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.”
His mouth curved into a smile so small Scarlett doubted he was even aware of it. He really had admired her mother.
“Paradise didn’t trust my church not to betray her. So, she only brought them one card—the card that happened to imprison me. She said the rest of the deck was hidden somewhere safe and that she’d share its location after her payment was delivered. She’d planned on fleeing the city. But things didn’t go as she planned.
“The Church of the Fallen Star first formed in order to track down this Deck of Destiny and set me and the other Fates free. Before paying Paradise, they had to make sure the cards were authentic, so a member of their congregation sacrificed himself to release me.”
Just the word sacrifice made Scarlett want to cringe, but the Fallen Star’s smile twitched wider, the way someone else might at a fond memory. If he was actually trying not to frighten her with this story, he was doing a wretched job.
“As soon as I was released, I went after Paradise to find the Deck of Destiny and free all of my Fates. But she no longer had the deck. While my church had been releasing me, Paradise and her lover had used the deck to read their futures, and they’d seen the magic in the cards. Paradise still didn’t know exactly what the cards were, but she was clever enough to recognize that they were worth far more than my church was offering. She had planned to ask for a larger sum. Only when she woke the next morning, her lover had taken the cards and vanished. I found her tied to a bed. She had no idea who or what I was when I arrived. She threatened to kill me if I didn’t untie her, and I was instantly intrigued.”
His voice turned wistful as if he were reaching the romantic part of the story, and yet the fiery colors around him where growing rabid, licking at the steps, clawing at his cape, and making Scarlett nervous that her plan was not going to work the way she wanted.
“We started as reluctant allies. The world had changed so much since I’d been trapped that I was in need of help to locate the Deck of Destiny, and she needed someone to protect her from my church. Neither of us wanted the other to know how intrigued we were with each other. I didn’t admit to myself what I truly felt for her until the day she told me she was pregnant with you.”
This was the part where Scarlett would have expected him to look her way. And he did. But it would have been better if he had not. There was something almost savage in his golden eyes—they held all the violence of hate mixed with the passion of love, as if all of this had happened yesterday rather than eighteen years ago.
“I was going to make Paradise an immortal after she gave birth. But before I could tell her who I was, she found out on her own and chose to turn on me. She had located the complete Deck of Destiny and instead of sharing it with me, she put me back inside one of the cards. I wanted to spend eternity with her, and she betrayed me.”
The Fallen Star stopped abruptly, pausing on a landing that overlooked a glistening white canyon. He’d never taken Scarlett here before, but she recognized the cracked wheels of death scattered around the edge, and the river of red cutting through it. This was the place Tella had described when she’d told Scarlett how he’d murdered their mother.
Scarlett took a step back.
He immediately grabbed her arm. “I’m not going to harm you—I need you, and this is why.” He squeezed until it hurt. “Paradise took the strongest feelings I’d ever had and used them against me. If I’d loved her she could have killed me. Love is the one weakness I’ve never been able to defeat. Humans try to make it sound as if it’s a gift. But once they find love, it never lasts, it only destroys, and for us it brings eternal death. But I believe that once you conquer your powers, you can permanently take away this fault that would allow me to return human love.”
49
Donatella
“Next time I see my brother I’m going to put him on a leash.” Legend’s voice was low, but Tella swore it rattled the artwork that lined the hall.
After finding Julian’s note, Tella had gone to wake Legend. It appeared he hadn’t slept much after she’d left him the night before. He stood in his open doorway in a wrinkled black shirt he must have just thrown on. His dark hair was in tangles, crescent shadows lived beneath his eyes, and his movements weren’t quite so precise as usual.
“I knew that girl would get him killed,” Legend muttered.
“She’s not just some girl! She’s my sister, and she’s been risking her life to fix the mistake that we both made.”
Legend scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m sorry, Tella.” He looked at her again, and the shadows beneath his eyes disappeared. But Tella knew that they were still there, hidden under one of his illusions. He cared about his brother. Julian might not have felt it, but Tella had seen it, and she could hear it in his voice when Legend said, “I’m going to go find them.”
“We’re going to find them,” Tella corrected. This was her sister. She’d let Scarlett
go back to the Fallen Star, and she’d asked her to steal the blood for the Ruscica—which had clearly been a fool’s errand. “Before you tell me it’s too dangerous, just know that I’ll be going after my sister and Julian no matter what you say. If you don’t want to bring me with you, I know someone who will.” She held out the luckless coins she’d found upon waking up.
