Near the stairs she’d just come down, Her Handmaidens were sewing up the lips of guests with thick red thread. Then there was the Unwed Bride in her veil of tears, kissing all the married men until their wives began to cry. The Prince of Hearts was there looking debauched, but Scarlett didn’t watch him long enough to see what he was doing. Or maybe he was the one controlling emotions so that all the humans behaved.

Priestess, Priestess smelled of suffering as she wove around guests in a gown made of layers of veil-thin material that billowed as she moved. Scarlett had never spoken to her, but Anissa had told her that the Priestess’s gift was her voice. The Fate could make a person betray their mother or their lover or their most terrible secrets.

Scarlett tried to steer herself father away from the Priestess—not that there were many safe places. The throne, where Gavriel would have traditionally sat, was now gushing blood, like the Bleeding Throne in Decks of Destiny, though Scarlett didn’t know if it was the actual Bleeding Throne or just a replica. Across from it was a cheery polished wood stage that reeked of mortification and torment. It was just like the scene behind Nicolas’s estate. Scarlett watched while Jester Mad moved people around it as if they were marionettes. Their arms and legs were tied up with strings, which Jester Mad magically controlled to make their movements jerky and doll-like.

Scarlett wanted to cut them all free, but they didn’t appear to be in as much danger as the ring of people around Poison, all nervously holding goblets of bubbling purple liquid. She wasn’t sure what sort of game he was playing. But she remembered Anissa’s warnings about torture and death as she noticed a few of the room’s newest decorations: lifelike stone statues and melting ice sculptures of people who all held goblets in their hands.

Scarlett dug her heels in and looked up at her father. “I think your Fates are taking things too far. I thought you wanted your people to adore you.”

“They’re only having fun.”

“I’m not.” She tore her arm free from Gavriel. “I want you to stop this.”

Scarlett knew that there might be consequences, but fighting this would be worth it. “This doesn’t make me want to finish conquering my powers and become one of your Fates.”

Gavriel’s face wrinkled with irritation. “Poison, turn them back into humans; my daughter is not fond of this game.”

A few minutes later most of the statues and sculptures were human once more. But the evening’s horrors were not over.

Just as Poison was returning his last statue back to life, Scarlett spied a handsome face among the guards near the doors. Golden-brown skin, playful mouth, and warm brown eyes locked on to hers. Julian.

Scarlett should have looked away. She should have done something to cause a distraction so that Julian could flee this wretched party. His disguise kept the Fates away from him for now, but that hardly made him safe.

“That young guard,” the Fallen Star said, following her gaze. “Do you know him? Should I bring him over here? Perhaps we can use him to test your new powers.”

“No,” Scarlett said. But again, she should have done things differently. She should have said anything other than that one word. As soon as it was past her lips, the Fallen Star turned toward the closest Fate—Priestess, Priestess of the hypnotic voice.

“Bring that guard with the scar on his face over here,” the Fallen Star instructed.

“Don’t, please,” Scarlett said. But please appeared to be about as effective as the word no. It only made the Fallen Star grin something vicious as the Priestess slipped her arm around Julian and coaxed him forward.

“I don’t think I should test my powers here,” Scarlett said. “What if I fail like before? I don’t want to embarrass you.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen this time.” Gavriel gave her an unsettling smile as the Priestess appeared, holding on to Julian’s arm.

A lock of brown hair fell across his forehead. He looked far more boyish than the scoundrel she’d first met on Trisda and far too mortal as the Priestess dug her fingers into his arm.

Her skin shone like marble, and her flowing gown made Scarlett think of virginal sacrifices—though she had a feeling that Julian was to be the sacrifice in this scenario.

But Julian didn’t cower; he stood straight and tall, surrounded by brave bursts of goldenrod and reckless whirls of brass. “Thanks for bringing me over here,” he said. “I was hoping to ask the new princess to dance.”

