"Such a change in your demeanor from earlier."
My cheeks burned as I replayed that call. Aric had once called me a goddess, had said I'd felled armies. Yet, I'd sniveled like a child: I-I wanna come home. "Disregard everything that I said before."
"Enjoyed your dinner, then?"
"Did I ever! And the company too."
"Fauna was proud of that lion. You ate her symbolic creature, the beast that marks her card, her very tableau."
"And it was mm, mm good! Please give her our compliments. I just don't know what she did to raise such a tender lion, but the meat was exceptional." Joules snickered. "Food on the road can be a wonderful surprise. You should get out more."
In the background I heard wolves howling. Lark howling.
"You enrage the Queen of Beasts at your peril. She's hunting you even now."
"She'd already been hunting me. She believes--wrongly--that I killed Finn."
"Still in denial, poisoness?"
"I'd love to chat and receive some more servings of your hatred, but I'd rather catch up with Jack."
"Have you told him about our fictitious offspring?" His dry laugh gave me goose bumps.
"I plan to."
Jack called, "Tell him I'm about to get real cozy with his wife. If he doan like that, then he should come do something about it. Tell him to quit hiding behind that sphere comme un lache." Like a coward.
I could hear Aric crushing something. Could he be lured out from that castle? "Oh, Death doesn't care what I do. He forsook me. Destroyed the ring I made for him. Guess I'm single now."
"The mortal courts his doom," Aric grated. "You want him so much, I'll take both of your heads with one strike."
"You'll have to come find us first."
"Which is just what you want. You won't taunt me into action, Empress."
Then why even make that comment? Was he worried he might be goaded into doing something rash? Silence stretched between us. As I wondered what he was thinking, my temper began to fade. Though I'd eaten and regenerated, my emotions still seemed to be all over the place. Pregnancy emotions were supposed to be crazy, right?
Thanks, kid. The gift that kept on giving.
I told the guys, "I'll be back in a minute." Ignoring Jack's frown, I walked out of the cave into the freezing dark.
"Listen, Aric." I kept my voice low. "You once told me that you wished for the impossible: for me to have chosen you. If you come for me now"--I squeezed my eyes closed--"I'll choose you." Somehow I said those words, even as my chest ached at the thought of having to say good-bye again to Jack.
But I'd made a commitment to Aric. We were having a kid, for God's sake.
If Aric could grapple against the Hanged Man's influence long enough to give us a chance, I'd honor my commitment. If he couldn't, I'd still fight to free him. "We began a life together, and I'll return to it, despite the fact that Jack saved me and our kid. Despite the fact that you tried to end us."
"Do you recall when I told you that Death was all I'd ever be to you? You used your powers to mesmerize me, but I now have control of my faculties once more. All of your lies will fall away, like slings against my armor."
"I could have killed you, but I didn't. Remember when I clawed you but didn't inject poison? And when I knocked you unconscious but didn't hurt you?"
"All a ploy. As your grandmother advised, you kept me on as your protector. Yet now I'll be your downfall, Empress. As I've been twice before."
Fury surged so swiftly it took me off guard. I feared that just as I'd fallen in love with him, I could fall back into hate. "Not unless you come to me. Oh, but you're too scared to face me. Pity." Borrowing his words, I said, "Our game is no fun--if you're weak." Click.
Collecting myself, I returned to the cave. Three questioning glances greeted me. "I had to hang up on him."
Joules laughed. "He's goin' to be stewing now."
Enough to come find me? "Today Paul's alliance is winning a little less. Let's continue our streak and get to the shore."
21
Day 551 A.F.
Still in the #$@#%*! foothills
"That is how you hail Circe?" Jack asked with a chuckle. I'd been kicking waves and yelling along the shore of a medium-size lake. "Thought there'd be some kind of priestess summoning ritual or something."
My throat was hoarse, and I was out of breath. All I'd done was make ripples across the still surface. "Common misconception."
We'd been driving late into the night when Joules had spotlighted water not far off the road. Though we were making better time, we remained in the foothills. The lake was in a bowl of rock, a crater with three high sides.
