Chapter Thirty-Eight

Gabe escorts Lore back to the apartments in silence, and Lore feels truly imprisoned for the first time in the Citadel. When Lore tries to unlock the door, Gabe reveals Anton has changed the lock. Inside, Lore realizes Gabe must have told Anton everything and that Anton had prepared for Lore’s confinement.

Gabe tries to stop Lore from rubbing her wrists raw, but Lore recoils and orders Gabe not to touch her. Their argument turns bitter: Gabe insists he went to Anton to keep Lore safe and stop Lore and Bastian from entering the catacombs, while Lore condemns Gabe for risking them all by trusting Anton without knowing Anton’s real agenda. Gabe admits that if protecting Lore meant Bastian was hurt, he accepted that cost.

The fight exposes deeper wounds between them. Lore accuses Gabe of clinging to Anton because of old need and guilt, and Gabe lashes out over Lore trusting Bastian with the truth of her past before she trusted Gabe. Lore says she hid her origins from Gabe because she feared Gabe would see her as a monster. Their connection fractures further, and Gabe leaves Lore locked in the rooms until just before the eclipse ball.

Lore falls asleep in the study and dreams of the blue ocean again, but this time Lore can speak. A strange figure says Lore’s time is near and pulls black smoke from Lore’s chest into the sky. The figure shifts through Cedric, the dead child from the vaults, and Lore’s mother, speaking in an inhuman voice about someone who keeps trying, someone who cannot allow others to return, and how what is given can be used this time. Lore wakes in pain and terror.

Lore wakes in the early morning of her birthday, the day of the eclipse. Food left in the room confirms that no one will open the door until Lore is escorted to the ball, where August intends to use Lore’s Consecration and a ritual to take Lore’s and Bastian’s powers. Lore reflects on how easily she accepts Bastian’s life-magic and how, in the catacombs, Bastian commanded both life and death by using Lore as a dark counterpart to his light.

Lore spends the day isolated, anxious for Bastian and uncertain whether Anton will protect or exploit them. Lore drinks wine as the afternoon fades, and at half past seven Gabe returns with a garment bag. Gabe tells Lore to dress and says they will leave in twenty minutes; Lore pulls out a stark black lace and silk gown and prepares herself for the eclipse ball.