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Scarlett cut in with a sigh. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I don’t trust Legend, or anyone who works for him, and I think you’d be wise to do the same. At least remember the stories Nana Anna told us—Legend likes to be the villain.”
Tella grinned. “How could I forget? That was always my favorite part.”
But it couldn’t be true for this game. If Legend was really the villain, then there was only one possible person he could be—Jacks.
Tella didn’t even want to consider it, though she could picture Jacks in a top hat and tailcoat, holding out a red rose while his lips curved into a wicked smile. And maybe if Tella’s fingertips hadn’t started bleeding in front of Dante that morning, she might have been tempted to think Jacks was really Legend, and all of this was just a cruel trick.
But Tella knew Jacks was the real Prince of Hearts. She knew it as deeply as she’d known that her sister would be able to wish her back to life if she died. Tella had felt Jacks’s power since the moment they’d kissed. It was different from the magic of Caraval. Legend’s power glittered like dreams come to life, while Jacks’s magic was nightmarish. Even now she felt it, incrementally slowing her heartbeat.
Beat … beat.
Nothing.
Beat … beat.
Nothing.
Beat … beat …
Nothing.
A ticking clock inside her chest.
Tella didn’t want to be cursed, and face the possibility of death. But she wanted to save her mother, she wanted to see her again in the flesh, to find out who she really was and why she’d left. And if Jacks was Legend or one of his actors, that would never happen.
Jacks could not be Legend. But if he was, then Legend was a greater villain than Tella had ever imagined.
NIGHT TWO
OF CARAVAL
18
A crimson constellation of stars glittered above the Temple District.
From Tella’s sky carriage it had looked like an enchanted cluster of roses in full bloom. Now that she was in the district, standing beneath the stars, the entire image was harder to take in. Instead of seeing a constellation of roses, the ruby lights looked like drops of spilled star-blood, shimmering unnatural light on the world below.
Even without the eerie rose-gold glow from above, the Temple District would have been an odd place. Wailing cries of worshippers, whispered prayers of sinners, ancient chants, and a number of strangely dressed people surrounded Tella as she trod a mosaic of timeworn streets lit by torches as tall as people.
Tella didn’t know if this part of the city was always so popular or if the crowds were only because of everyone participating in Caraval and searching for the second clue.
She reached into her velvet pocket and reread the first clue under the burning red torchlight:
* * *
THE OTHER CLUES YOU’LL NEED ARE HIDDEN
THROUGHOUT THE CITY;
TO POSSESS THE SECOND ONE,
VENTURE SOMEWHERE PRETTY.
THIS REGION OF VALENDA WAS ONCE SO TRAGIC,
BUT NOW IT PROMISES FAITH AND MAGIC.
* * *
