No way. That’s the only way that this could get worse. Seth.
I stand abruptly, and spots flit in my vision.
“I’m tired. I’m going to bed,” I announce, grabbing a rolled-up sleeping bag from the pile Lucia started earlier. I walk upstairs, picking the room at the end of the hall. Two Curseclean women from the Cobalt are already asleep on one of the beds. There’s a chair, but I don’t want it.
I spread the sleeping bag out in a sliver of moonlight cutting through a skylight, then sit on it, my heart seizing in my chest.
This lie was supposed to save my sister. Then it was supposed to save Dean.
It wasn’t supposed to bring death.
Sobs beat their wings in my throat, and I try as hard as I can to swallow them back. But they won’t die down. I let one out, and I buckle as it spasms against my chest soundlessly, my mouth forming the noises I can’t make.
My heart has been limping on for years. My parents. Dean. My grandmother. Malcolm. Palisade. Vanessa on the deck of the boat.
Seth’s body on mine. The look of realization and regret that covered his face when he rolled off me.
I’d never been that vulnerable with anyone, and he left me in the cold.
I fist my hands in the sleeping bag and press my face into the nylon fabric.
I cry until my chest aches. I cry until the moon disappears from the angle of the window, taking the light with it.
Chapter 30
IT’S EASY ENOUGH TO SNEAK OUT. THEY’RE ALL worried about things getting in. No one in their right mind is considering that the Chosen One might be a liar. That she might try and run away in the middle of the night.
But this next part is tricky—getting past the outside wall without getting noticed.
The air is cold, and my boots sound too loud as I walk through the grass and then across the gravel drive, toward the trees, looking for the best place to cross.
I dig my hands deep into my pockets as I bring my shoulders up to my ears. I have my mirrored bands on because I know I’m leaving safety.
To my left, I see a tree branch that leads perfectly over the top of the wooden gate. I’m reaching for it when I see someone outside. I duck into the shadows just in time to see Abel come out on the front steps of the house.
I shove deeper into the darkness. What is he doing out here?
His breath comes out in steamy puffs, and he pulls his jacket tighter. He digs his hand in his pocket and pulls out a cigarette and a lighter. With a soft clink, he lights it, and takes a deep puff before sitting on the porch. Abel lets out a soft exhale of smoke, lowering his hand. Ash falls to the cement, and I see the lit tip burning against the darkness. He brings his free hand to his forehead and braces it against his knee.
I stop, almost mesmerized as I look at him. I’m used to the polished version of Abel Lassiter. The People’s Prince—always ready with a motivational speech or a rallying cry. Even tonight, as he sat next to me on the hearth, he was the Abel I know from interviews and broadcasts. Hopeful. Resolute.
Here, in the dark, wearing a down jacket that’s too big while smoking a cigarette, he looks . . . human, and he looks tired. I wonder if he prays, and what he says if he does. I wonder if he believes in the hope he’s giving us.
I am only pretending to be the Chosen One. He’s been living like one for years.
And I’m about to ruin everything. I’ll have to tell him.
I take a step out of the shadows but stop when I hear someone hiss my name. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I feel a chill. Because it sounds wrong somehow.
I turn, keeping my eyes on my mirrored bracelet. The blond woman I saw in the clearing earlier smiles back at me, her eyes a dark red.
“Charlotte, I presume?” she purrs before someone behind me puts a piece of fabric over my nose and everything goes dark.
It’s dark in the cell, save for the soft glow of dawn bleeding through the opaque glass. While the rushing sound of waves is muted through the closed window, the ground feels steady beneath me—we’re not on a ship. The bars are stone, not metal. I look up. The ceiling is covered in stalactites.
I’m in a cave somewhere. Probably by the ocean. I push myself up to my knees, not trusting myself to stand just yet, as I piece together the vague nightmare-like recollection of how I got here—a small boat. Voices. A blindfold.
“Well,” a vaguely familiar voice says. “You certainly took your time waking up, didn’t you? Girls used to be able to handle their chloroform.”