Bleary-eyed Kentarch had been all too ready to stop. Snow had fallen on and off, and he'd had to teleport the truck past several gridlocked wrecks, which always weakened him.
Jack had offered to take the wheel earlier, but Kentarch politely declined. As Joules put it, "Nobody drives the Chariot's chariot but the Chariot."
He and Kentarch were currently in the cab, catching up on sleep.
I was glad for this time alone with Jack--but now I could no longer put off telling him about the baby.
"How about we head up to that bluff and drop some big rocks in?" Jack asked. The light snow had tapered off, and a white-dusted trail wound up the rise.
"Hike?" Even with all the lion I'd eaten--and kept down--my energy level had ebbed from the initial high I'd felt. This resource-suck kept my body weak.
"Unless you want to rest up some in the truck?"
I needed a time-out from the Beast. "No, let's go."
As we started along the trail, I peered up at Jack's tall form beside me. Would I ever get used to the sight of him? All day I'd fought the urge to pinch myself. Whenever he'd caught me staring, he would wink at me or grab my hand just to squeeze.
He was alive. He was back with me. As ever, I wondered how he would react to my news. I kept replaying that night in Finn's cabin when he'd told me, "There is nothing that can happen to you that we can't get past."
We'd proved that again and again.
When Jack and I reached the bluff, we sat at the edge with our legs hanging over, just as we had at the old mill the night of my sixteenth birthday party. The lake was beautiful, ringed with ice, mirroring the lightning-lit sky. How long before it froze over completely?
"Feel like I haven't seen you in hours." He took my hand in his, and that easy compatibility flowed between us.
God, how I'd missed this.
"Smell that honeysuckle, would you?" He cast me his rakish grin, sexy as ever. "I'm a happy man, me."
It shouldn't feel this right. I was married. In a way. I loved Aric. Yes, my husband wanted me dead and had decapitated me twice, but all relationships had issues, right?
On the other hand, my breath hitched every time I looked at Jack's face. How could I so desperately want to be reunited with Aric, and at the same time yearn to run away with Jack?
Gazing down at my face, he asked, "What's goan on behind those pretty eyes?"
I cleared my throat to reveal all but chickened out. "You, um, seem to be hitting it off with the Chariot."
Earlier, Joules and I had rested in the back of the truck while Jack and Kentarch sat up front, talking with a relaxed camaraderie about weapons and hunting and potential modifications for the Beast.
Just before I'd dozed off, Kentarch had told him, "I know what everyone thinks--that it's futile to hope my wife still lives. But you came back from the dead. It makes me believe even more strongly that I will reunite with her."
"I came back to a different situation." Jack had no idea just how different. "Are you prepared for whatever you get?" They'd grown quiet, both lost in thought.
Now Jack said, "I like Kentarch, but I doan want you alone with him. Gabe offered him a deal: you for Issa."
Oh, shit. "Do they have his wife?"
"Non, but I'd be surprised if they aren't searching for her, in addition to you."
"Ke
ntarch would never willingly submit to mind control."
"He doan have to join the alliance; just has to make the exchange. I respect him, but I also understand his motives. In his situation, I'd hand over an Arcana I barely knew for you. Do it in a heartbeat."
Because Jack was steadfastly loyal--even to a fault. And yet I was keeping a huge secret from him. "I'll be careful around Kentarch."
Satisfied nod. "So did your grand-mere teach you about the game?"
"She did. She had the Empress chronicles." Which I had completely forgotten about from my early childhood. "I learned that Matthew killed me in the first game. I was in an alliance with him, and he betrayed me."
"Coo-yon? You kidding me?" When I shook my head, he said, "I told you I barely recognized him when he came to rescue me. My vision was blurred, but when I looked at him, I thought I was seeing another person. He was like a sosie, an evil double."
"That's how it was with Aric! There was so much hatred in his eyes. Though, to be fair, I deserved a lot of that hatred. In the past, I was the sosie; I was as bad as they come. Jack, what if I turn that way again?" I recalled when I'd once thought, I AM the red witch! Evie is a sliver of ME! "What if I'm evil to the bone?"
