Page 27

Found you. My grin stretched wide as I straightened. I twisted the brass doorknob and the shop bell chimed lightly as I stepped in, careful not to knock over the precariously stacked bottles that stretched from floor to ceiling. I wound through the maze, searching for the person, the alchemist.

If an old fortune teller could be believed, that was.

“ Hello ?” I called out helplessly but instantly wished I could swallow my words.

I spotted the gleam of Dante’s dazzling gray blazer out of the corner of my eye and felt my heart quickly leap into my throat.

He jerked behind him at the sound and I quickly darted behind a shelf, grateful it could conceal me.

I bit down hard on my nail as I watched him speak to the spectacled man behind the counter.

“I cannot help you, sir.” The alchemist peered over his rounded glasses. “We cannot perform binding magic like this. We are simply not capable.”

Dante scoffed. “Not capable? I think you will find your insufficiencies are quickly rectified.” I heard the jingle of coins slide across the table.

“Whoever did this was incredibly powerful, Sir. Immeasurably so . They must have used magic beyond what is found in the city of Avernas.”

Dante’s fingers tapped against the counter once. Twice. His breathing was steady, as if he were calculating all the ways he could tear this man apart.

The alchemist stiffened, eyes widening as he slammed backward. The glass bottles on the shelves rattled as an invisible force twisted around his throat, pressing him into the wood.

“Please!” He squeaked.

“Don’t you understand?” Dante spoke calmly as the alchemist gasped, clawing at his throat as if to remove the invisible object that pinned him there.

“This isn’t a request, find the right combination.

The salts, the sigils, whatever is needed to keep them sealed.

They are faltering, and if they are released, everything my father built crumbles. And so do I. ”

“ Fine ,” gasped the alchemist, and the invisible force relented as he sagged to the floor. He hesitated. “I cannot help you, but I know someone who can. There is only one way to keep the deck truly bound.” A small, knowing smile curled at his lips. “The blood of a Fallen Angel.”

A Fallen Angel? Dante said they were a myth.

“We tried that,” Dante snarled. “The binding is fading, still. How do I make sure the cards remain unbreakable?”

“In the Dark Markets. By the docks. Near the Black Sea.” His words were hoarse. “Seek the Dowager of Knots. This goes beyond alchemy.” The alchemist scrambled to his knees, pocketing the satchel of money.

Dante nodded at him once, then spun on his heel, turning to leave. This was my one chance. He had the cards still.

I stepped out from the shelves, arms folded tightly across my chest. “You really messed things up for me, you know.”

Dante barely flinched. A flicker of something like genuine surprise crossed his face before it smoothed into seamless indifference.

“You knew.” My voice wavered, but not with fear, with fury. My nails bit into my palms enough to leave white half-moons behind. “You knew they wouldn’t just expel me if we stole those cards.”

“I needed help. You were a welcome distraction,” he admitted. The alchemist squeaked again at the sight of me, and scuttled away.

“A distraction?” I scoffed.

His jaw tightened as he traced over me, raking over the bruises beneath my eyes, the desperation I couldn’t quite hide. Then something flashed behind his eyes. Something almost…fearful. “You look like hell. Go home, Arabella.”

I let out a brittle laugh as I lifted my chin. “My score collapsed. They think I tampered with it. They’re forcing the person responsible to graduate early. I’d be lucky to become a wraith. More than likely I’ll vanish.”

“Verrine suspects you?”

“She will.” I felt a squeeze in my chest. “My score dropping like that leaves one conclusion.”

Dante shrugged, his expression cold. “There are worse things than Falling, you know.”

Heat coiled low in my chest, my mind rushing. I didn’t think as I slapped him. The sound cracked against the shop’s thick silence as I shook my palm, the stinging ricocheting across it.

Dante didn’t react, just blinked, like I had just done something mildly interesting. Then, he turned to leave. “Take care , little thief.”

“Wait.” I hated the way he called me that. Like it was a joke only he was in on. My nails dug deeper into my palms. “ Please. Give me the rest of the cards so that I can fix this.”

“The rest?” The amusement in his eyes dulled slightly, instead he was searching. “I already told you. This is bigger than you.”

“Fine. Forget the cards,” I pleaded, panic rising in my throat. “I need a way home. Just The Hanged Man. We can’t rely on Verrine to resurrect all of us.”

“Us?” Dante’s brow arched.

“Dorian and Hugo are with me.”

“You don’t need a card for that. Think .

” He tapped his temple as he drew closer, leaning in.

Close enough that I could reach into his blazer pocket, draw out the cards.

I felt them there, somehow. “Can you imagine the outrage if word got out? Students vanishing into Elsewhere. The school failing to protect them. Evermore would lose its prestige,” he said.

“Verrine would never let that happen. Especially to Dorian. Especially to you .”

“I thought I was unremarkable.” A shiver laced down my spine, unease curling low in my stomach. Not just at the words, but at the certainty in his tone. “You’re saying she will come and get us?”

“If you play this right,” Dante’s lips twitched. “She’ll have to.”

His eyes flickered, briefly but unmistakably, to my throat. I stared at him, trying to process whether it was better to die a ghost than face the wrath of Verrine Cavendish. I wanted him to say he was sorry, that he’d fix this.

My heart thundered in my ears as Dante pulled closer, magic pulsing at his chest. He was so close I could smell the cinnamon on him. It would be so easy to let my hand slip upward, into his blazer pocket and snatch the cards.

“You want my advice?” Dante murmured. “Don’t do anything reckless. Wait for someone to come and collect you if you want to make it out of here alive.”

My hand moved toward him, toward the edge of his blazer, but he turned away too fast for me to follow through. I raced after him but as I stepped out into the quarter, he was already gone.