A figure steps out of the shadows, and I drop my eyes to the concrete floor, my heart racing.
She scoffs as she pulls a chair just beyond the end of the cell.
“What are you going to do to me?” I ask, looking down at the ground.
“I don’t think that’s the question, Charlotte. I think it’s more—what can you do for us?” she asks. I don’t know why I hold out for the idea that this might be a random kidnapping. That she doesn’t know about the lie. She steps inside. Her black boots are scuffed at the toes. Mirrors are tied in the laces, remnants of when she was human.
“I can’t do anything for you,” I answer back.
She clicks her tongue. “I don’t know about that, Chosen One.”
I pray my face isn’t as telling as it feels, and the terror that slowly creeps up my back isn’t apparent.
I press my hands to the concrete next to me as she steps closer. I smell her—rust and roses. It makes me want to lean in and pull back at the same time. Her wrists, covered with bracelets, jingle as she leans down.
I shut my eyes tight.
“You’re scared of me?” she whispers.
There’s no point in lying. “Yes.”
“Good,” she replies. I feel her angling her chin so she can look at my face, and I keep my eyes shut.
“Why would I kill you?” she teases, her voice light. “When I’ve been looking for you for so long.”
I press my jaw together and shove my palms against the concrete to stop them from shaking.
Her.
The Vessel Queen. She’s found me.
“If you are who I think you are, we are actually destined to be friends,” she croons.
When she finds out that I’m a fake—just a Curseclean girl—I’m dead.
The thought feels far away, a fact that hasn’t fully sunk in yet. Theoretical; outside my mind.
She’s going to kill me, and that’s the best-case scenario. Cold hands brush over my cheekbone, and I wince. She runs a thumb over my lips.
“You wanted to kiss him. I saw it,” she singsongs. The sound sends shivers down my spine.
She was there. Chills race down my arms, and a sick feeling spins in my gut. We were being watched. Hunted. And we had no clue. My cheeks flush at the memory. The way Seth had moved on me, and my answering gasps.
I yank my chin out of her grasp, and she giggles.
I feel her lean closer. I smell her breath. “He wanted to kiss you, too. You know that?”
“You don’t know a thing about us.”
The Vessel Queen laughs.
“Oh, I think I do, sweetheart. I know Seth Marsali better than you know.”
She leans closer.
“Open your eyes, Chosen One. Use your mirrors, if you want. I don’t care. But I don’t like talking to someone when I can’t see the fear in their eyes.”
I feel her back away, and I keep my eyes down and shut. I reach over, checking my mirrored bands before opening my eyes slowly.
I open my eyes, and the breath gets caught in my throat as I take in the beautiful face before me.
High cheekbones. Full lips. Arched eyebrows over bloodred eyes, and a jaw that’s a feminine equivalent of one I’ve spent the past several weeks memorizing. On her head sits a crown of shattered mirrors, all twisted together in cable and twine. Dried blood graces the edges.
Evelyn.
Evelyn Marsali—Seth’s twin.
She’s the Vessel Queen.
&nbs
p; Chapter 31
SHE SMILES, REVEALING STRAIGHT WHITE TEETH. Her beauty is staggering, even now.
“That’s better. Now we can talk girl-to-girl.”
I shake my head, and she tilts hers.
Questions bubble at the back of my throat, but Evelyn stands, cutting them off as her bloodred eyes glare down at me. Only one matters.
“You died,” I bite out.
“Yes, I did. Well, sort of. I turned. But I actually feel better than ever, funnily enough. And I’ll feel much, much better if you tell me where the Heart is.”
I press my lips together as I stare at her through the mirror.
“Oh, come on. Don’t be like this. Don’t make this hard.”
When I say nothing, she lets out a sigh. It sounds so human—so normal—that I almost forget what she is.
“Come,” she orders, turning on her heels and striding to the door of the cell. For the first time, I notice guards in black robes standing in the shadows. They were so still, so dark, that I didn’t see them. I push myself to shaky feet and consider my options. Which, at this point, are severely limited.
