Page 160 of Queen of Volts

“The Revolution happened before I was born,” Enne answered. “I’m tired of being a relic of it.”

In his pain, still coughing uncontrollably, Levi didn’t see Enne and Arabella shake hands. And so he didn’t know if his sacrifice had changed anything. If Arabella believed the lie.

Until he heard the scream.

“I hope your bargain was worth it,” Enne spoke.

Levi heard Arabella stagger back, her boots slipping across the slick cobblestones. “You didn’t give me your talent. That was—”

“A shade,” Enne answered for her, her voice tight.

Levi rolled over enough to watch, still coughing. He pushed himself up enough to see Arabella doubled over, gasping, a hand pressed around her throat. In the dim streetlights, Levi watched the red of Arabella’s eyes fade to brown, as all of her talents, all of her secrets, disappeared, swallowed by the corruption.

I did it, he thought deliriously. He’d pulled off Veil’s trick, except instead of corrupting Veil’s talent in the coin, he’d corrupted Enne’s. And she’d given it to Arabella.

Enne’s hands trembled as she pointed the gun at Arabella, and even though it was Levi’s gun, not hers, Levi wondered if she could do it.

Then Enne asked quietly, “Would you bargain foryoursoul?”

When Arabella gave her no last words, Enne fired. And Arabella—invincible no longer—finally fell.

Levi let himself collapse. He’d seen it—the oldest, most terrible legend of New Reynes die. The person who had caused his family so much suffering. It had been worth waiting for.

“Levi, don’t you dare...” Enne kneeled down and slapped his face—hard.

“Muck,” he choked, his cheek stinging. He coughed up another mouthful of tinny water.

“Don’t close your eyes.” Her voice cracked. “We’re right by the hospital. I’ll get you help. Sit up.” Levi didn’t have a choice—she pushed him up. The gravity helped, so he stopped coughing. But the burning remained.

He took a deep, shaky breath. He was exhausted and dizzy—he wanted nothing more than to pass out. And he’d definitely earned the right to. “Even if I make it to the hospital, I don’t think I’ll win this one. Rebecca...” He sounded hopelessly dramatic, but they’d also killed the Bargainer—whatever cure Bryce and Rebecca had been searching for, whatever cure he also needed, it was gone now.

Then he noticed that Enne had changed, too.

“Your eyes,” he said. “They’re brown again. Your aura is blue. Does that mean your talent is—”

“Gone. I know.” She squeezed his hand. “But we did it. It’s all over.”

Levi smiled weakly and reached into his pocket, to where he’d kept Jac’s Shadow Card. It would be gone, now that the Bargainer was dead and the game was finished.

But he frowned. His fingers felt the foil.

“It’s still here,” he rasped, pulling it out and holding the gold up to wink in the moonlight. “We made a mistake. The game isn’t finished yet.”

XXI

THE FOOL

“I don’t believe in happy endings. Whoever is peddling them is a crook. Whoever trusts them is a fool.”

Memoria. “Semper Celebrates Eighth Term in Office.”

Her Forgotten Histories

5 Sep YOR 24

HARVEY

The Orphan Guild was quiet, more vacant than Harvey had ever seen it. Dust clung to the floor’s corners, along with the litter the previous Guild members had left behind. Only weeks ago, these makeshift rooms had been filled, a business turned empire that he and Bryce had devised together. Once again Harvey examined the neglect that had fallen the prison over the past few months. The Guild had once felt like the culmination of all of their hopes, all their cleverness...but Bryce had let it fall to ruin.