“I killed Myriam.”

  Reese knew what she had said, and what she believed, but she still hadn’t been expecting such a confession.

  If Luca wanted her dead, she would be dead. She had been with him the longest, he’d had ample opportunity.

  “Do I want to know why?” Reese asked.

  “She was in on Lyonell’s game. She was recruiting those that would stay for his hunt. I figured if I killed her, it might end, but it only made it easier for him,” he said.

  “I said I wouldn’t leave, and I won’t, but we need to find a way to get out of here,” she said.

  “I know, but we might have to kill more people to do it.” He frowned.

  “As long as it’s not us.”

  “He’ll start the hunt soon. He already knows it was me. It won’t be long before they find me, but you still have a chance. Find a way out while they’re distracted with me.” Luca let go of Reese’s hands.

  “No, we’re both getting out. I refuse to give Lyonell that satisfaction.” Reese shook her head.

  “I appreciate it, but it may not be possible. You know as well as I do that Lyonell is smart, to a dangerous degree. He gets what he wants, and right now that’s me,” Luca said.

  “Well, then we’ll have to teach him a lesson. No one can always get what they want, and he’s been getting what he wants for far too long.” Reese shrugged.

  Living on the sea, she had no problems with humbling cocky young pirates who thought a female captain was an easy mark.

  They had very quickly learned they had underestimated Reese.

  Lyonell had underestimated her too, and he would learn the same lesson soon enough.

  “Reese, you don’t understand. Lyonell has been hunting me for centuries. If this is the time he catches me, I know how it will end,” he said.

  “Centuries?” She echoed.

  That should have been impossible.

  Unless he had known they wouldn’t die at midnight.

  It wouldn’t be the first time he had withheld information.

  If Lyonell had been running to carnival for centuries, it was only reasonable to believe that someone else could have been with him all that time.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Reese just hadn’t expected it to be Luca.

  She hadn’t expected him to be the killer either, but here they stood.

  A killer and a sailor who had somehow found themselves working together.

  “Why-”

  “Don’t.” Luca cut her off.

  He had known she would have questions, and it was clear that he didn’t want to answer them.

  “I want to get this clear; we are not friends. We are working together for survival. I have been alone for all these centuries, that will not change. You leave with the others, and I’m safe for another fifty years. The only way you can help me is by leaving.” His face was harsher, and his tone colder, than she’d seen in the past hours.

  He had always done such a good job of maintaining a mask of easy nonchalance, she hadn’t expected it to be anything but real.

  What Reese saw now was real.

  Luca didn’t care about her or anyone else. He only cared about himself and his survival.

  It had been like that for a very long time.

  Immortality was the death of humanity.

  And Reese was staring the proof of that in the face.

  And though he had made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her, she couldn’t escape the pull that told her this wasn’t where their story ended.

  Fate could be cruel.

  “If he catches me, it’s too late. Let me die, at least then it will be over,” Luca said.

  “You expect me to just let him kill you?” Reese asked.

  “Reese, I am not someone you should care about. My death won’t affect your life at all.” He shook his head.

  But she knew it would.

  She didn’t know how he didn’t feel what she did.

  He had lived for hundreds of years, trapped in some sort of vengeance cycle with Lyonell, and yet he couldn’t recognize fate when it stood before him.

  This would be the year they killed Lyonell.

  They didn’t have another option.

  However sure of that Reese was, she was also sure that Luca was not good for her.

  This may not be the end of their story, but when they reached it, it wouldn’t be a good one.

  Stories with curses rarely had truly happy endings.

  Reese knew that she and Luca would be no different.

  They might kill Lyonell, but something would go wrong.

  This story would not end with Reese back on her ship with her family as if nothing had ever happened and Luca seizing his newfound freedom.

  While it lasted it would be beautiful and bold, but it would end in tragedy.

  It always did.

  Reese had read enough stories to know that.

  They were doomed.

  Fate had decided that before Reese had ever stepped foot inside the carnival, she had only enabled it by following its pull.

  She would kill Lyonell, he deserved that much.

  Death would be a mercy for a man like him. He deserved so much worse than that, but they didn’t have enough time to plan for that. Death would have to do. It was enough to get everyone else out alive. That was what mattered. That was what they would do.

  Along the way, she would just have to avoid getting too attached to Luca.

  If she didn’t get attached, she could mitigate the damage done. She could walk out of this unscathed.

  All she had to do was keep Luca at an arm's length.

  It should be easy enough; she had been doing it all her life after all.

  No one had ever known enough about her, and she hadn’t ever bothered to know enough about them. People were people. Luca was just another person.

  It was just another game.

  There was always another game.