Evelyn looks over her shoulder at me. “If you’re trying to think of a way to save yourself, you’re wasting your time. You know as well as I do that no amount of either rebellion or cordiality will save you.”
Her words are matter-of-fact. Bored, even. They don’t land on me like I thought they would. They don’t spark terror or dread. I’ve been ready for this since the Devil’s Bid.
“I know.”
She cocks an eyebrow, and it is a movement so like Seth’s that it almost steals my breath.
“Follow me, Chosen One,” she orders.
I don’t know where we are, but I can smell the salt in the air, so I know for a fact now that we’re near the ocean. Not like that will do me any good.
Any thought of escape or rescue—if I had one in the first place—would have been driven from my mind the second I get a good look at this place.
The walls are covered in shadow, but when I look closer, I realize it’s not shadow at all.
Vessels. Vessels, draped in black fabric, stand at attention like sentries down the long hallway.
I only see them through the mirrors as I pass because they open their bloodred eyes.
My heart pounds as I follow her down the twisting, damp hallway, the eyes of the still sentries watching my every move. The rock beneath my feet is slick, and I almost slip as I turn a corner. The cry that rises in the back of my throat dies off as soon as I see where we are.
A lagoon lies under the hooded mouth of the cave. Moonlight spills through a gaping hole in the stone, splashing against the shallow pool of water. An old fishing boat—the one they probably used to get me here—sits off to the side, bumping among a swath of flotsam and jetsam that has drifted into the cave. It scrapes against the sand-colored rock as Evelyn turns back to me. Her movements are smooth and liquid—uninterrupted. Even the slight turn of her head looks like it’s out of a nightmare.
I walk closer to the water, and I feel a cold hand on the back of my neck as dark robes brush up against my back. The fear comes then, but it doesn’t overwhelm me. I keep my eyes down as Evelyn wades into the water in front of me.
“Where’s the Heart?” she asks.
I watch her reflection in the pool. “If you were going to kill me, why not just eat me in my cell? The theatrics are a bit much,” I spit, hoping some defiance will make me feel braver. It works, a little.
I watch a smile curve up Evelyn’s face. It’s so broad, I can see the whites of her teeth even in the choppy water.
“Oh, I told you we weren’t going to kill you, and I meant it. But we are going to hurt him.”
I move my mirror slightly as footsteps sound on the other side of the cave. I don’t even have to see who it is, because my heart already knows.
And as I hear the expletive-laced curse bounce off the rocky walls, I let out a small cry of despair. It’s Seth, and he’s blindfolded. I pivot the glass back to Evelyn, who is smirking as she holds a finger up to her lips and winks at me. They lead him until he’s waist-deep in the water.
“The Heart,” the Vessel behind me says.
“Charlotte?” Seth yells, his voice thick with something between terror and rage. “Charlotte, don’t tell them!”
Anguish rips from me in a soft sob, and Evelyn gives a signal. The Vessels holding Seth shove him under the water, and Evelyn speaks. “See? I knew my brother was with the Chosen One, but I also knew I had to be sure which one of you it would be. So I watched. I knew my brother, my good brother, would protect the world’s only chance with his life. And today, I saw it. Oh, did I see it,” she mocks.
She knew where we were. Maddox probably told her I was with Seth, but she didn’t know we had changed ships, and she didn’t know where we were going. Someone else betrayed us.
Seth struggles, lurching once under the water, and every other thought screeches to a stop. “Please!” I shriek. Evelyn steps closer to her brother and continues.
“But what I didn’t expect was to see how you reacted to him,” she croons.
Seth kicks, and water splashes, hitting Evelyn. She makes a disgusted noise as she steps back, motioning for them to lift him up once more.
Seth takes a gulping breath.
“The Heart. Where is it?” the Vessel behind me asks.
The tears burn down my cheeks, and Evelyn smirks.
“Charlotte? Charlotte, if you’re there, hold on!” Seth yells.
“Seth,” I bite out, a sob ripping from my chest at the sight of his shaking, bound hands.
Evelyn looks to the Vessels behind Seth, who shove him under once more.
