And the blue-eyed man.
Each time I see him I push harder, but the girl’s mind is strong. She draws nearer and nearer to my prison and still I cannot breach her defenses. All I need is one chance, a single moment to slip inside her mind, escaping my prison forever.
Then, another flash. A blond girl in a ball gown, holding a weapon. A shattering sound. A blinding pain shooting through us both.
And for an instant, Lilac LaRoux’s guard falls.
MY THROAT’S HALF-CLOSED IN panic, and it’s only as Sofia stirs again that I can breathe. I force my shaking hands to still, flex my fingers, and creep forward once again.
“Lilac, darling,” Monsieur LaRoux says from his place on the floor. “Can’t you just get rid of them all?”
I’d forgotten he was there, and so had the others, judging by the way their heads snap around.
“Their little toys make it so hard to see where they are,” Lilac replies. So the shields are reaching far enough to protect me—to protect all of us, since nobody’s eyes have turned black just yet. “We’re still missing Giddy,” she continues, and behind that smile, that nickname that infuriates me coming from her, there’s a note of steel in her voice that sends a bolt of ice straight down my spine. Prey, that voice says. That’s what you are. And I want to play with you.
“Bloody Marchant boys, always late,” LaRoux mutters.
“My father doesn’t understand,” Lilac says, addressing Sofia, who stands her ground—albeit swaying slightly—meeting her eyes. “He’s chosen to see what he sees now. How could he ever face the truth? He took my freedom from me. My life. My death. He took everything, for his own gain.” For a moment it seems she’ll say more, but her eyes close, and her shoulders round, tension singing through her frame. A ragged breath later, she’s straightening once more.
“The others,” Lilac continues, “they don’t understand either. The rest of my kind, on the other side of the rift…They wanted to find out if humanity is worth knowing, worth learning from. We’d been alone in our universe until your ships started ripping through it, and we thought there was something to be gained from reaching out to you.” She breathes out, sharp, disgust in her eyes. “They know nothing. I’m the one who’s been here since the start. I’m the one who’s seen what you really are.”
“Lilac?” LaRoux’s voice falters—there’s an edge to it, something rough and raw. It’s the part of him that understands what’s happening, buried under layers of willful misunderstanding and incipient madness.
“The five of you,” Lilac whispers, ignoring her father as her eyes rake across us. “And Lilac, this insipid, weak-minded idiot I’m forced to wear. Six souls, linked in ways you cannot possibly comprehend, set on this path to lead you here, now. Every one of you has seen the worst of humanity, and you were meant to show us whether you were worth knowing.”
I wish I had the luxury of stopping, of reeling after hearing these words. The idea that our paths were destined to intersect—that I was always going to be here, facing the woman my brother died for, in love with the girl whose father died in the explosion that brought Jubilee and Flynn together, watching Lee’s former captain gazing at Lilac’s face with his heart in his eyes—I can’t breathe.
“But the truth,” Lilac goes on, her eyes burning, “is that we never needed any of you. We never had to look any further than the man who opened the very first door.”
She turns finally to look at LaRoux, still huddled on the floor, who gazes at her with a pathetic hope in his eyes.
“We will start with our keeper,” she whispers. “We will give him the same pain he has given us. We will take his family from him, and all he knows, and every soul who has ever touched him. And then we will close our world to you forever, cut you off from each other and keep you from spreading like the disease you are. We will keep him alive, to watch. And then, once he has realized the thing he has done—then we will leave him, howling, in the darkness that will claim you all.”
Jubilee gasps, one hand flying to her gut as though she’s been punched. She’s swaying on her feet, her gaze distant. She’s in some other place, some other moment, just now.
“Lee?” Tarver starts to step forward, then jerks to a halt as Lilac’s hand lifts to forbid him movement. But Flynn’s already by her side, his hand creeping toward the gun at his hip. I don’t know if he has it in him to fire it.