The Caraval Complete Trilogy (Caraval, #1-3)

by Stephanie Garber

And, saints, did Dante know how to kiss.

me next, pretty pretty please

But he lied for a living, which made it difficult for Tella to trust him. Yet, as the pair stood there with their arms wrapped around each other, and their heads leaning closer together, they looked like two halves of the same heart.

all men are liars but i get her

Happiness made Scarlett even prettier.

i love scarlett

Tella found herself thinking of unrequited love and kisses worth dying for as she spun the Prince of Hearts luckless coin on the same bench Dante had. Why had her friend given her a relic from such an ancient myth? She hoped it wasn’t because he didn’t trust her and wanted to keep track of her.

unrequited love is so real

‘Despite my actions during Caraval, I don’t enjoy deceiving my sister.’ ‘But it’s hard to stop once you start.’

tsk tsk, of course you'd know what it's like. homeboy's been doing it for over a bloody century

Tella didn’t believe it for a heartbeat, and yet she couldn’t resist looking up at Dante and asking, ‘If the game is real, does that mean everything between us is real?’

love hate relationship with dante

‘If they were true, you’d already be dead.’ His lips remained pressed against her hair. To anyone they passed it probably looked as if he was truly enamored, on the verge of inappropriate, almost as if he were trying to start more rumors. Tella didn’t know what she’d expected would happen if the heir found her, but it was definitely not this.

oh!

is it tho??

‘Then I suppose it’s good the man I’m looking for has never claimed to be a savior.’ Tella blew the vendor a kiss and delved farther into the crush of eager tourists, greedy traders, and enthusiastic Valendans participating in Caraval.

tella i love you so so bad

‘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, the black rose on the back of his hand spinning until it turned red beneath the ruby starlight. With every turn he drew her closer. He made it easy to ignore her achy legs and her dying heart.

wdym a little differently hoe. but a rose tattoo?? damn

The Prince of Hearts. The air in Tella’s lungs went arctic. He was truly inescapable. Armando chuckled, dry and mocking. ‘Unrequited love. It seems things with you and Dante won’t work out after all.’

jacks the man you are.. but why tf are you dissing tella and dante like that.

This was definitely a new side of Scarlett. Tella liked it.

best sister duo, argue w the wall hoe!

Even if I wasn’t Legend I would want you to win.

but you are mate?? as i said, all men are liars

Her mother hadn’t left merely because Tella had turned over a particular card; she’d fled because Tella had found the cards, and the cards were even more powerful and dangerous than Tella had ever imagined.

gosh tella, the power you hold (over me)

‘No wonder a witch put you inside a card, I’d imprison you just to shut you up,’ Tella slurred. Her entire body was screaming, she was still on the ground, but until this point her claws had kept the Handmaidens from fully grabbing and subduing her. She just needed to keep fighting long enough for someone else to come.

tella ate!!

She’d once bet her life on her sister’s love. She’d kissed the Prince of Hearts and still lived. These Fates would not kill her tonight. Every Fate had a weakness. Jacks’s weakness was his one true love; the one who could make his heart beat again. Her Handmaidens were merely puppets of the Undead Queen, who possessed the terrifying ability to control those pledged in service to her.

homegirl's invincibleee

‘Who did this to you?’ he asked.

sold.

‘I lied to you in the dress shop,’ Tella said. ‘You were right about Jacks …’ She forced her eyes open once again. Her head was spinning. The world was spinning. All she wanted was for it to stop. For everything to stop. ‘I shouldn’t have kissed him,’ she mumbled. ‘I don’t even know why I kissed him. I didn’t really care if he kicked me out of the palace for lying. I think I wanted to make you jealous.’ ‘It worked,’ Dante said roughly.

not dante admitting he's jealous ahahahha

‘Good girl.’ It was one of the voices from before, but now that some of her pain had dulled Tella could add a name. Julian. ‘That should be enough.’ The second voice was lower and more commanding. Dante. Tella’s heart beat even faster. An instant later there was no more blood. The pain was still present but it was dulled to an aching. ‘Find her sister.’ Dante again. ‘Get her into Tella’s room at the palace. I don’t want her to wake up alone.’

