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With clammy fingers, Tella tore the lid from the box, half expecting to a find a funeral frock or some other monstrous creation. But to her astonishment the gown didn’t resemble anything remotely threatening. It looked like a fantasy a garden had cried.
The skirt was indulgent and full, formed of massive twirls of skyfall-blue peonies. Real peonies. They brimmed with sweet, clean fragrance, each one of them unique, from the subtle shifts in hue to the size of the blooms. Some were still tucked into tight periwinkle buds, not quite ready for the world, while others had exploded into bursts of lively petals. Tella pictured herself leaving a trail of blue flower petals as she danced.
The bodice appeared even more ethereal, such a pale shade of blue it was practically sheer, covered in the front by intricate sapphire beadwork that grew into ropes of necklaces, which hung across an otherwise bare back.
She shouldn’t have considered wearing it.
But it was magnificent and regal. Tella imagined what Dante’s face would look like when she showed up to the ball looking like the heir’s true fiancée.
This would be the perfect revenge.
Tella reread the note that accompanied the dress. Knowing it was from the heir made it feel like a threat. But nothing about it was actually menacing. He sounded more curious than anything—perhaps he was impressed by the audacity of her claim and merely wanted to meet her. It still felt like a risk to wear the gown, but as Tella liked to tell her sister, there was more to life than staying safe.
Though Tella wondered if she wasn’t taking a few too many risks that night.
Right after hanging up the dress, another guard knocked and delivered a letter from her sister.
* * *
Dearest Tella,
I was so relieved to hear you made it safely to the palace, and more than a little surprised to learn they placed you in the golden tower—I can’t wait to hear how that happened!
I hope you don’t mind, I’ve agreed to spend the afternoon with Julian. But I still plan on going with you to the Fated Ball for the start of Caraval. I’ll meet you at the stone garden outside the carriage house an hour before midnight.
Love,
Scarlett
* * *
It was wrong that this letter concerned her more than the missive from the heir. But Tella had nearly forgotten asking Scarlett to play the game with her. She’d done it before learning she’d need to meet her friend at the ball.
Tella deflated against the bed. This would complicate things.
Unless Tella confessed all of her secrets to Scarlett.
It was a terrifying thought. Scarlett wouldn’t be pleased to learn she’d been deceived by Armando during Caraval, or that Tella had been searching for their mother. And Tella couldn’t even guess what her sister would think about Tella’s new fake fiancé. But Scarlett was the most loyal person Tella knew: She would be upset, but it wouldn’t prevent Scarlett from helping Tella win the game.
And Tella needed to win the game.
10
Night and his mistress the moon were both out to play when Tella reached the starlit stone garden where she was supposed to meet Scarlett before beginning their grand adventure.
The Fated Ball at Idyllwild Castle marked the official beginning of Caraval. But that night there’d be celebrations all over the city. At each one, the first sets of clues would be distributed so that people from across Valenda could play.
Even the air buzzed with anticipation and excitement. Tella could feel it licking her skin, as if it wanted to drink in her frenzied emotions as well.
Tella wasn’t usually anxious. She liked the thrill that came with taking risks. She loved the feeling of doing something bold enough to make her future hold its breath while she closed her eyes and reveled in the sensation that she’d made a choice with the power to alter the course of her life. It was the closest she ever came to holding real power.
But, Tella also knew not every gamble paid off.
She’d spent all day thinking about it as she explored the palace grounds in a failed search for rumored secret passages. She felt mostly certain tonight would go as planned. Scarlett would understand when Tella confessed all of her secrets. Tella’s friend would then give her a week to play the game and uncover Legend’s name, so she could erase the terrible future that the Aracle had showed, and finally find out who her mother really was and why she’d left so many years ago.
Tella had succeeded at far more complicated plots and yet she could not shake the growing premonition that all her plans were about to unravel.
She ran her fingers over the luckless coin concealed in her pocket. Her friend said that he would be sure to find her as long as she had the coin, and Tella wondered if he was already at Idyllwild Castle searching for her.
