The Dark Calling

  New intrigues, adventures, and stunning revelations fill the penultimate installment of #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole's electrifying Arcana Chronicles.

  In a world teetering on the edge . . .

  When Evie receives life-changing--and possibly game-changing--news, she has trouble believing it. Why doesn't she feel any different? Is it possible someone she trusts might be lying?

  With enemies at every turn . . .

  Tensions seethe inside the castle of lost time as Evie starts to doubt her own sanity. Answers can be found outside their stronghold, but will Death help her find them--or prevent her from learning the truth about her future and Jack's possible survival?

  Darkness beckons.

  A mysterious, sinister power begins to affect the Arcana in its path. Forced out into the wasteland alone, Evie must depend on unexpected allies. But as a battle with Richter looms, can her new alliance defeat the Dark Calling before hell reigns on earth?

  Valkyrie Press

  228 Park Ave S #11599

  New York, NY 10003

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright (c) 2018 by Kresley Cole

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  ISBN 978-0-9981414-0-4

  Table of Contents

  THE DARK CALLING

  About the Arcana Chronicles

  Copyright

  Also in the Arcana Chronicles

  The Field of Battle

  The Major Arcana

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Author's Note

  About Kresley Cole

  Also in the Arcana Chronicles

  Poison Princess

  Endless Knight

  Dead of Winter

  Day Zero

  Arcana Rising

  THE FIELD OF BATTLE

  During the Flash, a cataclysmic flare, the surface of the earth was scorched to ash, and bodies of water evaporated. Virtually all plant life was killed, most animals as well. The majority of humans perished, with women hardest hit. After months of total drought, rain began at last--then fell constantly, until the first flurries of snow. The sun has ceased to rise, leaving the world in endless night. Plague spreads. Famine is sweeping the land.

  OBSTACLES

  Militias unify, consolidating power. Slavers and cannibals hunt for new victims. All are bent on capturing females. The Bagmen (Baggers)--contagious zombies created by the Flash--roam the wastelands (the Ash), wailing for blood.

  FOES

  The Arcana. In every dark age, twenty-two players with supernatural powers are destined to fight in a life-or-death game. The winner will live as an immortal until the next game, when the fallen reincarnate. Our stories are depicted on the Major Arcana cards of a Tarot deck. I'm the Empress; we play again now. Death, my enemy through the ages, is now my staunchest ally. In our sights: Richter, the Emperor Card, who massacred an army, murdering my friend Selena and possibly Jack, my first love.

  ARSENAL

  Knowledge of the game will help me survive it. My grandmother was a Tarasova, a wisewoman of the Tarot. Before she died, she helped me to better understand my Empress powers: regenerative healing, the ability to control anything that roots or blooms, thorn tornadoes, and poison.

  Though Death trains me, my powers have been muted by some unknown force, right when I'll need them most. Can I, along with my alliance of killers--rogues, witches, and warriors--defend against Richter's fiery wrath?

  -- The Major Arcana --

  0. The Fool, Gamekeeper of Old (Matthew)

  I. The Magician, Master of Illusions (Finneas)

  II. The Priestess, Ruler of the Deep (Circe)

  III. The Empress, Our Lady of Thorns (Evie)

  IV. The Emperor, Stone Overlord (Richter)

  V. The Hierophant, He of the Dark Rites (Guthrie)

  VI. The Lovers, Duke & Duchess Most Perverse (Vincent & Violet)

  VII. The Centurion, Wicked Champion (Kentarch)

  VIII. Strength, Mistress of Fauna (Lark)

  IX. The Hermit, Master of Alchemy (Arthur)

  X. Fortune, Lady Luck (Zara)

  XI. The Fury, She Who Harrows (Spite)

  XII. The Hanged Man, Our Lord Uncanny (??)

  XIII. Death, the Endless Knight (Aric)

  XIV. Temperance, Collectress of Sins (Calanthe)

  XV. The Devil, Foul Desecrator (Ogen)

  XVI. The Tower, Lord of Lightning (Joules)

  XVII. The Star, Arcane Navigator (Stellan)

  XVIII. The Moon, Bringer of Doubt (Selena)

  XIX. The Sun, Hail the Glorious Illuminator (Sol)

  XX. Judgment, the Archangel (Gabriel)

  XXI. The World, This Unearthly One (Tess)

  1

  Day 512 A.F.?

  Castle Lethe

  Do you not know you're pregnant?

  Do you not know?

  Do you not know?

  I sputtered, "I-I . . . what?" Tick-tock.

  Tick freaking tock. I'd been struggling to wrap my head around Jack's possible survival, trying to decide if Matthew was bent on driving me crazy.

  Now this?