Legend glared at the discs and they vanished.
“Bring them back!” Tella said. “I know they’re still there, even though I can’t feel them.”
“What are you going to do with those things?” Legend grunted.
“I’ll contact the Assassin and ask him to help me rescue my sister. He could take her in and out of those ruins in a blink.”
“You’re the one who said the Assassin is mad.”
“The Fallen Star is far worse, and I’m not going to stay here while my sister’s in trouble. I don’t love this idea, but I think the Maiden Death and the Assassin might be our best option to get your brother and my sister away from the Fallen Star.”
Legend worked his jaw, and Tella braced herself for another argument.
“If we do this, you go in with the Assassin, find your sister, and get out of there right away.”
“Are you actually agreeing with me?”
The coins reappeared in her hand, but Legend looked as if he already regretted his decision. The muscles in his neck were taut. “I still don’t like any of this. But Aiko and Nigel haven’t seen either the Maiden Death or the Assassin in the palace, Jovan hasn’t seen them in the ruins, and Caspar hasn’t heard any chatter about them working for the Fallen Star. I don’t want to trust them. But while I can get us into the ruins where your sister is being kept with glamour and illusion, if Julian and Scarlett are both there, it will be a challenge to get all four of us out undetected. Just promise me, Tella, if we do this, you won’t take any unnecessary risks.”
Legend met her gaze, the dark crescents beneath his eyes back. It only lasted for a second, but for that moment, he looked more human.
50
Scarlett
Upon reaching the door that led back to her room, the Fallen Star gave Scarlett a luminous smile, as if they’d just had their first father and daughter heart-to-heart. She must have been a better actress than she’d thought. If he’d known that Scarlett would never become the reason he became invincible—that she would never master her powers and make him immune to love—he would have put her in another cage.
Scarlett was ready to reach for her Reverie Key as soon as the Fallen Star returned her to her suite and left. But once they stepped inside of her rooms, he welcomed more Fates to join them. Her Handmaidens, lesser Fates, recognizable from the red thread sealing their white lips shut.
“Oh, goody!” Anissa cooed from inside her cage in the center of the sitting room, though she looked far from happy about this arrival.
“What are they doing here?” Scarlett asked.
The Fallen Star waved a hand toward the box he’d brought in earlier. “They’ve come to help prepare you to meet the empire.”
“They’ll also make sure their mistress knows everything about you,” Anissa murmured as soon as the Fallen Star left. “The Undead Queen spies through Her Handmaidens. Queenie and Gavriel had an affair long ago. We Fates might not love, but we are very passionate and jealous. She wasn’t happy to hear he’d made a child with a mortal, and I’m guessing she’s been curious about you.”
Scarlett didn’t know if this was the Lady Prisoner’s way of warning Scarlett not to escape right now. But it didn’t matter. Her Handmaidens were already upon Scarlett. They removed her gown with unnatural speed, tossing it onto the carpet, along with the precious Reverie Key still inside its pocket.
Throughout the entire process, Scarlett fantasized about darting for her dress and the key. But if she left now the Fallen Star would immediately know that she was gone and he’d be quicker at tracking her.
Scarlett’s best choice was to endure until Her Handmaidens left. She swallowed her embarrassment as their prodding hands insisted on washing her and helping her with her underclothes. They rolled her hair into curls with hot tongs, and then piled it atop her head, before lining her eyes in kohl, painting her lips with ruby lacquer, and brushing golden dust all over her skin until she glowed like one of the Fates. Although when she peered in the mirror she looked startlingly similar to her mother.
Scarlett shivered as Her Handmaidens left to open the box that Gavriel had brought earlier.
If it had come from almost anyone else, the dress inside would have been a wondrous present. The bodice was gold, with thin off-the-shoulder straps of tiny yellow diamond stars that glittered in the light and cast iridescent flecks of rainbows around the room. The skirt was full and red as heartbreak, except for when she moved. A twist or tilt of her hips and a burst of gold fell from her waist down to the hem, where the gold glittered and shone and winked like tiny comets.
Scarlett had never in her life hated something so exquisite. She didn’t fight as Her Handmaidens helped her into it, hoping now that their job was done they would finally leave. But as soon as Scarlett was dressed, a new escort appeared.