Amusement lit the Fallen Star’s eyes. “First I need you to answer a question.” Giddy sparks filled the air as he turned to the Priestess. “Ask him how he knows my daughter.”

The Fate repeated the question and when she spoke, her voice was all Scarlett could hear. It was the sound of shining lights, full moons, wishes on the verge of being granted.

Julian answered without hesitation, “She’s the love of my life.”

Scarlett’s heart broke and burst all at once.

The sparks around the Fallen Star grew into wild flames. “Perhaps this is why you’ve failed to conquer your powers. Do you love him as well?”

The Priestess repeated the Fallen Star’s question to Scarlett. Suddenly, all she could think about was Julian. They were back in Caraval, tangled on a bed as he fed her a drop of his blood to save her life. She loved him then and she loved him now. But she couldn’t confess it to Gavriel.

“Don’t battle the question, auhtara, or it will kill you.”

Tears streamed down Scarlett’s cheeks. “Yes, I love him desperately.”

“How disappointing.” Gavriel motioned to the Priestess, who began to drag Julian away.

“Stop!” Scarlett tried to follow them.

The Fallen Star wrapped one bright red hand on the verge of catching fire around her arm and wrenched her toward the bleeding throne.

Excruciating pain tore across her shoulders. Scarlett cried out, drawing looks from all over the ballroom.

“I’m not planning on hurting him, and I’d rather not hurt you again, but I will if you don’t behave.” The Fallen Star’s hand lost its heat, but his grip on Scarlett’s blistering arm remained. He guided her back to the bloody throne as the Priestess brought Julian to Jester Mad’s revolting stage.

“I don’t want him hearing us and putting on a performance like the one you incited with my gift.”

“What are you talking about?” Scarlett said.

“I think we’re past pretending.” The Fallen Star dropped his lips to Scarlett’s ear. “Nothing you’ve done this last week has been a secret. Did you really think Anissa wouldn’t tell me everything you were up to?”

Yes, Scarlett had.

“I’ll have to punish you again for that later, unless you prove yourself right now.” Gavriel sat upon his bloody throne, and forced Scarlett to perch on the arm of it like a decoration. He’d called her a princess earlier, but she was just a pawn. Blood stained the back of her beautiful gown as she wondered how else Anissa had betrayed her. But now wasn’t the time to worry.

The entire party watched as Julian was brought to the stage across the room. Scarlett willed him to run, but he must have been afraid for her, because he didn’t fight as Jester Mad and the Priestess tied strings around his arms and legs.

“Now,” Gavriel whispered. “I want you to use your powers on him to take away his love for you and replace it with hatred. Once I see true loathing for you in his eyes, I will let him leave here alive.”

“I can’t do that.” Scarlett’s voice shook with every word. And it wasn’t just because every part of her being was repelled by the idea of making Julian despise her. “I can’t control emotions.”

“Then he will die,” Gavriel said reasonably. “And if I feel you attempt to shift my feelings in any way, I will set this entire room on fire and kill every human inside.”

Scarlett took a fragile breath as her eyes darted around all the helpless people in the room. Half were watching her now. The rest were turned toward Julian, tied up like a puppet on the stage. And still the colors around him were fierce and bright and full of the deep, unending crimson love. She’d never felt so much love in her life. It was pure and unselfish, without fear or regret. All he wanted in that moment was for her to be safe.

And she had to take all those feelings away for him to live.

Scarlett could have cried. She looked at him and mouthed the words I love you, knowing she might never say and truly mean those words again. If she succeeded in conquering her powers, she wouldn’t just be taking away Julian’s ability to love her. She’d finally become one of her father’s Fates and lose her own capacity to love.

So, before she tried to erase Julian’s love, she let herself feel it one final time. She let her love out to touch his, the way two separate instruments might play together to create a more beautiful song, and suddenly Scarlett knew how to change what Julian was feeling—how to shift his song so that it no longer matched hers.