Page 81 of Us in Ruins

“What?” Van croaked. If anything, his grip on the shard tightened.

“I’m not letting you sabotage my plan any more than you already have.” Astrid shook the bag, the clay shards jangling inside. “So, either give me your shards, or I’ll release Enzo and let Charon add you to his collection.”

Enzo whimpered behind them, “Can’t you let me out anyway?”

All it had taken was a tube of Mac lipstick to outwit Enzo, but Margot had no intention of saying that part out loud. What she needed was all five shards in one place, and if handing them over to Astrid was the only way to do it, it was a risk she was willing to take.

Margot dropped her shard in first, trying to ignore the way Van watched her every move. The way it made her skin feel electrified. Astrid held the open pouch to him. Waiting. His shoulders sagged with a sigh. Reluctant fingers released his shard, and it clanged down with the rest.

Astrid rolled her eyes. “I hate group projects. Let’s just get this over with.”

She turned to exit, and Margot moved to follow, vaguely wondering if Van was right about it being dangerous—with all five shards in the temple, would the guardians have a heyday? Not to mention, there was that whole risk of her classmate trying to turn her to stone.

“Margot, wait. Wait.” Van caught her by the arm, holding her back as Astrid raced ahead. “Fraternizing with an Ashby? Not a good idea. Trust me.”

She spun to meet his chest. “Me? What about you?”

His jaw tightened. “I’m only doing what I have to. You know that.”

Margot ground her heels, staking herself to the spot. “If you’re going with her, so am I. Don’t try to tell me to stay behind because it’s not going to convince me. We’re partners, and partners don’t give up on each other.”

Fear flashed through Van’s gaze. She knew it was a Herculean task for him. Trust was a language Van hadn’t spoken in a long time.

A hand swiped through his hair as his stare drilled into her. “I can’t let you do that.”

“You don’t get to choose for me,” she said.

During their staring match, a million unspoken things were said. Things like I give up on a lot of things, but I won’t give up on you (her) and You’re the most unbelievably troubling girl I’ve ever met (him).

Finally, a gauzy look glazed his eyes. Pliable and yielding. His grip on her arm loosened. “Okay. Okay, fine.” Van’s hand found hers, their fingers slotting together whether it was a good idea or not. “Honestly, I don’t know why I was surprised to find you here.”

For once, Margot was grateful to the catacombs for hiding the way she flushed beneath his touch. To be seen and known, she was still getting used to it. “I read your letter. The one that Astrid delivered. Was any of it even true? Or did you just lure me down here as bait?”

“Both.” He stepped closer, voice dropping. “You were right. I lied to you, and I shouldn’t have. I should have told you about the curse, about Astrid, about everything that night on the roof. I needed Astrid to believe I was only writing it as a trap so she could turn you into the statue, but every word I wrote was true, Margot. It was selfish to put you in harm’s way, but I needed you to know how I felt. In case everything went wrong.”

Margot breathed out through her nose. At the memory of his neat penmanship, a whirlpool of emotions swirled through her mind, a current she couldn’t fight and didn’t want to. The dark made her braver. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have left you.”

Van tilted her chin up. “But you came back. A part of me really hoped you wouldn’t. That you’d be a thousand miles away from here, away from all this. Safe. But then when I saw you...”

His thumb traced the plum of her cheek. Oh, my god. Was Van Keane going to kiss her?

Trying to hold back what she felt was pointless. There was more nervous adrenaline pumping through her veins now than at any of the previous trials. She felt everything at once. Wildfire and a whiff of smoke, something both scorching and smoldering, so bright it might burn her up.

His fingers curled around the back of her neck, and he tipped his forehead to meet hers. Everything smelled like salt and cypress, sandalwood and cinders. Orange light danced around them, flickering and flaring. This. This was what the romance novels had, what Isla and Reed must have felt deep in the ruins, what Margot had been dreaming of—

Astrid cleared her throat ahead of them. “Enough with the PDA,” she said. “I’ve got history to make.”

28

In the temple below the surface, everything was dust and stone, with the faint scent of long-cooled smoke lingering in the thin air. Margot’s flashlight sliced through the darkness as she led Van and Astrid past the mural of Venus. The goddess’s watchful eyes seemed to cry, Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?

They’d left Charon to babysit Enzo, but Margot tipped off a guard on their way out. While security was occupied with his search-and-rescue mission, it was that much easier to slip into Venus’s sanctuary unseen. Margot’s pulse had leapfrogged as the temple’s hidden door slammed shut behind them.

Now, all five pieces of the Vase were back in the Temple of Venus for the first time in nearly a century.

Reaching into his tool belt for a box of matches, Van touched the flame to the sill halfway up the temple wall. The familiar blaze twined around the nave, dripping the stones in dancing flamelight. The temple was crypt quiet, so much like the first time she’d entered, but Margot knew it wouldn’t last long.

The guardians stood sentry by the door, frozen in various forms of fight—Terra strung his bow, Aqua took careful aim, Ignis held an arrow over his shoulder like a spear, and Aura leaned around the corner, preparing to strike. Mors’s empty stone eye sockets bored into Margot, like he’d been waiting for them to return.

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