Dawn approaches outside, but I’m not tired. I drum my fingers against the table in Villiam’s caravan while I wait for Luca’s arrival, my body numb. I do not think. I do not dwell. Since my conversation with Dalimil, I haven’t truly strayed outside the confines of my mind.
I hear the footsteps as they approach. Agni nods at me, but I’m already standing. All at once, the numbness fades, and my mind fills with conflicting images of Venera’s body, of Luca’s lips, of my knees drenched in water and blood on the Freak Show stage, of Luca’s hand in mine, reassuring and steady.
No matter what Villiam said, this cannot be true.
Outside, the guards have forced Luca to his knees. His hands are bound behind his back, and he wears an impressive bruise on his cheek.
My stomach clenches in anger, both at the guards and at myself. “He’s been hurt,” I say to Agni. “This is too much. I thought you were just going to ask him questions.”
“He resisted coming. He tried to run.”
Why would he do that? Did he think I would stop the guards? Should I have?
Why would he run?
“Sorina,” Luca says. His brown eyes widen as I approach him. My instinct tells me to help him to his feet, clean off the dirt from his clothes, kiss him. But I can no longer trust my instincts. “You can’t possibly believe this.” His voice is panicked, and I turn away from him. I don’t want to see him like this.
“I don’t know,” I say.
“I wouldn’t do this to you. I would never hurt you. I wouldn’t kill anyone,” he says. I want to believe him. I want to trust him and walk away with him and never let him go. But I don’t know if I can, nor do I know if I’ve ruined any chance of the relationship that could have been between us. Either way, I have lost a second person important to me today.
“I don’t know,” I whisper.
“How could I have known about the charm-work? You didn’t even know yourself. It doesn’t make sense. Youknowthis—”
“Haven’t you heard me? Idon’tknow.”
He flinches as if I’ve slapped him. When he opens his eyes again, they’re vacant. They don’t shine when he looks at me. He turns away. “Then I suppose my only guilt is being a freak.”
My lip quivers, but I don’t want to cry in front of the guards.
I clear my throat, prepared to apologize, to plead forgiveness. But at that moment, Villiam returns and behind him, Chimal. I leave Luca’s side and hurry to my father. He’ll question Luca, and we’ll prove his innocence. Luca will be free to go, and I will follow him.
“I heard you coaxed words out of Dalimil,” Villiam says, the surprise obvious in his voice.
“Prince Exander Kyrannos, of Leonita,” I say. “He’s the Alliance’s leader. Dalimil doesn’t know the spy’s name.”
“Exander is too young. That’s why we ruled him out before,” Chimal says. “How do you know Dalimil wasn’t lying?”
“He wasn’t.” Hearing my hollow tone, they don’t press me for more.
“These are the things he was carrying when we apprehended him,” Villiam tells me. He hands me a bag full of Luca’s belongings. His cane, with a blade concealed inside. His belt of poison vials. A handkerchief. Some copper coins. His golden pocket watch.
Hesitantly, I pick up the pocket watch and open it. I remember there being an engraving inside. It has been scratched out, as if someone purposefully tried to remove it. But the words are still visible.E. Kyrannos.
“This belongs to the prince,” I say in a shaky voice.
Villiam puts his hand on my shoulder to comfort me, but even with his steady grip, I feel as though I’m falling. Why would Luca possess something belonging to Leonita’s prince if he wasn’t working with him to murder my family? This can’t be coincidence.
I let the watch fall to the grass and wait for the closure to come. I have my answers, but my grief only feels heavier, and I’m suffocating in a truth I never wanted. In a truth that breaks my heart.
Luca doesn’t resist as the guards take him away a second time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
After the funeral, Gomorrah’s guards dismantle our tents for us. The Freak Show tent caves in on itself and sinks to the earth in a heap. I put my arm around Hawk’s shoulder as my family gathers in a circle to watch strangers pack our belongings away.
Agni supervises them, taking notes on his clipboard and occasionally introducing us to a guard who will be assigned to watch over us from now on. “Villiam told you that you could go buy food.”
