Page 54

“There’s a good spot the next block over.” Vesper cuts through my morose thoughts. “The arch over the street is just wide enough for us to lie flat. He’ll have no reason to look up. The moment he comes around the corner, Kestrel will transfer Cato to a spot just behind him. Cato, you’ll eliminate him. Then we can figure out next steps.”

Cato turns around, walking backward, and laces his hands behind his head. “See, Kestrel. We’re pivoting. This is why plans with too much detail go poorly in the real world.”

I flush and then curse myself for reacting even that much. “You’re such a bastard.”

“You can’t hurt me with the truth.” He shrugs, the movement a little too tight to truly convey apathy. “Cheer up. We’re about to kill the one champion who has a personal interest in your violent death. Things are going our way.”

“Arrogance is a good way to get yourself dead,” I mutter. The Fool isn’t the only champion who’s taken an interest in me, but at least his motivations are clear. He wants me dead. I still don’t understand what game Death is playing.

I’m so focused on my own thoughts, I nearly miss the uneasy sensation pulling at the edge of my mind. I slow. “Something’s wrong.” What is that? It feels almost like the way I can track the sunrise and sunset now, but less pointed; more a suggestion of a feeling than a specific countdown to an event.

Cato opens his mouth like he’s going to say something rude, but finally shakes his head. “Look, Kestrel, you had a shock with the Hermit, but I need you to get your shit together. We have things under control.”

“No, it’s not that.” I turn my head, trying to figure out where the feeling is coming from. “It’s something else.”

Here. A tiny voice, speaking so softly it’s almost beneath notice.

I follow the thread, looking up to the rooftop to our right. It contains a greenhouse, just like its neighbors, but there’s something … a shadow, deeper than the rest. Even as I narrow my eyes, trying to see through the strange darkness, two eyes open, bright and yellow and murderous. The Fool.

“Watch out!” Just like before, there’s no time to think, only to act. I leap forward, moving through the shadows all around us to tackle Cato. We hit the ground and melt through, emerging across the street just as the Fool lands on the spot Cato just occupied.

The Fool is even more creature than man tonight, his body hunched into a form that’s clearly not meant to stand upright. His claws are bigger, scouring the flagstones as he steadies himself. His voice is exactly the same, emerging from that horrible meld of human and beast, his snout long and teeth too big to close his mouth entirely. “You stole my kill. I had plans for that woman.” He scrapes his claws over the street. The sound makes all three of us wince, which seems to delight him. “That was the last time you humiliate me, Moon!”

I scramble to my feet, Cato following a bare second later. “Fuck. You.” The Hermit might have been a champion, but she was a person. I don’t know how to reconcile my conflicting emotions from the events of tonight. I might have saved her from him, but I didn’t save her from myself. Worrying about a dead woman is a great way to join her. I need to focus on the here and now.

I reach behind me. There’s no reason to feel so in sync with Cato right now, not when I spend most of our time together wanting to kick him in the teeth, but somehow I know he’s reaching for me right at the same moment. His hand closes around mine, warm and comforting and filled with intent. “I’m ready,” he says softly.

The Fool turns toward Vesper. “You’ll do to start.” He crouches, his intent clear in the way he prepares to pounce on them. One leap is all it will take. Vesper isn’t wearing an approximation of armor the way the Tower was; their flesh will give beneath his claws and their blood will paint the street.

“No!” The word is ripped from my throat. “You want me.”

The Fool laughs, the sound almost a growl. “No need to rush, Moon. I’ll kill you all.”

There’s no panic in Vesper’s body language. They hold themselves perfectly still, brow furrowed in concentration. “Almost there…”

Purple flashes overhead. One of the green banners spanning the street comes loose and begins to fall. A sudden harsh gust of wind comes from nowhere, sending it cascading directly onto the Fool’s head, obscuring his vision.

Cato jerks me back against his chest. “Now, Kestrel!”

If we survive this, I’m going to rip his head off for tossing me about like a damned doll. I’m off-center enough that it’s challenging to pull the shadows to us, but I manage all the same—even with the waxing Moon overhead, the streets in this part of the Pentacles District are dark. I drag Cato forward a step, crossing the large distance between us and the Fool in a single breath.

Cato unceremoniously shoves me to the ground and lunges over my prone body. I have the presence of mind to scramble to my feet. Cato is our offense, but if there’s a chance to help him in this fight, I’m going to do it. I glance at Vesper, who is watching closely. There’s no telling if they can harness their luck again, especially in the midst of a brawl. “Stay back.”

The Fool rips his way through the banner and crouches in the street, panting. “Neat trick.” He dodges Cato’s daggers and punches him in the face, lunging forward even as Cato staggers back. His teeth snap mere inches from where Cato’s throat had been.

“Watch out, damn it!” I shift from side to side, looking for an opening as they circle each other. This is all going wrong. Our plan depended heavily on an ambush. This was supposed to be an easy kill. A hysterical laugh threatens to erupt from my throat. We didn’t come all this way to die to this monster.

“Not helping,” Cato gasps. He dodges a nasty swipe of the Fool’s claws, but only barely. They open up a long cut across his chest. It’s shallow, but it’s a clear sign that we’re in trouble. Cato is fast, but in his current form, the Fool is faster. He backhands Cato, sending him flying into a nearby wall, where he crumples.

“No!”

The Fool throws back his head and howls. I flinch, my hands instinctively flying to cover my ears. There are plenty of street dogs in the Dregs, and sometimes they get into a weird little dog hive mind and howl their damned hearts out. This isn’t like that. Not at all. It’s almost musical but so damned wrong it makes my skin want to crawl off my body in pure terror. It’s the sound of a monster hunting you in the dark, so close you can feel its breath on the nape of your neck, can taste your death on its tongue. It’s the sound of despair.

I don’t see Vesper move, but suddenly they’re next to me. “We have to fight,” they gasp. They cup the back of my neck, their palm clammy against my skin, but still preferable to the crawling sensation I’ll be haunted by for the rest of my life. “Trust me.”

“I do.” It’s the truth. I don’t have another choice. I draw my weapons, feeling sick to my stomach. If Cato can’t succeed, I don’t know how Vesper and I can. I glance at him as he leans against the wall with a dazed expression on his face. He’s still alive. Thank the gods.

The Fool lunges forward, moving so quickly there’s no way I should be able to avoid the swipe. But somehow, I do. In a flash of purple, my body moves as if of its own accord, shifting to the left just enough to miss his vicious claws. Distantly, I’m aware of Vesper mirroring the movement at my back, a perfectly coordinated dance.