why don't you stay with her stupid

A pause followed, extended in a way that made Tella fear her hearing had failed her until Julian’s voice broke the quiet. ‘You really care about her?’ Another pause. ‘I care about finding those cards, and she’s our best hope for it, brother.’

the grand reveal

You’d be so uncontrollably in love with me, you’d do whatever I asked without question.’

add me to the list jacks

Tella didn’t even bother to hold back her laugh. ‘No power on earth could make me fall in love with you.’

standing on business

‘Monsters are going to be given power no matter how this story ends,’ Jacks said pleasantly. ‘What do you think will happen to Legend if he destroys us and acquires all of our magic? I like power, but no human or immortal should have that much of it. If Legend gets what he wants, he’ll be a greater villain than the world has ever seen.’ ‘So you believe the game is real?’

okay jacks go off ig

lot can change in three days,’ Scarlett said.

true

‘Other people might underestimate you, Donatella, but I don’t.’

preach

‘Does that mean I can take it apart somewhere else?’ His low voice oozed dark promises. Tella swatted him with the rope. ‘I’m only joking.’ Dante held up both hands with a surprisingly unguarded grin. ‘I wasn’t planning on undressing you here or anywhere else. But we’re going to have to fix your sheet if you want to get inside.’

oh!

‘Are you sure? For a moment you stopped breathing. Or do I just have that effect on you?’ His lips brushed past her ear, tickling the tender space near the edge of her jaw as he let out a low chuckle. She would have smacked him if her dress wouldn’t have fallen to the ground. ‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’

i love literature

‘I guess you could say she left me with the circus.’ ‘Are you talking about Caraval?’

don't worry dante you are the circus

Dante’s gaze caught on fire and he took her mouth with his. This was nothing like the drunken kiss they’d shared on the forest floor, a rough combination of lust and desire for temporary entertainment. This kiss felt like a confession, brutal and raw and honest in a way kisses rarely were. Dante wasn’t trying to seduce her; he was convincing her just how little goodness mattered, because nothing he was doing with his hands could have been considered good. Yet every brush of his lips was sweet. Where others had demanded, Dante asked, slowly sweeping his mouth across hers until she parted her lips, letting his tongue slip inside as he pulled her onto his lap.

he wants her so bad

Maybe the fountain’s enchantment was at work because Tella imagined by the time she finished kissing Dante, she’d forget every other boy who’d ever touched her mouth. Dante’s lips moved to her jaw, gently nipping and licking as his hands found the rope he’d tied around her waist. Knotting his fingers with it, he pulled her closer, until everything was made of just the two of them. Of their hands and their lips and the places their skin met. They hadn’t even broken apart and Tella was already thinking of kissing him again, and again, tasting not merely his lips but every single one of his tattoos and scars, until the world ended and they were nothing but shadows and smoke, and Tella could no longer remember the sensation of slipping the cloak from his shoulders and running her hands along

my couple fr

his back. Or how it tasted when his lips spoke words against her mouth that felt like promises she hoped he’d keep. And for the first time in her life Tella wanted even more. She wanted the night to stretch into forever, and for Dante to tell her more stories about Fates, and his past, and anything else he wanted to say. In that moment, inside of that...

uh oh

Tella claimed she didn’t want love – she liked to say love trapped and controlled and ripped hearts apart. But the truth was she also knew love healed and held people together, and deep down she wanted it more than anything.

i am tella, tella is me

Tella really was the villain after all.

she's hot tho

don’t trust myself,’ she admitted.

neither

Tella took a ragged breath. When Dante was gone she wanted him there. When he was there she wanted him close. She liked the feel of his hands and the sound of his voice. She liked the things he said, and she wanted to believe them. She wanted to trust him. She just wasn’t sure that she did. ‘Yes,’ she said, hoping that by saying the words it would make it true. ‘I do trust you.’