I'd asked Aric this same question. Instead of answering me, he'd told me he'd had an errant thought.
Jack shook his head firmly. "In this life, you fight hard and ruthlessly for the people you love. No blame in that."
"Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how I am in this game. Paul read every word of my chronicles, so now he gets to telepathically inform everyone how I screwed them over in the past. You know, my grandmother was unstable toward the end, but she predicted that Aric would turn on me, that they all would. How prophetic was that?"
"But they didn't want to turn on you. They didn't make a choice to betray you. The Reaper would normally die for you, which I can always hope for."
I raised a brow. "Jack, Aric might not truly be brainwashed. Well, not only brainwashed." I explained what Paul had told me, about working with what was already there. "I don't believe the Hanged Man can manufacture that much bitterness and mistrust. Aric's resentment must have always been there."
Latent, like a seed with terrible potential.
"As much as I doan want to say this, I know Death loves you."
"Not enough to overcome Paul's reach."
"Did coo-yon not warn you about an Arcana this powerful? One you couldn't kill?"
"When we talked about how to identify the inactivated card, he told me, 'Don't ask, if you ever want to know.' Maybe he meant never to ask the card himself, considering that Paul has the power of trust manipulation. Sterling advice." I really didn't miss Matthew's decoder-ring talk.
Jack tilted his head. "What did you do in the next game after coo-yon killed you?"
"He deeply regretted his actions and vowed never to win again, so I allied with him, telling myself I'd dispose of him in time. But that never really worked out for me." Since I kept dying. "I've always felt close to Matthew, but maybe he steered me toward that." Though he didn't possess emotion manipulation--at least, I didn't think so--he could've affected my memories of the past. "I don't know how I feel about him. I can't decide."
"You doan have to decide, doan have to know how you feel. Peekon, how about we just kick that can down the road?"
I couldn't help but smile. "I missed you, Jack."
His answering grin faded when he asked, "How was married life? With Dominija?" He glanced away and tossed a rock.
"He really tried to be a good husband and make me happy, and in some ways, I was." Strangely, Jack's return made my feelings for Aric even keener. Everything felt keener, my emotions brimming. At last, I could loosen the tourniquet. "But I was also devastated from losing you."
"I saw your reaction in Matthew's vision." His voice grew rumbly with emotion. "I always wanted to make a difference, to matter. When you crafted that tombstone, I felt important, me. In a way I never had before."
"Even with your army and your leadership?"
"Even then." He tossed another stone. "Before the Flash, I never much thought that I'd be . . . missed."
"God, you were." I swallowed. "When Aric first learned all I'd done to bring you back, he was gutted. Not only had I chosen you, I'd refused to surrender you and accept him, even after you'd 'died.'"
"But eventually, you did."
"Eventually."
"How'd that work with the game? Was I right when I predicted Death had a patsy?"
"Yes." Arcana intrigues: one of the reasons I'd initially chosen Jack over Aric. "He was going to let Lark win after he and I had lived a long life together. But with Richter closing in, we reevaluated our chances of survival and decided to get a memory spell so we wouldn't kill each other in future games. Now everything's changed. Gran said that the earth won't come back until the game is over. And she believed the only way to end it is for all of us to die, save one. If that's true . . ." Death and I truly shouldn't be together. I rubbed my temples. "Richter will probably win anyway."
"We can't let that happen, bebe."
"Aric and I planned to go out in a blaze of glory to stop him. And I can finally admit that kind of thinking on my part came about because I'd lost you." Now I was pregnant. Now nothing made sense. "A few weeks ago, Aric wanted me to talk all about you. To grieve. I worried I would hurt him with my tears, so I put it off."
He'd wanted to know why the snow made me sad and what the red ribbon meant. I'd left it in my drawer at the castle. Was it gone forever?
Jack looped his arm around me. "I'm back. I'm right here."
I leaned into him, and for long moments, we just enjoyed the sweet stillness. Then cold kissed my cheek. A snowflake. The first of many.
Jack and I raised our faces to watch the flurries. For once, I had no reason to be sad.
