Legendary (Caraval, #2)

by Stephanie Garber

Above, a citrine chandelier greeted Tella with the musical sounds of kissing glass, making it easy for her to imagine the suite was a bewitched portal to another world.

CAUTION: SOME NOTES FROM THE REREAD, most are from my first read through but there are some sprinkled in that may include spoilers for the entire series AND the entirety of Ouabh series

Today she pretended a wicked queen was holding a young elfin prince captive, and to save him, she needed to steal her mother’s opal ring,

The name at the bottom of this one was The Prince of Hearts. It showed a young man with a face made of angles, and lips as sharp as two knife blades. One hand near his pointed chin clasped the hilt of a dagger, and red tears fell from his eyes, matching the blood staining the corner of his narrow mouth.

And Tella didn’t want her sister further hurt because Tella had chosen to have some fun with a boy who’d been so cruel to Scarlett during the game.

She'd def forgiven him already

Julian answered against Scarlett’s ear, too low for Tella to hear. Whatever he said made Scarlett blush.

Ugh i want more of Scars pov

The only other passenger was a golden-haired young man Tella didn’t recognize.

Tehehehehe

He was only a few years older than her, yet he looked as if he’d spent centuries practicing disinterest.

That be true my love

“If you don’t wish to ride with me, you can get out,” she said. The young noble responded with a mild tilt of his golden head, followed by a slow curl of narrow lips as if he’d bitten into a mealy part of his apple.

I'm literally Tella, youll never catch me being bullied by a man let alone a blond man (EDIT: who i happen to be irrevocably in love with during this reread)

Just leave the coach, warned a voice in her head. He’s more dangerous than he looks.

He is but hes also sexy asf

“I’ve heard Legend’s performers never truly die. So maybe I’ll push you out to see if the rumors are true?”

JACKS PLEASE

This earned her a flash of dimples that might have been charming, yet somehow they managed to look unkind, like a winking gemstone in the hilt of a double-edged sword.

Oh jacks loves this very much

he was just the sort of handsome that hurt to look at, the devastating type of lovely that would slit your throat while you were busy staring into its cold quicksilver eyes.

hehehehehehe

from the corner of her gaze she saw the young man close his eyes as they passed over Valenda’s renowned districts.

Jacks is such a roadtrip napper as we also see in Ouabh

She liked the thrill that came with taking risks. She loved the feeling of doing something bold enough to make her future hold its breath while she closed her eyes and reveled in the sensation that she’d made a choice

I LOVE how Garber writes

Dante’s lips twisted into something like a smirk. “Of course she did.” “Are you saying she was lying?”

Why am i on my knees for this man

“What a coincidence, that’s the same way I see young men.” Dante held her gaze for a moment and then he laughed, the same deliciously low sound that always made her stomach tumble.

They’re perfect for each other

warm lips brushing her hair and making other traitorous parts of her jealous as he said, “I do whatever my job requires.” Cocky son of a witch.

hahahhahahahahha

“But have you heard it tonight?” Dante’s voice dropped as he brushed closer, fingers grazing the petals on her dress.

He's obsessed w her

“Is this because you don’t have my payment?” Jacks looked down on her with a smile so disturbing it could have made an angel weep.

OP

“I don’t wish to wed you. I only need you to pretend you’re my fiancée until the end of Caraval. Once the game is over, we can say our engagement was part of it and dissolve it with no harm done.”

WE LOVE A FAKE ENGAGEMENT DANTE FINNA BE SO JEL

Few things were quite so brutal as critical ladies.

Ain't that the truth

“The only thing you should think about is that you’re more desirable than anyone else in this room. Every person here wishes they were you.” “You’re definitely giving yourself too much credit now.”

lmaoooo

His laughter was surprisingly disarming. “Then tell yourself everyone wishes they were me, dancing with you.” With a grin he must have stolen from the devil,

Jacks would love if you told him that lmaooo

“I knew you could do this.” He brought his mouth to her ear and kissed the tip of it tenderly, as soft as the brush of a whisper. Her chest fluttered as his mouth dropped lower, and he kissed her again with a little more pressure, lips lingering at the delicate corner of her jaw and her neck. Tella’s fingers curled into his back.

JACKS

“Maybe we should give them something to really gossip about.” His knuckles brushed her collarbone, drawing her attention back to him. “Unless I still frighten you.”

