Act III Scene XXXVI
Marigold’s razor-sharp teeth flash through my memories as I tiptoe past the curtain and into the empty auditorium. The stage, she said.
“I think our contracts are here—Marigold seemed to think so, at least,” I tell Jude, nervous to raise my voice above a whisper. Nyxene may be lurking elsewhere at the moment, but I hardly think it’ll take Sil long to track us down. It unnerves me that I don’t feel my strings being pulled right now.
I need to destroy our contracts before that changes. Every groan of the Playhouse sends me further on edge.
The stage is cracked like a sheet of ice, shattered in places.
Somewhere far below, my arrow is lodged into it from my battle in the arena.
I pick my way across, avoiding sharp cuts of marble.
Something twists in my heart at the sight of the red velvet seats we’ve performed for again and again and again—torn and discolored now.
“We’re relying on Marigold?” Jude complains, stopping to kick the dust of the ruined set pieces from his shoes. “Lovely. Do you know she tried to bite me once?” He trips on some debris and swears under his breath.
“Do you have a better plan?” I hiss over my shoulder.
He huffs. “I wouldn’t dare. Trying to change your mind is like trying to move the sun.” Then adds in a murmur, “Ill-advised and probably impossible anyway.”
“Quiet,” I say, navigating the platform.
“What did you do with her body anyhow?” Jude asks, ignoring my instructions as usual. “Parrish said they couldn’t find it.”
I’m about to throw him a confused look when I see it.
Up ahead. It’s easier to notice in the stage’s utter ruin—a square of marble that peeks out just a little too much in the rubble.
Picking my way over the destruction, I kneel at the center of the platform, flattening my hands over the square and feeling my Craft sink into the stage.
A sigh of relief releases in my chest as the square pops open—
Just as quickly, my heart freezes, the world tilting. Behind me, Jude lets out another curse.
It’s empty. Nothing inside. This is a simple trapdoor.
Our contracts. They were here, weren’t they?
“I thought— Marigold, she tried to tell me our contracts were kept here…here in the stage—” I run out of words, look up at Jude, whose wide eyes reflect my own.
It was a bad plan. It was a weak and foolish and miserable long shot, and we knew it. “I’m sorry—”
The door at the back of the auditorium closes with a thud, and my eyes flash up.
SIL: “I’m not sure there are many words left between us, Riven.
” He delivers the line too cheerfully, and my whole body goes tense as his steady pace carries him down the aisle, like a single ticket holder strolling in a few minutes late for the final act.
“Is that how it is? I give you the world and you burn it down.”
I jerk my head up, my neck stiff from ignoring my blocking. My pulse starts to race. “Maybe the world isn’t yours to give.”
He laughs quietly to himself. “Your contract isn’t hidden in the stage, Riven. You think I’d trust my Marigold with such knowledge?”
I press my lips together, defiant, picturing that chain shackling her to the Playhouse. No. No, probably not. But resentment burns in my veins, wanting, needing a way out to be here. To be in reach.
“I understand you’ve convinced your cast to go to the well.” He sighs deeply, like our escape is a mere inconvenience to his day.
“‘Convinced’ is a strong word for a group of Players desperate to return home,” I bite back. My gaze falls to the empty trapdoor, willing our contracts to magically appear. “The one we were stolen from.”
SIL: “You came willingly.”
My eyes flash up. “And now we are leaving willingly.”
SIL: “Not all of you.” He nods toward stage right. “I nearly worried she wouldn’t follow you back in.”
The words make my spine lock. But the silence behind me is worse.
Slowly, I turn. And my heart drops into my stomach.
Because the creature staring back at me is not Jude. But it’s just as familiar. An empty, cruel grin works across his face.
JUDE: “Yes, I know. Follows me around like a lost puppy.” He shakes his head at me, pitying. “I told you, Riven. Did you think leaving would be that easy?”