt. But halfway through the night, she’d realized it didn’t matter. Legend was right. Tella did deserve more than someone who just wanted to possess her. The problem was, she wanted that more from Legend.

She could lie to herself and say she didn’t want Legend to lose his immortality for her. But she knew that if he ever offered her his love, she’d take it and hold on to it forever.

Tormented by all these thoughts, she hadn’t expected to find sleep. And, if she had fallen asleep, Julian was supposed to wake Tella up as soon as Scarlett dropped off the Fallen Star’s blood. But either Julian hadn’t woken her, or Scarlett had never appeared last night.

Tella pounded on Julian’s door and swung it open at nearly the same time.

“Jul—” Tella faltered at the sight of his empty bed.

She left and marched down the stairs, but Julian wasn’t on the lower levels. He wasn’t anywhere at all.

All she found was a note pinned to the back of the front door.

* * *

I can't wait here anymore. Crimson didn't check in last night-or bring blood. I'm worried something has happened to her. I'm going to find her and bring her back.

-J

* * *

48

Scarlett

The Fallen Star dropped the woman’s broken body, letting it fall to the floor with an ugly thud.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” He stepped over the body to reach Scarlett, and only then did his mouth fall into an impeccable frown. “It seems you’re still not quite there, but I’m glad you’re finally making progress.” His fingers ignited. He brought one to the ruby bars imprisoning her head. At once the entire cage sparked and vanished, freeing Scarlett’s head and neck.

Her shoulders sagged, finally rid of the weight of the cage. Her head had never felt so light. But she couldn’t bring herself to thank him. After the initial relief passed, all she could do was stare at the dead woman on the floor. “Was that really necessary?”

“Don’t feel bad about her death. Long ago she betrayed me. I was always going to kill her. I almost killed her when I found her imprisoned by the Temple of the Stars, but I thought she might be useful first.”

He reached out to smooth a damp lock of Scarlett’s hair from her cheek, his touch surprisingly light.

Scarlett still wanted to pull away; she wanted to use the Reverie Key and finally flee. She’d failed at getting the blood; she’d failed at conquering her power. But, as the Fallen Star continued to push away the hair stuck to her face with something like affection, Scarlett flashed back to the first time they’d met and how he’d mentioned the striking resemblance she’d had to her mother—the woman he’d made a child with, the woman he’d killed, and, according to a note that Tella had sent, also the one woman the Fallen Star had loved.

Maybe Scarlett had been going about this entirely wrong. Maybe she didn’t need to conquer her powers to make him love her. Maybe Scarlett could bring back the feelings of love Gavriel had had for her mother and make him human long enough to kill him.

She took a shuddering breath at the thought. She didn’t want to use real love as a weapon, or to murder or kill. But love was the only weapon Scarlett had. And this wasn’t just about her. This was about the woman lying dead on the floor, and all the people across Valenda and the entire Meridian Empire who would suffer if she did not stop Gavriel.

“How did you meet my mother?” Scarlett asked softly.

His hand stilled against her hair.

The question instantly felt like a mistake, but Scarlett pressed on. “My other father—”

The hand on her hair dropped away entirely and the peaceful peach colors that had briefly surrounded him darkened to an orange on the verge of catching fire.

But at least she was still getting him to feel. Apathy was the opposite of love, so even though she was clearly taking his emotions in the wrong direction, at least she was taking them somewhere. She just needed to do a better job guiding his feelings so that he felt what she wanted him to.

“I meant to say, the man who raised me,” Scarlett corrected. “Although, he wanted nothing to do with me until I became old enough to marry off. I hate him.”

The Fallen Star’s eyes sparked with a little more interest. Hate was an emotion he understood. But Scarlett would have to be careful, or he would latch on to it instead of love.

“I don’t want to hate you, too. But you keep frightening me,” she said. “And I don’t believe that makes me weak, I think it makes me smart. I’m grateful you took the cage off, but if you want me to keep working to unlock my powers, you need to give me a reason to trust you. Clearly, my mother had a relationship with you. Or, she slept with you at least once.”

His nostrils flared. Scarlett was dancing on a knife’s edge. “Our relationship was more than that.”

“Then tell me about it,” Scarlett said.

“I think I’d like to hear this story, too,” chimed Anissa.

Flames licked the bars of her cage as Gavriel shot her a glare.

“You’re being scary again,” Scarlett said.

“I am scary. But I do not wish to scare you.”

The corpse on the floor gave Scarlett a different impression, but she didn’t want to argue with him. Not when he was motioning for her to follow him out of the room and into the halls.

He rarely let her leave her rooms.

Everything was monstrously large and tinted with magic, making Scarlett even more aware of her fragile humanity, as they passed ancient pillars that were as thick as small cottages and frescoes covered in chimeras and human-animal hybrids. As one of the Fated places, the Menagerie’s appearance had been restored once the Fates who’d been trapped in the cards had woken up. But Fated places required blood and tithe sacrifices to become fully alive, so thankfully the creatures in the paintings weren’t real. Even so, Scarlett swore their eyes watched and their ears listened when the Fallen Star finally spoke.

“Paradise was the boldest thief I ever met. There was nothing she was afraid to steal. She loved the thrill and the danger and the risks. I think that’s why she was attracted to me.”

“Why were you attracted to her?” Scarlett asked.

“It started when she threatened to kill me.”

Scarlett wanted to think he was joking, but he appeared entirely serious. “Before we met, Paradise was hired by the Church of the Fallen Star.” His rich voice swelled with pride and Scarlett filled with dread.

She had heard of the Temple of the Stars, but she’d not known there was a church dedicated solely to the Fallen Star. Although she shouldn’t have been surprised. The Temple District had everything, including a Church of Legend, which no longer sounded strange in comparison to the way Gavriel described his house of worship.

“The Church of the Fallen Star wanted her to steal a Deck of Destiny from Empress Elantine. Others had tried before, but all of them had been caught and killed for their failure—my church didn’t want anyone to know they wanted this particular Deck of Destiny, because it was the deck imprisoning me and all the other Fates. Eventually they recruited Paradise. By then word had spread of the job’s deadly reputation. But Paradise wasn’t afraid to accept it. And unlike everyone who went before her, she succeeded in stealing the cards.”