“See? We could start with the flesh-tearing and ‘eating him alive’ thing, but I thought you two might pull this self-righteous bullshit. I figured it would be a long night.”
They let Seth up again, and he coughs. They shove him below again quickly.
“Plus. I figured . . . you were remade in water on the night of blood. So this had a weird sense of”—she stops as she tries to find the best word—“poetry to it, don’t you think?”
“You have something that belongs to us,” she says, trailing her fingers in the water. Light beams off her skin, and the mirrors of her horrific crown catch glowing ripples.
“I don’t have Anne’s Heart. I have never seen it in my life.” The conviction makes the words rip from my throat, because I know they’re true—Vanessa has never once been around that wretched rock.
Evelyn moves closer to me, her dark robes making waves in the pool.
The Vessels are keeping Seth down.
“Let him go,” I whisper, desperate. “Let him go, and I’ll take you to it.”
Evelyn leans in. “That’s not going to work for me. But I’ll do this. You tell me where it is, and I’ll kill him now, instead of dragging this out.”
I dig my hands in the sand, trying to control my ragged breathing.
She lifts her hand, and the Vessels drag Seth to the surface. He gasps and coughs, and I hear the exhaustion in his breathing. I chance a look at him, and that’s when I see it—the rock in his hand. The one he found when he was under.
I dig my hands deeper in the sand, gritting my teeth.
“Okay, you win. I’ll tell you,” I breathe. Evelyn chuckles, leaning closer.
All at once, I lift my hands, throwing the sand into her eyes. She howls, reeling backward.
“Seth! Now!”
Seth pivots, smashing the Vessels behind him with the rock and pulling his blindfold off. Evelyn is still screaming, her hands over her face. I have to get him out of here before he sees her.
“Behind you!” I shriek. “Get the boat!”
Seth swims for the small rowboat, and I launch myself into the water. But I’m not fast enough—a firm hand grabs my ankle and pulls me under.
I kick, fighting as hard as I can, but the grip is like iron. Panic swells in my chest as two hands pull my shoul
ders out of the water. I keep my eyes closed as a voice hisses in my ear from behind as she yanks me to shore. “You are going to pay for that in screams, my love. You’re going to pay for it in slow trickles of blood slipping over your beautiful skin, and you are going to wish you were dead.”
Evelyn is behind me. I open my eyes, and Seth is in the boat. His eyes light up, and he lifts it—a harpoon gun.
“Go! Get out!” I cry. “Seth, go!”
Evelyn turns and throws me to the ground, and I scream again as I see Seth dive into the water. He’s coming back for me, and it makes my chest feel like it’s been hollowed out. I see him walk out of the water, gun in his hands as he looks at the Vessels slowly filling the cave.
Evelyn stands, her back to him. I watch her face carefully in the reflection of the lagoon.
“Your hero is here, then,” she drawls, a slow grin pulling at the corners of her mouth as she casts her eyes down and to the side.
She’s enjoying this.
This will kill him. He won’t be able to finish her. He can’t. It’s Evelyn. His hesitation will kill him. And she will tear him apart. He lifts the harpoon gun and fixes Evelyn in his sight.
“Seth,” I beg, my eyes meeting his. “Please. Go.”
Confusion knits his brows as he lowers the gun slightly. He knows there’s something he’s not seeing. Some snare he’s stepped into that he missed. Has he recognized her voice?
“He can’t, Charlotte,” she continues. “Not until he’s saved you. Because that’s what he does, right, Seth? You save people.”
Evelyn turns in the water to face her brother.
I have lied and cheated and used everyone who has come into my life in the past several weeks. I have fanned hope into a dead fire and raised an army that has no chance.
So I deserve to see the look on Seth’s face as he lifts his gaze to the Vessel Queen.
I deserve to see the moment his shoulders slump, just half an inch. My chest feels like it’s cracking open at the way his lips part. My knees weaken as he clamps his jaw shut and his eyelids flutter. I have to watch the moment that Seth Marsali breaks in two, and I deserve every bite of pain that rips through my chest.
Unchosen Page 24