Reese didn’t remember falling asleep, but she wasn’t surprised that she had. She had been awake for a very long time. What did surprise her was the crimson envelope that sat in her lap. It was sealed with golden wax, imprinted with a lion.

  There was no question about who it was from.

  Reese turned to show Luca the envelope, but he was nowhere to be found.

  She would just have to open it herself.

  What bothered her was that someone had been able to sneak up on her and leave the envelope without waking her. They could have just as easily killed her.

  She worked her nail beneath the seal to pop it open and pulled the cream slip of paper out.

  It looked like a standard invitation, save for the fact “no kill zone” was printed neatly at the bottom of it.

  The loopy flowery writing was definitely a woman’s hand. Hazel must have written them for her father. It was an invitation to a soiree, to be held at the game master’s tent.

  That must have been where Lyonell had been holed up.

  But why would he invite them there?

  It had to be a trick of some sort.

  The invitation said it was a no kill zone, but Reese knew how easily lies came to Lyonell.

  And the apple never fell far from the tree.

  The obvious choice was to not go.

  It was the logical choice.

  She would have to tell Luca about it whenever he got back.

  If he came back.

  After their last conversation, she wouldn’t be surprised if he’d abandoned her because he suspected she was too soft.

  Reese flinched as someone plucked the invitation from her hands.

  “Relax, it’s just me,” Luca said.

  Reese crossed her arms and watched as he scanned over the invitation.

  “I don’t think we should go,” she said.

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  “We have to.” He shook his head.

  “It’s obviously a trap, the smart choice would be to lay low.” She argued.

  “I know Lyonell better than anyone, I know he’s a liar, but if we don’t go, we’re putting targets on our backs. If we don’t show up, the others will find it suspicious, and Lyonell won’t be the only one we have to outsmart.” Luca folded the invitation into the tiniest square of paper he could.

  “So, either way we’re risking our lives on his whims?” Reese asked.

  “That’s what we’ve been doing since we’ve been trapped here. I doubt it will be the last time either. We might as well have some fun while we’re here,” he said.

  If it was anything like the carnival itself, Reese was sure it would be magical and full of wonder, but she doubted it would be enough to cover the lingering sense of dread she could already feel as it began to set it.

  It was decided, they would go to Lyonell’s party, and they might die before they made it out, but if they didn’t go, they could very well die because they’d made one too many enemies.

  As Luca had said, it might be better to have some fun while they still could.

  “Wait, what’s to stop us from just leaving?” Reese asked. She felt stupid for not asking sooner.

  “Nothing but Lyonell himself, though if you did manage to escape, there’s no way of telling where you would end up,” Luca said.

  “If we can get out, I can find my way back.” Reese stood up, the idea beginning to take form in her head. “We can go while everyone is distracted with the soiree, and by the time they realize we’re gone, it’ll be too late.”

  “If it were that easy, I wouldn’t still be here.” Luca shook his head. “The gate is always heavily guarded, and they’re loyal to Lyonell. There’s no getting past them without his permission.”

  So, they were back to square one.

  It didn’t look like there would be any escaping the party.

  The only way to get through it was to endure.

  Reese had sailed through the nastiest storms the gods had thought to send her way and survived. She’d gone through hurricanes and lightning storms without a second thought. Ripped sails and splintered wood falling to the deck had never fazed her.

  But this was no ordinary storm.

  She hadn’t been taught how to navigate it or been given the tools to weather it.

  For once, she thought she might have strayed into waters too deep for her to handle.

  And her father wasn’t there to guide her.

  She’d foolishly disobeyed him to be at the carnival because she’d craved something bigger than the freedom the open sea allowed her.

  Now she’d lost that, and hadn’t gained anything in return. Which made sense, she’d had everything she’d needed, she stood nothing to gain. She should have been smart enough to see that before.

  It was an unusually cruel way to teach her that she should have listened to her father.

  They had never gotten into any serious fights before she said she wanted to go to land for a few days; to see what it was like beyond the ports. They had teased each other and poked at silly mistakes they’d made over the years, but nothing so serious as him banning her from going to port without him. She’d known he wouldn’t have let her wander beyond the port if he was with her.

  His vehement disapproval should have been her first sign that her adventure wouldn’t end well. She should have stopped there, but if there was anything Reese had gotten from her father, it was his stubbornness.

  She could lie and say he only had himself to blame for her disregarding him and paving her own path, even if it did end in tragedy, but it had just as much been her decisions as her genetics.

  She had made her decision.

  Her fate had been sealed the moment she walked through those gates.

  Now, she just had to live through the rest of it.