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“You will if you want to save Legend.” Jacks leaned against the closest column and crossed his legs at the ankles. “Gavriel is having Legend brought to the throne room as we speak. He likes magical pets. Gavriel plans to have the Apothic put him in a cage and then seal it like Anissa’s, so that Legend won’t be able to use his full powers or escape—unless Gavriel is dead.”
Tella shook her head. She didn’t want to believe him, but she feared something had happened the moment Julian explained how Legend had helped them escape. Legend had insisted Tella stay with the Assassin as she searched for Scarlett while Legend went to look for Julian. He was supposed to find him and leave. He wasn’t supposed to be a distraction or a martyr.
Julian released a curse, saying several of the things Tella was thinking.
Jacks laughed as he took in the crude mask covering half of Julian’s face. “Seems as if you’ve also had a visit from the Apothic and Gavriel.”
Julian gave him a foul look. “I can live with it.”
“That’s the point,” Jacks hummed. “This cage will keep Legend as his pet and his prisoner. Even when Legend dies and returns to life, he’ll come back in the cage, and only Gavriel’s final death will free him.”
There was a scratching noise, like a match being struck, as the Assassin disappeared and reappeared within the same heartbeat. He’d been by the window and now he was standing closer to Scarlett, holding a bundle of bright clothes in his hands. “He’s telling the truth. The Apothic is almost done building a cage around Legend right now.”
“Then get him out of there before it’s done,” Tella said.
The Assassin didn’t move, except for the shadows that clung to him, which seemed to grow even darker. “If I do what you ask, Gavriel will know it was me and it will ruin our chances at killing him.”
“See?” Jacks clapped. “I told you that you need me.”
“No, we don’t,” Tella said.
“Yes, you do.” Jacks gave her an indulgent smile, as if he knew this argument was already won. “I heard your plan. You’ll never sneak in there successfully. No one else here can help you. The Assassin will be with your sister. Gavriel knows his Maiden Death hates him. The only way you’ll get close enough to kill him is if you enter the throne room with me. Gavriel already expects it. He sent me to look for you so he could use you as leverage against your sister. He’ll let me bring you in.”
Tella shook her head furiously. There had to be another way. Jacks would betray her again. He always helped her and there was always an unexpected cost. But he did always help her.
“What’s in this for you?” Tella asked. “Why betray the Fallen Star for us?”
Jacks gave her a knife-sharp smile. “It’s not for all of you. Just you. And I won’t be helping for free. Gavriel will expect your emotions to be under my power when I deliver you, and it can’t be an act. He’ll see through it. If you want to get close enough to kill him, you’ll have to let me control your emotions so you adore me.”
Tella snorted. “I’m supposed to believe that once this is done you’ll just let me go back to hating you?”
“No, once this is over, your emotions will belong to me forever.” Jacks’s voice was unabashedly unapologetic. “That’s the price of my help. You get to save your Legend and kill your monster, and I get you.”
“You’re delusional!” Tella said. “I’m not living the rest of my life under your spell.”
“Then Legend will live the rest of his immortal life in a cage. Do you want to save Legend and the empire, or yourself?” Jacks flashed his dimples, giving Tella a playful smile.
“You’re mad,” said Julian.
“Don’t do this,” said Scarlett.
But both of their objections sounded reedy and dull compared to the ringing in Tella’s ears. Because Jacks wasn’t mad; despite her words, she knew he wasn’t delusional. He was determined and willing to do whatever it took to get what he wanted, and unfortunately, he wanted her.
“If you do this,” Tella said slowly, “I will hate you forever.”
“No, my love. If I do this, you’ll finally stop hating me.” Jacks’s smile vanished and for a moment he looked like pure desolation, a shell of a person with hollowed cheeks, fractured eyes, and bloodstains on his chest. He was an immortal who couldn’t die but who could never fully live, because the things he wanted to consume were devouring him instead. Tella imagined wanting someone without loving them was like an endless hunger—even if you managed to hold the person you wanted in your grasp it would never be enough, and letting them go would be even worse.
She should have known that things between them couldn’t be severed with the slice of a blade. Or perhaps that cut had led to this. Maybe Jacks had let her end their marriage because their bond had made him care for her in a genuine way, which went beyond his immortal feelings of obsession, fixation, lust, and possession. But now that their connection was severed, all that remained were his selfish impulses.
Mistress Luck had warned her that if Jacks didn’t love her, his obsession with her would destroy her. If Tella said yes, that was exactly what would happen. If Jacks controlled her emotions, she would only feel things that gave him pleasure or worked to slake his unquenchable thirst for her.
Tella desperately wanted to believe there was another way, but she couldn’t think of one. And as she looked around the room all she could see was the damage Gavriel had inflicted. Julian in his metal half-mask. The Maiden Death in her cage of pearls. The Lady Prisoner kept like a human pet. Then she pictured Legend, trapped in a cage far less lovely than the Lady Prisoner’s, wearing a mask like Julian’s while the Fallen Star showed him off to his friends, forever.
Tella took a shuddering breath. Legend was supposed to spend forever wit
h her, not trapped inside of a cage, and even though that was never going to occur, she still couldn’t let this happen. She couldn’t let Legend be trapped for eternity, and she couldn’t be the reason that they failed to kill the Fallen Star. She might have first wanted to destroy him because of her mother, but it was about far more than that now.
She hated it, but Jacks was right—without his help she’d never get close enough to kill the Fallen Star.
