Page 17 of The Never List
7
Rylee
I’m not sure if I’m breathing.
I can’t hear anything but the static roaring in my ears. I glance down at the diamond-encrusted numbers on my pin, wanting above all to be remembering my number wrong.
But I’m not.
Everything inside me is frozen. I’m certain I’ve fallen into a nightmare. That has to be the only explanation. There is no way tall, dark, and dangerous just said my goddess-damned number.
“Rylee.” Ivy’s voice pops the static, my ears crackling as the sound of applause shakes the world around me. “Rylee,” she says again, a more-than-fake smile on her face as she tries to catch my focus.
I blink until she’s not so blurry and immediately throw my arms around her.
“They’ll kill me,” I whisper into her ear, tears filling my eyes. Panic storms my body, making me tremble against her. I hope anyone who is watching mistakes the tears for joy, not terror. “They’ll kill me for deceiving them, Ivy,” I whisper again, and her grip on me tightens. “If they find out I’m— If they find out what I am—”
A swell of fear crashes over me like an icy tidal wave.
I cling to Ivy, glancing over her shoulder and beyond the crowd, toward the balcony. We’re hundreds of stories up, but I could jump. I could jump and use my powers to slow my fall.
I could run.
“There’s no chance,” Ivy says, reading my eyes. “Don’t you dare take yourself out of the game like that.”
I swallow hard, and Layce comes to our side, hugging us both, buying us more time and shielding our mouths from the ogling crowd around us.
“You make them fall for you,” Ivy says, voice more determined than I’ve ever heard before. “You make them fall for you so fucking hard, they won’t be able tosurvivewithout you, you understand?”
I part my lips, shaking my head. “How—”
“Whatever it takes, Rylee. You do it. That’s the only play here. And if—when—you succeed, it won’t matter where you come from, what runs through your veins. They’ll beyours. Nothing and no one will ever be able to touch you again.”
I’ll never make it that far. My number is linked to my name. I take a deep breath and slow my racing thoughts. At least Gray is a common surname present across all regions, so it won’t be immediately known that I’m an Ashlander, but still… I should have asked Ivy to link my invitation to a fake name, but I never once thought I’d get fucking chosen. What else can go wrong tonight?
“She’s right,” Layce says, pain and regret flashing in her own eyes. Just like Ivy’s, they show she’s both sorry and shocked at the turn of events.
Six years.
They’ve been coming here for six years, taking the pinsand selling them after, and never once have they drawn enough attention to themselves to get chosen.
Reckless, foolish girl.
Why did I have to flirt with him? Fall prey to those indigo eyes? Why didn’t I realize who he was?
A sigh rushes out of me, something between a shudder and a cry. I thought the Legends were on the opposite side of the party, far away from ever laying eyes on me. They made the crowd believe otherwise, so they had the opportunity to browse their selection without anyone being the wiser.
Cleverbastards.
The partygoers shift around my little group, and I can see the golden uniforms of the kings’ enforcers coming my way.
My heart rate skyrockets, causing my airways to shrink.
I squeeze Ivy and Layce tighter.
“Find Erin,” I whisper. “If something happens to me—”
“It won’t,” Ivy says as if she can will it to truth.