do you really babe

Tella snorted. ‘Don’t act like you have a conscience.’ Jacks sliced off the last bit of skin from his apple and took a deep bite. ‘Just because my moral code is different than yours doesn’t mean I don’t have one.’ ‘Maybe you should reevaluate it,’ Tella said. ‘By most people’s standards, killing someone is worse than breaking a person’s confidence.’

jacks, how dare you even think you are on the same level tella is. she is the better blonde by miles and you're just some weak, pathetic, manipulative worthless little scumbag. don't play with me rn

He effortlessly evaded her again. His cruel face appeared bored. But Tella swore she felt the blood rushing through his veins, heating the hands still encircling her wrists. He might have appeared indifferent, but his heart was beating as fast as hers. Tella stopped mid-kick. His heart was beating. She stumbled back and he let her go. ‘You have a heartbeat.’ ‘No. My heart hasn’t beat in a very long time. You’re the one who’s delusional now.’ His voice was colder than she’d ever heard it, yet the chill

jacks in his delusional era

it brought did not erase the searing memory of his hot hands around her wrists. ‘I might be a lot of things, but I know what I felt,’ Tella said. Only one person could make it beat again: his one true love. They said his kiss had been fatal to all but her – his only weakness … ‘I made your heart beat,’ Tella crowed. It was wild and absurd, a truly feral idea. But Tella felt the truth in her heartbeat as well, which now sped up rather than slowed. Beat. Beat. Beat. Beat. Beat. Beat. Beat. It had never felt so strong. So free. ‘I’m your one true love. Your kiss can’t kill me.’

tella kill him right now

‘This changes nothing.’ Jacks’s expression turned so sharp that a fistful of knives would have looked soft in comparison. But Tella was used to his mercurial looks. They couldn’t hurt her, and neither could his poisonous lips. ‘No,’ Tella said. ‘This changes everything.’

"this changes everything" PREACH!! END THAT HOE

‘You called me a monster and even I think that’s cold, Donatella.’

homeboy you better calm tf down because who do you think you are. first of all, you are a monster. you're a manipulative, conniving little witch! you and your damn circus be pissing me off lately, i'm gonna shift into your world and stab you 1000 times. try be immortal you dog

Tella wasn’t usually one to make safe choices.

true

and Tella would be damned before she allowed any of them to use her like a pawn on a game board again.

stand on business girlll

Winning the game will come at a cost you will later regret.

looking at dante is gonna be everyone's biggest regret because he's horrifically, disgustingly ugly

‘I don’t want to talk to you,’ she said. ‘I want to talk to Legend.’ ‘Then open your eyes and speak to me.’ Her legs gave out. His arms snaked around her, keeping her steady while the world she knew broke into pieces. Dante was Legend. Legend was Dante.

i knew it dawg. since the first book bruh

They kissed as if the world were ending, lips crashing together as if the heavens were breaking and the ground was crumbling, as if a war raged all around them and this kiss was the only thing mighty enough to stop it. As long as they kissed, only she and Dante existed.

oh!

It was so brutally unfair.

i know

‘What did you promise them?’ Tella asked. ‘It doesn’t matter. I did it for you and I’d do it again.’ Dante rotated his wrist until somehow he was holding her hand. He still hadn’t even looked at the cards. He dark eyes stayed fixed on her as if she were his prize. And, damn her, she believed him. It was so very wrong.

the way he'd do anything for her efoifpf2ojiifpk;ljls'

And maybe he imagined that if Jacks arrived he could beat him in a battle. Either way, Tella still lost her mother or she lost Dante.

aww shucks

She’d underestimated Love in the past. She’d imagined the romantic sort to be a stronger type of lust – but this moment had nothing to do with lust and everything to do with caring more about saving Dante and her mother than saving herself. It made her fearless in a way she’d never been.

i love you tella i'll forever defend you

And since her story wasn’t going to have a happy true ending, at least she could try for one last good moment during her almost-ending.

aww