Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
“Indeed. I have stopped blaming Death for killing Calanthe. Though I doubt Patrick ever will.”
“Why did you three attack Domīnija in the first place?” Talk about a suicide mission.
“She said that we were all dead men walking unless we defeated him. Patrick agreed, and I followed him.”
That reminded me . . . “Have you read Calanthe’s chronicles? I sure would like to.” After Evie told me that Joules had them, we’d pressured the Tower to come off them. Stubborn Irishman wouldn’t budge.
“No, I have not, but Calanthe relayed everything written about me. You share Death’s keenness about them. I know where Patrick hid them, but I am sworn not to reveal their location.” And an honorable angel like him would never break his word.
“Did Calanthe tell you how you died in past games?”
“She must have predeceased me. It happens.”
“Yeah. Guess it does,” I said, my thoughts turning dark. I liked Gabe and Kentarch, and even Joules had his moments. I grudgingly liked Domīnija and respected the hell out of him. They all have to die if Evie is to live.
Unless we found a way to upend the game. “Did the people in your sect ever talk about finding a way out of the game?”
From what Joules had confided to me in Jubilee, Gabriel Arendgast had been kidnapped as a baby and raised by an off-off-grid cult, secluded from the rest of civilization, which explained why his words and clothes were old-timey. They’d worshipped him as their angelic savior, or something.
“The sectaires did not. They only spoke about my winning. I do not believe my chronicles had anything in them either.” According to Joules, his had been lost in a fire long ago, along with his sword. In past lives, Gabe had been a swordsman to equal even Domīnija.
“Do you think there’s a way out? Maybe Tee’s birth will affect the game?”
Seeming to choose his words with care, he said, “Alas, I do not believe his birth will alter anything. You heard me tell Evie that the game is spinning to an end. I know it; Death knows it. After winning so many times, he must feel it. Only one can be the victor.”
I should’ve hashed this out before I’d left with Gabe, but . . . “Who’re you liking for that podium?”
A hint of a smile. “I have no desire for immortality, and I am sworn never to harm your Empress, hunter. I favor her to win. She must. Which means you will be reunited with her soon.”
Part of me leapt at the thought of getting Evie and Tee back. But another part of me saw the logical progression of the game. “There’s got to be a way to stop this.”
“You wouldn’t want to reclaim your fair lady?”
“Not if that means you all die. Tee’s father dies.” Losing Domīnija might break Evie beyond repair. Matthew’s death alone could sink her.
“And yet, it will happen.” Gabe resumed his spotlight duty when we closed in on a snarl of busted-up cars. “Domīnija retained his castle and the Empress for now, but his intentions are still for you to raise his son.”
When Domīnija had outlined his plan, he’d said as much. “But it is possible for the game to go on for years, right? If so, Death can get to know his kid.”
“’Tis possible. In this world, anything is.” Gabe shrugged his wings, and a gleaming black feather drifted to the floorboard.
“Even overturning the game completely.” As we passed body after body alongside the road, I said, “I got to believe the gods didn’t want the earth to be like this. Maybe they just need a nudge in the right direction to fix things.”
“Nudging deities is not unheard of.” Gabe’s expression grew thoughtful. “The sectaires told stories about divine interventions, and these tales always had two aspects in common. First, the hero had to gain the gods’ attention. Then, to sway their favor, he or she had to make a very dear sacrifice.”
“How do we gain their attention? Be the loudest person on earth?”
“Perhaps it is precisely like that.”
So how could someone megaphone the gods? And what sacrifice would they demand?
The Empress
Okay, okay, kid, I thought when Tee kicked again, as if willing me to go to bed. I told Aric, “Time for me to turn in.”
“Of course.” Ever the gentleman, he escorted me to the room we’d once shared.
At the door, I hesitated. Would he leave me here? Did he plan to sleep in his study?
“Last night, you understandably wanted space from me at the cabin. But this castle isn’t as secure.” His gaze flicked in the direction of Lark’s room and back. “Tonight I will remain with you.”
Having Death in the room might worsen my nightmares. “Are you still worried about Lark? Paul controlled her.”
In flawless French, he said, “I neither knew about nor gave her permission to grow that monstrosity of a bear. And she did it before the Hanged Man’s power play. I don’t want you alone with her. Once you’ve seeded the castle with your plants again, we can revisit this issue.”