I lose her a few times in the thick of the crowds. She makes her way out of the busy sections of the port, then heads up a small hill to what looks like a tiny tavern at the end of a street. I look behind me, wondering where Magiano and Sergio are. Violetta walks several paces behind me, stopping now and then to weave her way through pockets of people.
Finally, up ahead, Gemma turns where the tavern’s main entrance is. She doesn’t try to go through the front—instead, she steps into a side street and disappears from view. I hurry along, trying to stay in the shadows along the edges of the buildings. Not many people wander here. No Inquisitors to be seen. I wait until I’m fairly alone on the street, and then I wrap myself in threads of energy. I blend into the shadows, and then I become the shadows, until no one notices my invisible figure heading up to the tavern.
I turn onto the street where I saw Gemma go, then stop at the corner to watch.
She’s standing at a back entrance of the tavern with several others, a space so narrow and shadowed that no one would think to turn back here. I recognize Lucent immediately—her copper curls are tied back into a bushy tail, and she has a frown on her face. Michel is there, but Raffaele is not, and a bald boy I don’t recognize is talking in low voices with Gemma. The sailor we saw down at the pier is here too, along with a couple of others. Are these new Dagger recruits? It seems as if everyone has gathered here to wait for Gemma. I make sure my invisibility is intact, and then I walk forward. I keep going until their voices drift to me and I can understand what they’re saying.
Gemma’s voice comes to me first. She’s arguing with Lucent. “At least Raffaele is safely there,” she says.
Lucent lifts a brow and shakes her head, as if this were the first time she’s hearing the news. “He’s going to get himself killed,” Lucent replies, “the instant they leave him alone with Teren. Why couldn’t we have just asked for an audience directly with the queen?”
I hold my breath. Raffaele is back in the Estenzian palace, by his own choice? What are they planning now?
“Giulietta would never hold an audience with us and risk her life,” Gemma says. “Trust your queen, Lucent—Maeve knows what she’s doing. Giulietta will be forced to dine with her and celebrate her arrival, which should give Raffaele time to deliver what he wants to say.”
Maeve. Queen. I think back, remembering after a moment that Lucent is originally from Beldain. If Maeve is her queen, then Maeve must be the Queen of Beldain. Beldain is working with the Daggers.
“Maeve will act in three nights’ time,” Gemma now says. “That’s when the festivities will end in a night of raucous performances. It will help to hide what we’re doing.”
“She will make her way to the arena at midnight,” Lucent says to the others whom I don’t recognize. “She needs to be in the exact place where he died. During the process, she will be entirely defenseless. We have to make sure she is safe and untouched.”
Lucent’s words send a prickle down my spine. The exact place where he died. What is she talking about?
“We’ll ensure it,” the men reply. I wonder whether they are Queen Maeve’s own soldiers in disguise.
“And Raffaele must be there, yes?” asks another.
Gemma nods. “Yes. The dead cannot exist in this world on their own. Enzo must be bound to someone in order to have the strength to live again. Maeve already has her brother bound to her. She will bind Enzo to Raffaele.”
Enzo.
Suddenly, I can’t seem to catch my breath. The world shifts around me, and my invisibility is in danger of flickering out. I struggle to hang on to it, then stumble back until I hit the edge of the tavern wall. I must not have heard Gemma say the name correctly—this must be some misunderstanding, a different name. It cannot be Prince Enzo. My Enzo.
The bald boy shakes his head and gives Gemma an apologetic look. “I don’t understand. Raffaele never informed me of this. Why are we bringing him back?”
Lucent shoots him an annoyed glare, but Gemma gives him a pat on his shoulder. “You are a new Dagger,” she replies. “You’ll be brought up to speed soon enough. Kenettra lost a leader when Prince Enzo died at the hands of the Lead Inquisitor. Maeve had counted on him to be the one to bring trade and prosperity flowing again between our two nations. When she brought her little brother back from the Underworld, he returned with strength unheard of in mortal men. If she can also bring back Enzo—an Elite—he may return with his powers strengthened in ways we cannot even fathom. She can place him back on the throne, where he belongs, as her Kenettran ambassador.”
I close my eye. Blood roars in my ears. The dead cannot exist in this world on their own.
I cannot possibly be hearing their conversation correctly. Because if I am, then that would mean that the Daggers are planning on bringing Enzo back. My mind spins. Maeve, Maeve … she will bind Enzo to Raffaele.
Hadn’t Raffaele once mentioned rumors of an Elite who could raise the dead?