Caraval (Caraval 1)

“What if I’m wrong?”

“I’ll kill you, of course.” Legend laughed, but this time it was hollow, like a bell without a clapper inside. “I’m just kidding. No need to look at me as if I’ll sneak into your house at night and strangle all your kittens. If you answer incorrectly, I’ll reunite you with your male companion, and together you can continue searching for your sister.”

Scarlett highly doubted Legend would keep his word, but he was blocking the stairs in front of her, and behind her was a river that she doubted led anywhere good.

She tried to remember what Julian had told her about Caraval their first night there. They say they don’t want us to get too carried away, but that is the point.

“I imagine the game wouldn’t be the same in the light,” Scarlett answered. “People think no one sees all the nasty things they do in the dark. The foul acts they commit, or the lies they tell as part of the game. Caraval takes place at night because you like to watch, and see what people do when they think there are no consequences.”

“Not bad,” said Legend. “Although, I’d think you’d have realized by now that what happens here isn’t really just a game.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Once people leave this isle, the things they’ve done here don’t just unhappen, no matter how much they might wish them undone.”

“Maybe that should be your warning when people enter,” Scarlett said.

Legend chuckled again, and this time it sounded almost real. “It’s terribly unfortunate this is going to end so badly. I might have liked you.” He brushed her chin with one cool knuckle.

Scarlett slipped a little as she took a nervous step back, shooting another futile glance behind her toward the unmoving waters. “I answered your question. Now where is my friend?”

“It amazes me,” Legend said. “I’ve only told you the truth and you won’t even allow me to touch you. Yet you think yourself in love with someone who has done nothing but lie to you this entire game. Your friend has told you not to trust me, but you cannot trust him, either.”

“Coming from you, I’ll take that as an endorsement.”

Legend sighed dramatically, tipping his head back. “Oh, to be so hopeful and stupid. Let’s see how long that lasts.”

Just then, heavy footfalls sounded on the sandstone steps behind him. A moment later, Julian appeared, perfectly dry, and aside from the wound Scarlett’s father had inflicted, entirely unharmed.

“We were just talking about you,” Legend said. “Would you like to tell her, or should I?” Legend’s eyes glittered, and this time there was no madness in them at all. He was the perfect picture of a gentleman in a top hat and tails, fully sane and dreadfully victorious.

Water dripped from Scarlett’s hair down the back of her neck, turning hot where it touched her skin. She couldn’t believe Legend had kept his word, but more than that, she didn’t like the sound of what he’d just said, or the possessive way he was looking at Julian.

“It seems to me your fiancé is meant for decorative purposes only, but he was right about one thing,” Legend said. “I don’t do anyone favors. It would make no sense to go to all that trouble to put an end to your engagement only to let you leave the isle with someone else. Which is why I’ve had Julian working with me for the entire game.”

No. Scarlett heard Legend’s words, but she refused to process them. She didn’t want to believe it. She watched Julian, waiting for some sort of signal that this was another part of a greater deception.

Meanwhile the master of Caraval regarded Julian as if he were one of his prized possessions, and to Scarlett’s horror Julian smiled back, the straight edges of his teeth flashing in torchlight. It was the same wicked grin she’d first noticed on Del Ojos Beach; the smirk of someone who’d just succeeded in playing a very cruel trick.

“Originally, I’d planned for you to favor Dante,” Legend said. “I thought he would be more your type, but I suppose it’s good I’m wrong on occasion.”

“Dante and his sister were part of the game too?” Scarlett blurted.

“Don’t tell me it wasn’t a brilliant deception,” said Legend. “And try not to look so upset. I had people warn you. Twice, in fact, you were told not to believe anything.”

“But—” Openmouthed, Scarlett turned to Julian. “So your sister, Rosa? That was all a lie?”

For a moment it almost looked as if Julian flinched at the name Rosa, but when he spoke again, there was no emotion in his voice. Even his accent was altered. “There was someone named Rosa, and she died the way I told you, but she was not my sister. She was just an unfortunate girl who got too swept away in the game.”

Scarlett’s hands trembled, but still, she refused to believe it. It could not have all been false, merely a game to Julian. There had been moments she knew were real. She continued to watch him, hoping for some flicker of something, a glimmer of emotion, a glance that told her this act with Legend was really the game.

“I guess I’m better than I thought.” Julian’s smile turned vicious, the kind made for breaking hearts.

But Scarlett had already been broken. For ye

ars her father tore her down. Over and over, she had let him. She’d allowed him to make her feel worthless and powerless. But she was neither of those things. She was done allowing her fear to make her weaker, to eat away at the meat on her bones until she could do nothing but whimper and watch.

“I still say you did me a favor,” she said, turning back to Legend. “You said it yourself. My ex-fiancé is more of a decoration than a man, and I’m better off without him. Now give me my sister and let us go home.”

“Home? You still have somewhere to go after tomorrow, now that you’ve thrown your entire future away? Or”—Legend cut another look toward Julian—“are you saying this because you’re still under the illusion that he cares for you?”

Scarlett wanted to say it wasn’t an illusion. The Julian she knew had let himself be tortured for her. How could that not be real? She refused to believe it, even as Julian looked at her as if she were the most foolish girl in the world. And he was probably right.