Luca’s hand tightened on Reese’s waist.

  The music had halted as everyone turned their eyes to their host.

  As soon as Lyonell realized there were eyes on him, he reeled himself back in. The red faded to nothing more than a drunken blush and he painted a smile that made the women and men alike swoon.

  Reese knew this was far from the end of it.

  She had struck a chord by choosing Luca.

  Luca wanted nothing to do with her, aside from some petty revenge on Lyonell.

  Lyonell had said he wanted her to stay as one of his attractions, but she didn’t know why.

  He stood nothing to gain from it, and neither did she, not that she wanted anyway. He had to have a reason for wanting her.

  She knew what Luca’s was.

  And she knew he didn’t truly want her; he wanted a rise out of Lyonell.

  That’s why their one dance didn’t matter.

  Reese’s first dance had been with someone she knew would never love her.

  And she had chosen that willingly.

  The wrenching feeling in her stomach told her she was about to find out the consequences of it.

  “He’s angry.” A smile curled Luca’s lip.

  Reese looked up at him.

  He had gotten what he wanted, and that was what she wanted, wasn’t it?

  Before Reese could comment on the situation, Luca vanished into the crowd, abandoning her with butterflies in her stomach.

  Butterflies she feared would need to be exorcised.

  Luca only wanted her because Lyonell did.

  Which meant he really didn’t want her at all.

  And though she knew it wouldn’t last, she had never felt for anyone what she felt for Luca, and she wanted to revel in it a while longer.

  Nothing at the carnival was real.

  The magic was fake.

  This whole trial of the innocent would mean nothing outside the gates.

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  That meant what she was feeling wasn’t real either.

  It was simply a side effect from being inside for so long.

  It had to be.

  Otherwise, she would have to admit she was losing her mind.

  Reese’s father had always told her and her sisters that their mother had been a siren who’d bewitched him at sea. Her song meant to lure him into her arms rather than overboard his ship. He said he’d never known if it was real or if his love for her had simply been her spell at work.

  He never would know. All he had left of that siren was his daughters.

  Love meant losing your mind.

  It was nothing more, and nothing less.

  Love had driven Reese’s father to lay with a siren.

  It would not be what drove her to defend a murderer who only wanted to use her to rile up his enemy.

  She would not love him.

  She would play along long enough to escape back to the sea.

  Only that long.

  Her heart couldn’t take holding on for any longer than was necessary.

  Luca was meant to be in her life, that much had been written long before she had been born, but she knew she would need to let him go if she wanted to survive.

  If she clung to him, something much worse than Lyonell would come for them.

  She didn’t know what, she only knew it the same way she knew she was meant to meet Luca.

  The fate that lay ahead was twisted and dark.

  She couldn’t let it play out the way it had been written. If she did, she knew she would never see her family again. She would never be her again.

  Even stone could be weathered enough that the carvings became smooth.

  If she had to scrub at her fate with sand and salt water until she could write her own story, she would.

  She wouldn’t let a few stupid immortal boys ruin her very short mortal life.

  They had forever to fix their mistakes.

  She only had another sixty years, give or take, to be with her family. Even less to spend with her father.

  Reese floated across the dance floor, swaying to the music on her own.

  It was her life to live.

  She would enjoy even this.

  For now, she had the music to keep her company. The soft long notes of the violin, and the sharper, shorter notes of the piano lulled her into a different world completely.

  The way she let herself sway reminded her of home, the constant shift and tilt of being on the waves, safe from the dangers and conformity of land. Left and right, there was nothing to keep her grounded, nothing to anchor her to the mess she was living through.

  Until someone grabbed her wrist.

  Reese’s eyes zeroed in on Theresa, her blonde hair was pinned and curled to her head, and her jeweled hand curled around Reese’s wrist.

  “What do you want?” For the second time that night, Reese’s mood had been spoiled.

  “Follow me.” Theresa began to pull Reese through the crowd.

  A familiar pounding started in her chest.

  It was the same as when Lyonell pulled her aside to tell her she was a murder suspect.

  Despite knowing Luca had killed Myriam, Reese was afraid.

  Theresa didn’t know it had been Luca, and desperation made people crazy.

  Theresa, Myla, and Derrick wanted to escape just as badly as Reese did, and Reese didn’t doubt that they would kill her to do it.

  She didn’t know them or what they were capable of.

  Reese dug her heels into the floor. “I’m not going any further until you tell me what you want.”

  Theresa rolled her eyes and leaned in.

  Her lips brushed against Reese’s ear as she whispered, “I know it’s all a cruel game, and you know it too.”

  Theresa was smarter than her pretty face let on. It was time to figure out just how much she knew, and if she’d told her companions about it or if she’d kept it to herself.