Nigel’s words returned to Tella then. Be warned, winning the game will come at a cost you will later regret.

Tella glared at Armando. “I’ve chosen my cards. Give me the next clue.”

His mouth twisted into something unreadable.

“If you even try to tell me you can’t—”

“Keep your claws in your gloves.” Armando rose from his chair and crossed the small space to press his hand against one of the mirrors on the wall. It opened with a hiss, exposing a cool tunnel formed of earth and ancient spiderwebs.

Tella had heard there were secret passages hidden throughout all of Valenda. This must have been one of them.

“Follow this path until something urges you to stop, and there you’ll find the next clue. But remember, Miss Dragna, Caraval isn’t about the clues. Your sister didn’t win because she solved simple riddles. She won because of what she was willing to sacrifice for those riddles, and for what she was willing to sacrifice in order to find you.”

21

The world of the game and the world outside of it were beginning to blur into each other. Tella could feel the pieces of both fitting too neatly together.

The game was not real. Tella knew this. Everyone knew this. Yet, as she traveled through Armando’s hidden tunnel toward the second clue, she found herself questioning if maybe the game was more real than she wanted it to be.

Tella had entered Caraval believing her bargain with Jacks was genuine, and if she won the game and brought him Legend, she would be able to save her mother. After the ball, she’d also come to believe that Jacks was the true Prince of Hearts, a Fate who’d somehow escaped. But this was where she’d stopped believing.

To even be tempted by the idea that any part of the game was real could lead her into a dangerous mental spiral. Legend was not out to destroy the Fates, and the Fates weren’t out to destroy Legend.

But if Tella was right, and if it was all a game, would she really meet Legend if she won? Or would he be played by another actor?

Legend was always played by actors. Yet Tella had believed that it was different this time. Nigel had promised. If you win Caraval, the first face you see will be Legend’s.

Tella had felt the world shift when he’d said the words, felt the power in them, the same fortune-telling magic she felt whenever she touched the Aracle. She would meet Legend if she won the game. But if the real Legend appeared at the end, did that mean the rest of the game was real? Did it mean that Fates other than Jacks were trying to return, and if they did, would Legend be destroyed?

Tella was so lost in her questions she barely noticed how long she walked or where Armando’s serpentine tunnel led. Until she heard the voices echoing against the tunnel’s ancient stone walls.

Tella picked up speed, following the sounds until they guided her to a cobweb-covered door. It was not the first door she’d seen, but it was the first time she’d stopped. She recognized the voices on the other side.

Scarlett and Julian’s.

They were muffled by the dirty door, but unmistakable. Tella knew her sister’s voice better than her own, and Julian’s voice was something else altogether.

When Tella first met Julian back on Trisda, she hadn’t been attracted to him the way her sister Scarlett was. But she had enjoyed the sound of his voice. Velvety and sonorous, Julian had a voice meant for casting spells. But tonight he’d have broken them instead. He sounded like salt without the sea. Rough, alone, and lost.

The scent of soot and cobwebs snaked up Tella’s nose as she leaned closer to the door, imagining her sister’s room inside the palace would be found just beyond it.

“Thank you for letting me in,” Julian said. “I didn’t think you wanted to see me again.”

“I always want to see you,” Scarlett said. “That’s why this hurts so badly.”

In the silence that followed, Tella pictured her sister on the other side of the door. It was now past three in the morning. Scarlett must have been standing in her nightgown, though knowing her, she’d probably grabbed a blanket to cover up. Tella could see her tugging it close, as her sensible head and her hurt at being lied to fought against her aching heart and her desire for Julian.

“My sister thinks I should give you another chance.”

“I agree with your sister.”

“Then give me a good reason to trust you again. I want to, but last time you lied to me after one day.” Scarlett’s shaking tone told Tella she was on the verge of tears.

Tella was intruding on a private moment. She needed to leave them alone, to start down the tunnel again.

“What about your sister—”

Tella stopped moving.

“—how many times has—”

“Don’t bring Tella into this.”

“I just want to know why this is different,” Julian said. “Why can you forgive her for lying about Caraval and Armando and all the other things she’s kept from you?”

“Because she’s my sister.” The fight returned to Scarlett’s voice. “You should understand that. Isn’t that the entire reason you lie so much for your brother, Legend?”

Tella’s entire world froze.

Legend was Julian’s brother.

How had Scarlett kept this a secret?

Because Tella had never asked.

Although it still felt like the sort of thing Scarlett should have shared. If it was true it would solve everything. Tella wouldn’t need any more clues to win the game. She would only need to convince Scarlett to coax Legend’s identity out of Julian.

But Julian was a liar and he worked for Legend. Tella wasn’t sure anything he said could be trusted. This could also be part of the game. A trick. A distraction, to keep Tella from finding the clues that would lead her to the real Legend.

Unless it was one of the clues?

Armando had told her that if she followed the tunnel she’d find the next clue.

Tella listened carefully to whatever Julian might say next.

“Crimson,” he pleaded, “please, I’m trying everything I can to keep you.”

“Maybe that’s our problem,” Scarlett said. “I don’t want you trying to ‘keep me.’ I want to know who you really are.”

Whatever Julian responded was too low for Tella to clearly make out. And then she heard him leave.

Tella probably should have waited longer before opening the door and bursting into Scarlett’s room, but once she entered it would be no secret she’d been eavesdropping.

Tella turned the knob.

The minute she stepped through the doorway she found herself in a fireplace, which thankfully was not lit. Tella brushed ash from her dress as she stepped out into the suite.

Scarlett’s room was as cool as tears. At a glance it looked like the inside of a music box—quilted walls of sapphire-blue satin surrounded a circular chamber full of delicate crystal tables with scalloped edges and chairs with stained-glass feet. Even the slender canopy bed looked like an ephemeral thing formed of sparkling quartz and dreams. It was a room for an enchanted princess. But in this particular story Scarlett looked more disenchanted. Her face was pale, framed by limp dark hair. Even her surprise looked dull as she noticed her sister.

The only thing that did not look dim was her dress. Tella had expected her sister to be in a nightgown, but either Scarlett had just come from a secret ball, or she was still wearing Legend’s magical gown and the dress was determined to do its part to keep Scarlett and Julian together. Her bodice was strapless red silk that flowed into a crimson skirt so full it covered a quarter of the room.