Page 684 of Coal Hearts

Even with Ben and Stewart as our silent accomplices.

We didn’t stand a chance.

Please... I breathed hard. He doesn’t know you’re involved.

Henri looked away and allowed Victor to drag him to the head of the cave where the shelves and its sapphires, and the cupboard with its skulls flanked them.

Victor sighed happily. “As you all know, this man has become rather special to me. Not only has he agreed to be godfather to my only child but he’s also trusted me to free him so he can find his ultimate happiness.” Giving Henri a doting look, his eyes through his mask radiated absolute peace. “He has continued to grow and step into the man he was always meant to be, and I pride myself on having something to do with that. He hasn’t been happy with my meddling. He’s fought my pushes and sometimes made me doubt, but with every scream of his jewel and every drop of blood he has drawn, I know he truly is a monster, so...tonight is entirely for him.”

“Me?” Henri choked.

“The theme, mon ami, is light and dark. Death and life. Monsters and diamonds. I warned you that love is holding you back. I told you what you needed to do to reach that final frontier of freedom.”

“Victor, I—”

“Don’t interrupt.” Victor clucked his tongue. “You’re in love with her. Any fool can see it, and I am not a fool. She has been a toxic presence in my home ever since that first night. She has wrapped you in her spell. Beguiled you until you are lost. You can’t see what I do. You aren’t aware how much she is using you. She’s nothing but manipulation and greed. She’s turned Peter against me. She’s scurried around and convinced my well-behaved jewels to plan an uprising that they can’t possibly win. She schemes and plots, and I’m so sorry to tell you this, but...she doesn’t love you back, Henri. It’s all a ruse—”

“That’s not true.” I jerked on the table. “I haven’t done a thing. None of the jewels—”

“You will remain quiet, Ilyana,” Victor hissed. “Otherwise, I will cut out your ungrateful tongue.”

Hot splashes landed on my arm.

I looked at Peter.

He cried silently, clinging to my hand as if he’d collapse at any moment.

God, my heart broke for him.

How many times had he seen this?

How many times had he held the hand of one of his friends as they lay waiting to die on this godforsaken altar? How many times had he cleaned up their blood, their viscera, and placed their bleached skull in that awful cupboard?

I wished I could communicate with him like I did with Henri.

I wished I could tell him I wasn’t afraid.

Not truly.

I was afraid of the pain.

Afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from fighting, thanks to the animalistic instinct to survive.

But I wasn’t afraid of actual death.

I knew there was more than this.

I knew this wasn’t the end.

I just hated that it would be a while before I saw him again.

Before I found him and Henri again.

Brushing aside his velvet cape, Victor reached into his waistband and pulled out a long red bag. Holding it horizontal in two hands, he looked gravely at the Masters.

“Tonight, you will witness a ritual we have perfected over the years. A ritual that turns a prospective friend into a Joyero member. A kiss that not only frees a jewel but frees a Master too.”

Placing his hand into the red velvet bag, he slowly, dramatically—with the flair of a born showman—pulled out a diamond-handled knife. The exquisitely sharp blade glinted in the light. The handle glimmered with crystalline fractals.