Page 61 of The Black Key

I swallow. “I came back.”

My heart thumps in my chest. Now that I’m face-to-face with her, with the threat of dying removed, I don’t know what she’ll do. She could call for the Regimentals at any time.

“Why?” she demands. “Ash is safe.” Her eyes widen. “He is safe, isn’t he? I read in the paper he was sighted in the Bank, but I didn’t think it could be true.”

“He is safe,” I say. Then I add, “And it is true.”

“How could you let him do that?” Carnelian snaps. “He could get caught. She still wants to find him, to kill him!”

“I didn’t have a choice,” I say. “He left without telling me.”

“Because he doesn’t trust you?” she asks hopefully.

“Because I wasn’t there,” I say. “Because . . . because I left him to come here.”

Carnelian chews on her lip. “Why? Is it revenge? Against the Duchess?”

My jaw clenches and she smiles smugly. “Good. I hope you get her before the Black Keys burn this city to the ground.” She cocks her head. “It’s something more, though, isn’t it? Not just revenge . . .” She pauses, studying me. Then she gasps. “Of course. The surrogate. Whoever the Duchess stole to replace you. You’re here for her, aren’t you? Is she a friend of yours?”

“Something like that,” I say. Then I blurt out the question that’s burning in my throat. “If you knew the surrogate wasn’t me, why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“Oh, don’t think I didn’t try,” Carnelian says. “It was the perfect trump card to hold over her. But the Duchess plays dirty. She threatened to have me committed to an asylum if I so much as breathed a word.” Her mouth sets in a hard line. “I hope that whatever you’re planning, you make her suffer the way she deserves.”

“Aren’t you frightened?” I say. “You were nearly killed today.”

Carnelian’s laugh is hollow. “Even if I had died, no one would care. The Duchess would probably throw a parade.” She stares out the window. The sour mask she usually wears falls away, replaced with an expression of utter hopelessness. “It doesn’t matter to anyone whether I live or die.”

I remember what Ash said to me, when we were waiting in the morgue for Lucien to come. He told me Carnelian was sad, and that that sadness had been twisted into bitterness and anger. All the time I lived here, I saw her only as a nuisance. I saw the sullenness and ignored the grief and pain beneath it.

Because she’s right. No one in this palace would care if she had died today.

All the hatred and resentment I’ve held on to against Carnelian melts away. I see a girl who’s been put down and mistreated for so long. I see the girl Ash saw, the one I ignored because I was busy being jealous and petty. A girl who misses her mother. A girl who wants to be loved.

I make the decision then, to be brave, where once I was timid. To be a different person, a better person.

I move toward her and sit on the bed. She rolls her eyes.

“What, are we going to be best friends now?”

“No,” I say. “But we are on the same side.”

“What side is that?”

“We both hate the royalty, right?”

She narrows her eyes at me and waits.

“And we both love the same boy,” I say. I hold out my hands, palms up, as a peace offering. “You want to turn me in, do it. Ring the bell, call the Regimentals. My life is in your hands. You can end it right now.”

Carnelian hesitates. I can see the desire to cry out, to have me handcuffed and executed for treason. I know the danger I’ve put myself in. But I look into her brown eyes and sense the war going on inside. Who does she hate more, me or the Duchess? The seconds stretch into minutes. I won’t break the silence.

“Your name is Violet, right?” she says, finally.

“Yes.”

“Well. I guess I should thank you. For saving my life.”

“Ash never would have forgiven me if I didn’t try.”