The night I'd lost him, I'd been a heartbeat away from expressing my feelings for him. No more regrets. I drew back to face him. "When I was riding after you from Fort Arcana, I'd just raised that walkie-talkie to tell you something when all hell broke loose."
"What was it?"
I swallowed. "I love you, Jack. I never got to say those three words to you."
His eyes briefly slid shut, as if he wanted to savor this moment. "Waited a long time to hear that."
"I thought I'd never get the chance to tell you."
Holding my gaze, he cupped my face. "I knew. I heard it in your voice on that recording of your life story. I felt it when we slept together. The tombstone you made me removed any doubt."
Oh, yeah. I'd engraved I love you at the end of the epitaph. "So this is old news, huh?"
"You saying those words gives me a thrill down to my soul. I wish I could hear them for the rest of my life--because I am gone for you, Evie. Je t'aimerai toujours." Brows drawn, he eased down to kiss me, and I wanted him to.
I wanted his warmth and reassurance. I wanted my heart to thunder from something other than dread.
His lips pressed against mine, and that fire between us burned hot as ever. I channeled all my emotions--my fear, my missing him, my elation that he was still alive--into that kiss.
He gripped my nape, pulling me closer, until we shared breaths. He caught my moans with his lips. His deep-chested groans made my toes curl in my boots.
Gods, he feels so good. Missed him so much. My Jack is alive. I tunneled my fingers into his hair, frowning as some nagging worry intruded on our kiss. What is it? Something's not right.
The ring.
I was wearing a wedding ring that had belonged to Aric's mother. I pulled back. "Wait. I can't."
Between breaths, Jack said, "Listen to me. I know you love Dominija too. I know you were with him. Doan care. We still got a connection."
Would it survive my revelation? "Jack, I have to tell you something."
"I need to tell you something too."
As I gathered my courage, I waved him on.
"After escaping the slavers, I was in a bad way, m
e. I thought the fever was goan to take me for true. Matthew dragged me out into a snowbank to bring my temperature down. I was delirious, but Evie, I swear I could touch you, see you, smell you. I was talking to you. Reaching for you."
My eyes widened. "When was this? I broke down one night, lying in the snow, and I imagined kissing you!"
Surprise lit his face. "I imagined every snowflake was your lips." His gaze took in my thunderstruck expression. "We're connected, Evangeline. We can't deny it."
I shook my head. "I don't. So what do we do now?"
"I still believe we've got to get you into that castle. But what if we can't cure Dominija of the Hanged Man's influence? He might not ever return to normal."
"What are you saying? Are we talking about killing Aric? Because if so, this conversation ends now."
"The Hierophant's brainwashed followers still want revenge against you--even after the bastard died."
I hadn't considered that.
"Death might always want your head, might always carry that hatred toward you. I'm saying that I'll take out any threat to you."
"It's more complicated than that." How to put this? "Jack, you need to know something."
"You can tell me anything." His steady gaze reassured me. "Nothing you say can change how I feel about you."
Here goes freaking everything. "I'm . . . the thing is . . . when I thought you were--"
"Hold on." He held a finger over his lips.
I whispered, "What is it?"
"I think I hear a Bagger." He shot to his feet, then pulled me to mine. His gaze darted as he readied his bow. "Over there." He pointed out a pile of rocks a short distance away on the same bluff.
"Did it bury itself?" We knew from experience that they liked to burrow.
"It kind of looks like a makeshift grave."
The rock pile rose and shifted, stones sliding off into the lake. A skeletal hand jutted up. Then another.
"Let's go, Jack!"
He took aim with his bow. "Not till I kill it." Naturally. Jack and Baggers.
Wait, was the creature waving at us? Almost like it was shooing us away. When its decomposed head poked up, ash-covered skin peeled from exposed bone. Couldn't tell if it was male or female.
Was it my imagination, or did the Bagger's one remaining eye look frantic? Wait. Sol was trying to communicate with us through this creature! "Don't--" I slapped Jack's arm just as he pulled the trigger. The arrow missed the Bagger's forehead, hitting its throat.