Jacks tugged Tella away with a hand around her waist, but she continued to fight him. “No—Mother!”
“Gavriel, what’s going on?” Scarlett said, trying to rip his attention away from her sister, who appeared to be going off script. “What is that girl talking about?”
“Don’t listen to her.” The Fallen Star marched down from the burning throne, leaving a trail of blood behind him, but it looked almost peaceful compared to the emotions attacking him. Usually his angry feelings flared out like sparks that wanted to set anything nearby on fire, but these emotions seemed to be burning him, digging into his shoulders and arms like barbs at the end of a whip.
He wasn’t angry with her or the Assassin, or even Tella; he was furious with himself. His emotions had erupted when she’d appeared, but they had flared when Tella said the word alive. He truly regretted killing Paradise.
But it still wasn’t enough to make him love her now.
When he had loved Paradise in the past, Paradise had also loved him. And Scarlett didn’t love him at all. Maybe that’s what she really needed.
She thought she could do it. She’d brought her sister back to life with love. Scarlett was loving. She knew the colors of love and the shapes they took. She knew what it felt like to fight for love and to lose it and to give it with no design of getting anything back in return. And maybe that’s why it wasn’t working now. She didn’t want to give him her love.
She’d seen him do too many horrible things. And even though he was mostly angry with himself right now, the emotion was so strong, it made her think he might do something hideous very soon, either to her or her sister, who was still dangerously close.
Scarlett had to find a way to change his feelings. She tried to find a spark of love for him again. She hadn’t wanted to love her mother, either, but Paradise was more deserving. Or maybe no one deserved love. Maybe love was always a gift, but it was so much harder to give it to the Fallen Star because he’d spent his entire existence battling against it. He saw it as a disease rather than a cure.
“It’s going to be all right. I’m going to take care of you, and I’m going to make sure that our child is absolutely extraordinary.” He gave her a smile that was all teeth and inhuman hunger, without a shred of love.
Her plan wasn’t working the way it was supposed to.
57
Donatella
Tella should have tried harder to stop her sister from going through with this plan.
The Fallen Star looked almost bored when Tella had stepped into the throne room with Jacks, but now he looked as if the wrong word might cause him to set the entire throne room ablaze. His eyes flickered like flames. But it was the way he stared at Scarlett, with a terrifying brand of protectiveness, that told Tella he might lock her sister up in this tower as easily as he might set her on fire if she said the wrong word.
Panic shook Tella’s limbs. Jacks’s arms tightened around her, pulling her closer to him. But not even his reassuring touch could completely calm her. If she didn’t do something soon, Tella feared that she was going to watch history repeat itself with the Fallen Star and her sister.
“Tella,” Jacks whispered, “there’s no saving her. Your sister’s plan isn’t going to work. We need to get out of here before he takes his rage out on you.”
An intense bolt of fear washed over Tella—Jacks was right. She would be much safer if she went with him. He would never let anything happen to her. Jacks would protect Tella until the end of time.
But Tella could not leave her sister to fight the Fallen Star on her own. Scarlett would never win. Even if the Fallen Star kept her alive, it didn’t look as if he would ever love her. If Tella couldn’t kill the Fallen Star, she at least needed to help her sister get out of there.
“Trust me, Jacks, I have an idea.” It was a terrible idea, but many of her most successful ideas were.
“Mother!” Tella cried. “He’s not going to take care of you.” She broke away from Jacks and leaped between Scarlett and the Fallen Star.
The Fate’s eyes turned red and flames erupted once more.
58
Scarlett
The moment Tella lunged between Scarlett and Gavriel, his hands burst into flames, creating an arc of sparks and black smoke as he reached for Tella’s delicate shoulder.
Scarlett didn’t even think—she just shoved her sister out of the way and flung herself in the Fallen Star’s path.
Sparks flew.
Tella screamed.
Scarlett might have screamed too. The Fallen Star collided with her, his hands scorching the same shoulders he’d burned earlier that night. All Scarlett could feel was pain. Then his arms were holding her up instead of burning.
“Paradise.” The flames on his fingers went out, and for the first time since she’d known him, he looked frightened. His brows were pulled tight together over eyes shot through with red. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”