Black curls. Hazel eyes. A laughing face set in deadly serious lines.
“Sylvie,” Luca said. “Mirage. It’s just me.”
I shook. If Luca hadn’t been holding me up, I might have fallen.
“Scion, Luca, it’shim,” I rasped. “Saint Sauvage. Just look at his mask.”
But Luca was already hauling me down the passageway.
“Luca, stop!” I jerked my hands out of his grip. “We have to find out who he is. We have to unmask him.”
“He won’t stay down long,” Luca hissed. He was right—already the figure on the floor was stirring. “I’m unarmed. My only weapon was surprise, but that’s gone now. If we don’t leavenowhe will kill us both. Do you understand?”
I stared longingly at the blood-red blade. “You should have taken his sword.”
“Were you trained in swordplay?” Luca snapped. “Because I wasn’t. Anyway, it’s too late now. We need togo.”
The Red Mask rolled onto his knees and wrapped his fingers around the hilt of the sword. I turned on my heel, gripped Luca’s wrist, and fled.
Darkness churned around us as we ran. I knew the Oubliettes barely better than Luca. We took hallways at random, hoping to shake our pursuer. But if Sainte Sauvage trailed us, I couldn’t hear his footsteps over the rasp of my own breath, the thunder of blood in my ears, our feet slapping stone.
At last, I recognized a crabbed metal tree; the edge of a sunburst; the whiff of freedom. Luca saw it a moment after I did, and hauled me toward the exit.
“Wait!” I dug in my heels and wrenched my wrist out of his grasp. Sudden doubt muddied my thought processes. “Wait. If I leave, I forfeit. Gavin wins the Ordeal.”
“If you stay, you die,” Luca snarled. “Besides, I’m—I’m fairly sure Gavin already won.”
“What?”My heart throbbed, and I thought suddenly—painfully—of the ambric Relic.MyRelic. “But I won, I—”
My voice died in my throat. Had I won? I cast my thoughts back over the Ordeal, already dimming like a half-remembered dream. I’d won, hadn’t I? I’d rejected the impossible world the Oubliettes had invented for me. I’d walked into the light.
Horror tiptoed into my heart. Scion, what if I’d gone the wrong way? What if I was meant to follow my heart toward the sun, toward the Amber City, toward the destiny waiting for me in Coeur d’Or? Instead, I’d walked intothe moon’slight. But it had felt so …right. It had felt like home. It had felt like a place I finally, miraculously belonged.
“Sylvie,” interrupted Luca, impatient. “The Ordeals don’t matter anymore. Listen to me—every entrance and exit into this place was guarded by Husterri. Every single person who came into this place submitted to a weapons check. Including me, and Gavin considers me a friend.”
Realization thudded into my skull. “Which means—”
“—Someone let that Red Mask in on purpose. The Husterri are fiercely loyal to Gavin. His word is their law.”
“You think Gavin plotted to have me killed in the middle of the Ordeal?” Shock made my voice shrill. “Aren’t you hisfriend?”
“He seemed a nice enough fellow in the beginning,” Luca admitted. “But no, I’m not his friend.”
I stared at Luca blankly.
“Scion, Sylvie, I’ve beenspyingon him.” He shot a nervous glance over his shoulder. “Look, I’ll explain everything later. But we need to leave. Leave the Oubliettes, leave the palais, leave the city.”
“And go where?”
“Belsyre. It’s the only place you’ll be safe.”
I barked a laugh. “Luca, you and Sunder hate each other. Where is this coming from?”
“First we run,” he growled. “Then we talk.”
He dragged me toward the exit. I followed, my head spinning. Gavin, in league with Sainte Sauvage and the Red Masks? Luca, spying on Gavin? Luca, advising me to leave for Belsyre—
I was leaving. Without telling anyone. Just like last time.
