Page 60 of Quarter Labyrinth

Fifty coppers would feed me and Mother for a long time. My fingers curled around the necklace. “Why do you care so much?”

“Because of Dimitri. I’m not planning to kill Callahan. I’m going to kill his daughter, coincidentally the last person to wearthat necklace. So tell me, Seaweed, how did you come to acquire Allison Dellado’s necklace?”

I might as well have fallen off the parapet with how fast my head spun. The world tilted below me, throwing me off balance, plunging my reality into unknown waters.

I’d never been more grateful not to have inherited my mother’s appearances.

So this was Dimitri’s revenge. He sought to kill his first love’s descendants, but it wasn’t Callahan.

It was my mother.

She’d left that part out of her bedtime stories. All this time, I’d been focused on my father’s name. She’d changed her last name, but Leif had to mean her. Why had my mother hidden herself away all these years from her father? Surely Callahan could have protected Gerald’s wife and daughter.

What if my father didn’t protect us from those who sought to bring us harm, but hide us from those who loved us?

Nothing felt certain anymore. A rock settled in my gut, sour and sharp, making it hard to swallow.

My words came weakly. “Dimitri wants to kill Allison?”

“He’s convinced he can smell her in the air. Says she’s entered the labyrinth. If I show him the necklace, along with your tale of how you got it, I can convince him she’s not here.”

The truth sat in front of Leif. He’d put it together soon. How I got the necklace. Who I was.

Dimitri cansmellme.

Leif swung from the wall, forcing me to drop with him. We were safe—finally across the parapet and on a solid podium witha steep slide leading back into the labyrinth. I recollected my weapons, feeling lightheaded enough to tip off the edge.

The shackle around our ankles disappeared. If I fell now, Leif would be fine.

He blocked the slide, taking his sword from its sheath.

White-hot anger flashed through me. “I thought you said you weren’t a killer.”

He held out a hand. “The necklace and the truth. Now.”

“Perhaps Allison made copies, and that’s why you think its the same. I bought this for two coppers from a street merchant on Providence.”

“Impossible. Gerald Montclair killed Allison seventeen years ago.”

I gripped the pommel of my sword, my fingers digging into the metal, letting the feeling ground me. My mouth opened and closed wordlessly before I formed anything coherent. “But—if she’s dead—I thought you said Dimitri wanted to kill her?”

“I told you. He thinks he smells her. What he smells is your necklace, which I will take even if I have to slice your head off to get it.”

No. That was too much. And I’d gone too long without being in control. Whatever happened seventeen years ago, I’d figure the truth out on my own. It wasn’t what he thought. My father didn’t kill my mother. He married her.

For now, Leif was becoming a problem.

Dimitri would be another problem.

But this necklace wouldn’t leave my neck. I lifted my hands to the clasp of my jewelry. The motion captured his attention. His blade lowered.

Before he could blink, I dropped the necklace and shoved him as hard as I could.

TWENTY-EIGHT

I catapulted myself over the edge, onto the slide, and down as quickly as I could. Safety no longer meant solid ground. It meant away from Leif.

I was vaguely aware of him regaining his balance to throw himself down the slide behind me. I used my hands to push me faster. The labyrinth rushed up to meet me. Shades of green and the scent of turned earth, welcoming me back.

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