His face was too handsome to be human. He had dark brown skin, eyes framed by thick, long lashes, and lips with a natural curve that made him look as if he always smiled. His vicious green cloak was the color of poison ivy leaves during the Hot Season. It crashed around his ankles as he gave Scarlett a bow so perfect not even a drop spilled from the full goblet in his hand.
Definitely another Fate.
Sweet threads of magic mingled with the excited pops of gold swirling around him.
The Lady Prisoner stopped swinging. She watched this new young Fate with a warring combination of boiling red fascination and yellow loathing as he held out his free hand and took Scarlett’s.
“It’s so lovely to meet you, Your Highness.” The rings on his fingers sparkled as he brought her knuckles to his lips and gave them a gentlemanly kiss. “We’ll be spending a lot of time together. I’m Poison.”
Scarlett immediately retracted her hand, flashing back to the immobile family she’d found during the Sun Festival.
“Seems she’s already heard your name and doesn’t like it much,” the Lady Prisoner said from her cage.
“I’ll change her mind.” Poison grinned, flashing perfectly straight teeth. “I’m going to become her greatest friend.”
“Doubtful,” Scarlett gritted out.
Poison clutched his heart, jewels glittering on his fingers. “I thought you were supposed to be kinder than your father. Whatever I’ve done to offend you, please forgive me. Otherwise it’s going to be a very tedious evening.” He held an arm out for Scarlett. “I’m here to escort you to the coronation.”
“Be careful,” the Lady Prisoner warned.
“Calm down,” Poison said. “You really think I’d hurt Gavriel’s daughter?”
“It wasn’t merely her that I was warning.” Anissa’s voice softened by a fraction and her eyes took on that unnerving shade of white. “Torture and death are on their way.”
Scarlett shivered.
Poison held her a little closer. “Don’t fret, little star. I think all she’s saying is that it will be a dramatic party.”
Without further ceremony, Poison swept Scarlett from the room and out into the lavish halls before descending into a series of underground passages that led them from the Menagerie into the royal palace’s Golden Tower.
The Fate kept up a steady stream of chatter as they climbed and climbed to the top of the tower. Scarlett felt hot beneath her heavy dress and shimmering makeup. But Poison only grew more and more animated with each flight of stairs, as if the Lady Prisoner’s warning truly had excited him.
He didn’t stop until they were just outside the room where they were to meet her father. “I meant what I said about being friends. You might not like me, little star, but if you need me, I’ll be here.”
His charming smile slipped i
nto something more toxic as the doors before them opened, letting them into the room where the Fallen Star waited.
Tapestries of violent wars clung to the walls while ripe yellow avarice clung to the Fallen Star. He stood in the center of a cadre of guards, muscled young women and men who must have been Valenda’s finest, but next to Gavriel they looked like children playing dress-up. The air around him was electric with sparks; his eyes were full of flames; the cape he wore flowed from his shoulders like liquid gold.
His eyes flared when she walked in. There was a flicker of pale pink surprise, the color of fragile hearts, and for a moment so fleeting it might have been Scarlett’s nerves playing tricks, she imagined he was seeing her mother.
He took her arm from Poison and walked her to the balcony. From the careful way he handled her, no one would have guessed he’d killed someone in front of her a few hours ago.
Claps and screams of joy erupted as they stepped outside. The glass courtyard below was overflowing with people. Children sat atop their parents’ shoulders, while others crowded inside fountains and climbed up trees, all of them with no idea what they were truly cheering for.
Her eyes latched on to a little boy wearing a paper crown and staring at the Fallen Star as if he just wanted to be noticed by him. Other children and adults peered at Scarlett the same way, admiring her merely because she was in a stunning gown and standing on a balcony beside the man with all the power.
Scarlett wanted to vomit. She wasn’t their princess or their savior; she was their failure. She didn’t even listen to what the Fallen Star was saying until she heard the words Paradise the Lost.
Scarlett’s focus sharpened.
“History knows Paradise as a thief and a criminal, but I knew her as my wife.” Gavriel closed his eyes and wrinkled his brow in a show of manufactured sorrow. “She’s the reason I returned to Valenda. I wish I could say that I came to save all of you from the villains who killed your last would-be emperor, but I was on my way here before then. I traveled here from halfway around the world as soon as I heard a rogue by the name of Dante Thiago Alejandro Marrero Santos was to be crowned emperor. I knew I had to stop him. He was not Elantine’s lost child. My wife, Paradise the Lost, was.”
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