Legendary (Caraval 2)

It looked so real, Tella could almost feel her mother’s arms, strong and soft and warm. A soft sob bubbled up in Tella’s throat.

Then, almost as quickly as it appeared, the image returned to her mother’s corpse.

“No!” Tella screamed.

The vision shifted once more, returning to Scarlett and Tella reuniting with their mother.

“Miss Dragna!” A guard knocked heavily on her door. “Is everything all right in there?”

“Yes,” Tella said distractedly as the card continued to shift. Tella had never seen it do anything like this before. It transformed from death to delight, as if showing Tella that what happened next was all up to her, and whether she managed to win this game for Jacks.

Tella put the Aracle back inside the trunk and, with renewed resolve, she pulled out the first clue.

* * *

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.

* * *

During the last Caraval, Scarlett had received one card with hints about all five clues at the start of the game, but it seemed this game would follow another pattern. According to this clue, and what Dante had said in the carriage, a different district of the city would hide a new clue each night. Tella would need to find them all to win, and then she would come face-to-face with Legend.

Unfortunately, since Caraval was only played at night, Tella could not begin to search until that evening. And it seemed Jacks already had plans for her during the day.

At the end of her bed rested a familiar box. It looked exactly like the one Jacks had sent the day before, only this time it was wrapped with a golden bow instead of a white one.

IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE ENGAGED TO THE NEXT EMPEROR, YOU’LL NEED TO DRESS LIKE IT.

Tucked inside with the message was a small card with a thorny purple border.

* * *

Minerva’s ModernWear

Clothing the progressive half of Valenda,since before the Elantine Dynasty—and we’ll be dressing them after as well.

By appointment only.

* * *

On the back of the card someone had scrawled the words Satine District, along with a time, which had been crossed out and rewritten:

The order was almost laughable, given how little Jacks seemed to care about his own appearance. But Tella imagined Jacks’s directive to appear wasn’t so much about appearance as it was about possession: he wanted to make it clear that she now belonged to him.

Demon was too appealing a word for him.

If this engagement had been real, this note alone would have convinced Tella to break it off. But that wasn’t currently an option.

Inside the box, Tella found a pair of elbow-length nude gloves with blue-pearl buttons. She tossed them to the side and pulled out the matching dress beneath. She hated how lovely it was. How the neckline was off the shoulders—a style her father never let her wear. He’d have turned absolutely purple at the sight of this dress. Covered in sapphire-blue lace that clung to a nude shell, the gown was delicate and feminine and a little scandalous all at once.