IM DROOLING BRUH

“You never frightened me.” “Care to prove that?” Jacks’s bright eyes fell to her mouth. A dare.

SIR

He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels and bottles of fresh moonlight. Tella might have moaned against his lips as his tongue slipped between hers and explored.

:)))))))

It was the way people kissed behind locked doors and darkened alleys, not a kiss for lit dance floors where everyone in the Empire could see. Yet Jacks didn’t seem to care.

The way Jacks kissed her before he knew she would stay alive lmaooo

He wasn’t tasting her, he was devouring her,

This is sooo fkin hot bruh

She whimpered. He groaned.

Damn Jacks

It was the sort of kiss she could have lived in. The sort of kiss worth dying for.

A kiss worth dying for. Only one person in the history of the Empire had ever kissed like— Jacks bit her, sharp teeth digging into her lip hard enough to draw warm blood.

(:

In front of her Jacks seemed to glow. His skin had been pale but now it appeared otherworldly in its radiance.

his eyes had gone feverish around the edges, but his voice was lazy once again, almost dispassionate as he said, “Don’t cause a scene right here, my love.”

“I think it’s too late for that.” She wanted to call him by his name, the Prince of Hearts, but she wasn’t quite ready to utter the words out loud. His dimples reappeared, cunning this time, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

I'm so deeply in love with him

Instead, he licked the blood at the corner of his mouth. “You should have brought me Legend’s name.”

"this is your man?! look at the screen" "yeah that's mine and imma stick beside him"

Her own smile had never felt so wrong as she forced her lips to curve for the crowd. “I hate you,” she whispered. “Have I been unfair?” Jacks murmured. “I gave you what you asked for, now I want what I’m owed.”

I love donatella lmao

Now,” he said sweetly, “give my fingers a kiss for everyone still watching.” Tella bit them instead. They tasted like frost and wishes gone wrong.

hahahahahahahah

“I want my mother’s real name,” she said, “and proof you know where she is and that you’ll bring me to her after all of this is done. That’s the only way I’ll believe this is all real.”

I feel like her mother is a fate and the reason she had those cards

“Disappointed I’m not Jacks?”

Goddammit Dante has me in a chokehold

“Maybe I was going to tell you that you’re clever and funny and beautiful. I always thought you were too smart to marry a murderer.”

For centuries the Fates were locked away, but now they wish to come out and play. What if Jacks was one of the Fates who’d come out to— No. Tella refused to finish the thought.

How *did* jacks get out of his card?!

“If Jacks really was the Prince of Hearts, I’d already be dead from his kiss.”

not trying to poke holes but was Jacks able to do that? I know it’s bc tella didn't love him back but she’s still like kinda dying? In ouabh it seemed like it was something he couldn’t control, in here he’s making Tella “die” slowly? or is it unrelated? which would seem strange.

“I want to think you’re right,” Scarlett said. “But Julian promised not to lie to me at the end of Caraval, and he couldn’t even keep that vow for one day.”

Did he ACTUALLY lie tho?! Technically that was a mistake you made in believing the count wasn’t just a player

He leaned one jacketed elbow against a tarnished silver door, the color of disillusioned dreams and bad decisions. Or maybe he was the one who looked like a bad decision.

“Weren’t you the one who said you see girls the same way we see party dresses, only to be used once?” “Clearly I view you a little differently.” He reached for one of her errant curls and wound it around one tattooed finger,

I bark so hard when a man twirls a woman’s hair in his fingers

“You know I can’t do that.” “You could if you were Legend.” Dante’s voice rumbled with a laugh. “If I was Legend I’d definitely never tell you.” “Because you don’t trust me?”

“No,” he answered slowly, gently tugging her even closer. “I’d hold on to my secret because I’d want to keep playing the game with you, and if I told you the truth it would spoil all the fun.”

Tella stronger than me bc I’m on my knees for this man…I'm putty in his gods damn hands

People rarely looked each other in the eye for prolonged periods of time. There was almost something more intimate about it than touching.

“Definitely helping.” Dante began untwisting her hair, letting his warm fingers brush her neck, and then leaving them on her pulse as he whispered, “Even if I wasn’t Legend I would want you to win.”

“Even if I wasn’t Legend I would want you to win” DID HE JUST STRAIGHT UP TELL HER HERE