The idea felt fragile at first, but like all thoughts it grew stronger the more consideration she gave to it. All this time, she kept thinking Jacks was the only one who could free her mother. But Tella could take her mother’s place. Caspar had mentioned how it was done during the play. All she needed to do was write her name on the card in blood. She still had the blood Dante and Julian had used to heal her pulsing through her veins; if her mortal blood wasn’t enough, that blood should do the trick.
It hadn’t felt like an option before. Tella feared being trapped more than anything. But perhaps love was an otherworldly entity like Death. And since Tella had now opened herself up to the possibility of Love, it would not stop coming after her, and it felt far more powerful than Death.
She’d underestimated Love in the past. She’d imagined the romantic sort to be a stronger type of lust—but this moment had nothing to do with lust and everything to do with caring more about saving Dante and her mother than saving herself. It made her fearless in a way she’d never been.
Using her mother’s sharp opal ring, Tella pierced the tip of her finger hard enough to draw blood.
“Tella, what are you doing?” Dante said.
“You can take the cards, but promise me you’ll leave before Jacks arrives.” She pressed her bleeding finger against the card imprisoning her mother.
“Tella,” Dante repeated. “What are you doing?”
“I’m being the hero.”
“No!” Dante roared the word the moment he realized what she meant. “Tella, don’t do this. Your mother wouldn’t want this.”
He reached for her mother’s card, but it was too late. Tella’s name was written upon it in blood.
“It’s already finished,” Tella said.
She tried to smile then. She was finally the hero. All it had cost her was everything.
Her lips wobbled, and hot tears fell from her eyes.
“Tella.” Dante rasped her name as if he were on the verge of crying too. “I know you don’t want to believe me, but I never meant for this to happen to you. When I set up the game, I knew your mother had hidden the cards, but I didn’t know she was trapped inside one of them.” He pressed the pads of his thumbs to her cheeks. But the more tears he wiped away, the more began to fall. “I’m so sorry, I failed you.”
She leaned into his hands. She had not thought Legend would be one to apologize, but it wasn’t his fault. This was her choice. She could have made another one if she’d wanted to. She didn’t know how long it would be until the spell took effect, but she imagined it would happen soon. And since her story wasn’t going to have a happy true ending, at least she could try for one last good moment during her almost-ending.
“I lied to my sister about our kiss,” Tella said.
Dante pressed his lips to her forehead. “I know.”
“I’m not finished,” she scolded. “I wanted you to know why I lied. I wasn’t ashamed. I said it so my sister wouldn’t worry, because I think I knew even then that I could have—”
The night. The world. The stars watching from above all disappeared.
Then Tella disappeared as well.
40
Those who had been looking up at the sky, still searching for clues even though the game had just been won, might have noticed the appearance of more stars, stars that had not been seen in centuries. For it had been nearly that long since sacrifices of such magnitude had been made.
Humans were selfish creatures. The stars had witnessed it again, and again, and again.
But tonight, as the stars peered down on the world, they saw what seemed to be truly unselfish acts.
First, from the young woman.
Foolish young woman.
She’d seemed promising. Now she was useless. Paper.
But it was interesting to watch how her young man responded.
The stars leaned closer. He was distracted, allowing them to move more freely than they had the past several nights. It was a delight to see him in pain. This boy, who never seemed to care about anyone but himself, shook with rage. Hopefully he didn’t do anything too foolish. He’d made a deal with them that they hungered for him to keep. It would do them no good if he were trapped in a card or dead.
Not that they believed he would sacrifice himself for her. Humans were not that selfless. But, of course, he wasn’t fully human.