I hand him the photographs. “I found these last night insideThe Great Gatsby. From Enoch’s trunk.”
“The pictures from Daniel,” Jude mutters.
I watch as he takes them.
I watch as he looks at them.
And I watch as all the blood drains from his face.
43
THE FOUNDER'S DESCENT
Istand on the balcony with my hands on the rail. Below, Mayor Ridley gives the opening speech while a stringed quartet plays softly. Flickering candlelight casts a haunting glow upon masked guests in their formal attire. It feels like I’ve stepped into history, until I glimpse Twig on the edge of the crowd with his arm in a sling, dressed in a suit that’s a little too short and a little too modern.
I set my hand over the bodice of my dress, as though doing so might calm the butterflies in my stomach. The dress arrived this afternoon after the Harvest Festival, delivered in a vintage box with a handwritten note.
You said you didn’t have anything to wear. -J
For a moment, I wondered if it wasn’t the dressfrom the wardrobe. But then I pulled it out, and there was nothing faded or moth-eaten about it. When I tried it on, it fit to perfection, a fact that makes me blush even now. Because how could Jude know my size so intimately? I adjust my mask, pearl white with gold filigree, and run my hand beneath my hair, which is half pinned up. The rest falls in loose curls down my back with a few carefully placed tendrils framing my face. All credit to Naomi, who came over with her curling iron.
I look at her and Harper next to Twig, and not too far from them—Mr. and Mrs. Calloway and Dad. After Rafe’s ominous words about tonight, I made a quick and definitive decision.
“I’m going,” I told Jude. “I’m sorry if that upsets you. I’m sorry if you don’t want me there, but I can’t sit in my bedroom while people I care about step into danger unknowingly.”
He didn’t argue.
He didn’t even let me finish.
“Obviously, the circumstances have changed,” he’d said.
I was going to the ball.
And he was going with me.
Jude stands at the bottom of the staircase in a black coat with a high collar, his gloved hands folded behind his back, his black mask simple but striking. He paints such a flawless picture, it seems obvious that he’s part angel. A dead giveaway,honestly. Like I should have known this upon first sight. His looks are quite literally from heaven.
When he looks up at me, the fluttering in my stomach multiplies.
Mayor Ridley receives a round of polite applause. He hands the microphone to Miss Applewhite. She thanks the mayor and begins the Founder’s Descent.
“Don’t you look ravishing.” The words belong to Lainey, who prowls toward me, breathtakingly gorgeous in a blood-red dress and a golden mask. She stops beside me at the railing, toying with a necklace at her décolletage.
It’s the ruby.
I nearly choke at the sight of it.
She smiles. “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? When Rafe gave it to me to wear, I could hardly believe my eyes.”
“Lainey,” I say, unsure what to add, my unease curdling to dread. Whatever role Rafe has picked for her, I’m positive it won’t end well. “I don’t think you should wear that.”
“Of course you don’t.” She slides the amulet up and down its chain. “You know, you sure do have a lot of nerve sitting on your high horse, trying to villainize Rafe whenyou’rethe thief.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He told me about the onyx and the pearl. It’s really rude to hide something that doesn’t belong to you, Selah.”
“He told you about them?”
