She yanked the hair. It was just one tug, but the entire glowing mane came off.
Evangeline gasped. It was fake. Petra’s real hair was a pile of pink, made of strands of rose with hints of gold.
“Your hair! It’s just—” Evangeline was going to say it was just like hers, but Petra didn’t give her the chance.
She pulled a second knife from the folds of her gown.
Evangeline threw the wig at Petra’s face, buying herself a heartbeat of time. Her head was telling her to flee. But she was getting very tired of people trying to kill her. Instead of running, she launched herself at Petra, grabbing her wrists while the girl was still blinded. “Why are you trying to murder me?”
The stone Evangeline wore surged once more with heat as she spoke.
Petra thrashed, still holding both knives, and shook the wig from her face. Sweat plastered rose-gold hair to her forehead, and anger mottled her cheeks as she fought both Evangeline and the power of the truth stone. “I know you’re also a key. And if I don’t kill you, you’ll kill me for my stone.”
“What stone do you have?”
“The youth stone—argh—” Petra glared at the chain around Evangeline’s neck. “Stop asking me questions!”
“Stop trying to kill me—I’m not your enemy.”
“Yes, you are.” Petra’s shoulders sagged, and for the briefest moment, she stopped her struggle. “I was just like you once. I was married to a prince until I was accused of a crime I didn’t commit. Then I learned about the prophecy, and I thought I was special—that everything had happened to me for a reason. I was the key—the one girl crowned in rose gold who could unlock the Valory Arch.” She shook her head and laughed without joy. “But neither of us are special, Evangeline. We are just tools others use. In fact, I bet they don’t even let you use the stones that you’ve found. Chaos wouldn’t let me use the one I managed to discover.”
Evangeline tried not to react. Chaos had told her that the last key had died—he’d said it had happened because the luck stone had made her reckless. But Evangeline didn’t think that Petra could be lying with the truth stone so near.
“How did you know I’m working with Chaos?”
“Because I worked with him. I found Chaos the luck stone,” Petra said, “but he didn’t trust me with it. He locked it away to keep it safe, rather than to keep me safe. So when I found the youth stone and realized that with it I could stay young and live forever, I faked my death and disappeared.” Her smile turned triumphant. “It was only then that I learned what all four stones could do together. But I’m guessing they didn’t tell you that part, did they?”
“Is that why you’re trying to kill me? So that you can get all four stones?”
“No!” Petra’s head reared back, and she looked entirely offended. “I just want to keep my stone. I’m telling you this so that you know you can’t trust them. But … I can already see you’re way too trusting.” Petra’s eyes shone with something sad, right before she pressed all her weight against Evangeline’s hands and slammed her body against the opposite wall.
Her teeth clacked as her head hit one of the statues.
“Please, stop this—” Evangeline cried, still struggling to hold Petra’s wrists. She didn’t want to hurt her, but Petra wouldn’t stop fighting. Petra bucked against Evangeline’s grip and nearly slashed Evangeline’s cheek with one of her knives, finally giving Evangeline the strength to grit her teeth and smash Petra’s knuckles into the wall hard enough to make her drop both blades.
The daggers clattered to the floor, skittering in opposite directions.
Evangeline didn’t want to scramble for one, but Petra didn’t hesitate to dart for the other and stalk after Evangeline. She wasn’t going to give up. Evangeline wondered if this was why she’d seen Petra sneaking around last night—if she hadn’t been coming from Jacks’s room but from Evangeline’s because she’d hoped to murder her in her sleep.
The torches flickered with each step Petra took, smoke snaking through the shrinking space between them.
“Stop, please.” Evangeline’s hands were slick with sweat and dread, but she grabbed the other knife and held it like a shield.
“I’m really not a bad person,” Petra repeated, and for a second, her eyes looked truly sorry, but she didn’t stop her steps or lower the knife. “It’s not that I want to do this, but as soon as I saw you here, I knew—”