She crept closer to the ruined mansion that Jacks and Legend had entered. The entire structure was skeletal, a corpse made of bricks and stones instead of bones. Tella pressed her hands against the dirty walls to keep herself from collapsing as she peered through a jagged hole.

She knew from her own experience with Jacks that blood exchanges could be intensely emotional. Jacks’s mouth was latched on to Legend’s wrist. Blood stained the corners of his lips, while his face twisted into something sadistic and hungry as he drank.

Unlike Jacks, Legend appeared to feel nothing. He looked like a study in apathy—until suddenly Legend ripped his wrist away from Jacks’s mouth with enough force to knock the Fate several steps back. “Tella isn’t yours.” The words were razor-sharp.

Jacks responded with a bloody smile. “She will

be.”

Tella gripped the wall to stay standing as she again remembered the way he’d flashed his dimples and said, I suppose I’ll just have to try harder.

Was this his way of trying?

She continued to watch as Jacks wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. “She forgave me before. She’ll forgive me again. And now that this transaction has taken your ability to visit her dreams, it shouldn’t be difficult to win her.”

Tella shoved away from the wall, ready to march inside and tell Jacks just how difficult and unforgiving she could be. But her legs had other ideas. They crumpled beneath her and brought her crashing to the hard ground. “Bastard!”

“I hope you’re not talking about me.”

She looked up.

Legend towered above her. But his coloring was off again—he looked pale instead of glowing bronze—and his dark hair had fallen out of place. “I asked you to stay by the fountain.”

No. He’d told her to stay. But she didn’t want to fight with him about it, not after what she’d just seen him do. “I’m sorry about the dreams.”

“I don’t care about the dreams.” His voice turned rough in a flash. “I care that you almost died.”

“I don’t think he really would have killed me.”

“Yes, he would have, Tella. He’s a Fate; you’re a human and the object of his obsession. There’s only one way your story with him ends—unless you let me make you an immortal.”

She didn’t even see him move, but suddenly Legend was on his knees in front of her. His eyes met hers in a way that was both fierce and tender all at once, while his warm hands cupped her cheeks.

“What—what are you doing?” she stammered.

“I gave up too easily.” His thumb stroked her jaw. “You asked me to let you go, but I can’t.”

“I already told you. It was just the idea—”

“You lied.” Another quick move and his hands left her face so that one of his arms could slide under her legs while another went behind her back.

“Legend—” Tella protested. “I don’t need you to carry me.”

He continued picking her up, and cradled her to his chest, so close she could feel his steady heartbeat. “He tried to kill you. I need to carry you.”

All the air left her lungs as he marched across the ruins and started down the steps. “I’m still not letting you make me an immortal.”

“We’ll see.” His voice had softened, and she might have called it sweet, but there was nothing sweet about the way he smiled. It was a smile that promised she’d enjoy this new game, even as she lost it.

39

Donatella

Tella had never been so cold inside one of her dreams. Her breath came out in thick white puffs that lingered like fog, as she wandered through a house of cards, which was actually more nightmare than dream. All of the cards were either queens with her smiling likeness, or kings with Jacks’s cruel face, winking at her whenever she dared look at them.

“I know you’re here somewhere!” Tella called. She didn’t know how he’d gotten into her dream. She’d taken precautions to keep him out after he’d tried to kill her. But clearly those measures had failed.

Jacks sauntered out from between a pair of red queens with her face that both had the audacity to blow him kisses.

Tags: Stephanie Garber Caraval Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net