  Aric's blond brows drew together. "You're carrying our child." Though he sat beside me on the edge of the bed, he sounded miles distant. "I was wondering why you hadn't told me. Clearly you had no idea."

  This. Could. Not. Be.

  I was seventeen, riding out an apocalypse and counting on a one-way trip against Richter. I clutched the sheets as the bed seemed to spin. "I didn't know--because it can't have happened. I'm on something. There's no way."

  "There must have been. Paul tested your blood."

  "You let him take my blood when I was passed out?" The idea of the two of them administering a pregnancy test on me rankled.

  My reaction seemed to surprise Aric. "Yes. After my wife lost consciousness, I bade our medic to determine what ailed her." When he put it like that, I sounded ridiculous to question his actions. "You were out for an entire day."

  "That long?" I glanced out the window. A blizzard raged in the never-ending night. Lightning fla
shed as brightly as daylight, illuminating the dense shower.

  Last I knew, we'd been hightailing it away from Richter and Zara's attack after meeting up with Finn. Then Matthew had contacted me, giving me a blinding headache and a nosebleed, but letting me hear Jack.

  Matthew could have pulled up an old memory of Jack's voice, fooling me into believing he lived. But why?

  "Sieva, when you lost consciousness, I was frantic."

  I turned back to Aric. Silvery rays of light shot through the blinds, accentuating how tired he looked. He obviously hadn't slept. "Something else must be wrong. I can sense a seed deep in the ground--wouldn't I be able to tell if something was growing inside of me?"

  He frowned. "Not necessarily."

  "So how far along does Paul think I am?" For weeks, I'd had that ominous countdown feeling in my head. Had I been sensing this?

  "His test could only confirm positive or negative. I was so stunned that I asked him to run it twice."

  Of course Aric would be stunned. He'd longed for a kid. Yet even when he'd wanted to try to start a family with me, he'd doubted Death could help create life.

  My heart twisted for him. When he found out he'd been duped . . . "Paul's lying to you. I took a shot. Remember? You and I talked about it." Aric had been delighted that I'd premeditated sleeping with him.

  "We did. But I have to wonder how you're pregnant if a contraceptive was administered."

  "He must've faked the test results." I knew how insane this sounded, but I still expected Aric to trust my word. "You believe his story? That he tried to get me on birth control and I refused? Why would I do such a thing?"

  Seeming to choose his words very carefully, Aric asked, "Why would he lie?"

  "I don't know." Paul had always been the most helpful person in this household. He'd taken such great care of my grandmother that I could've nominated him for sainthood.

  "During that time, you were going through intense stress. And you admitted that things had gotten confused in your mind."

  Before the Flash, I'd been programmed by Gran, then deprogrammed in a psych ward. After our reunion, she'd nearly programmed me again. In her last days, I recalled thinking that my brain felt like Swiss cheese.

  Or a bloody battlefield.

  "Perhaps they have again?" Aric offered gently. "Are you so certain of your own memories?"

  Ugh! I wished I hadn't admitted my memory issues to him. "I remember the prick of the needle. I remember counting the shots Paul had left, figuring that Lark might want some once she found Finn."

  What if Paul had given me a dummy shot? No! I refused to believe that. Because it would mean . . . Nope. Not going there.

  God, I didn't need this right now; I needed to find out if Jack was alive. What if I'd . . . imagined Matthew's call?

  Aric said, "I think you have been through too much trauma and tragedy. How could it not affect you? Especially during a pregnancy?"

  I could kill Paul for this! Not because I believed I was knocked up, but because Aric did. This would crush the knight.

  Though he'd adored his parents, Aric had accidentally killed them--and their unborn child--with his touch. Through one of Matthew's visions, I'd experienced Aric's harrowing grief. Even after two millennia had passed, he still carried it. "You told me that you trusted my judgment. I helped save our asses against Richter, but you're taking Paul's word over mine? He's lying, which means he's dangerous. Yet you're letting him walk around free!"

  "When I realized his version of events was vastly different from what you told me two months ago, I asked Lark to monitor his movements with a creature."

  Which only worked when she was awake. "I'm going to confront him." I leapt from the bed.

  Aric swiftly rose to assist me. "In time. You need rest."

  I grabbed my robe, pulling it over my nightgown. "Because of my alleged 'condition'? I feel fine."

  "Can we not discuss this first? I am asking you to wait. Can you do that for me?" When I hesitated, he said, "Let me draw you a bath. We can talk. You can relax and contemplate things."

  "A bath?" Not a murder?

  "You can confront him later; he isn't going anywhere. Come, love."

  If I was pregnant, I would definitely eviscerate Paul, and the red witch--my homicidal alter ego--would want to savor the kill. Maybe I should wait for my powers to recharge a bit. As my adrenaline waned, my weakness increased. "Fine." For now, I would cooperate with Aric.

  I allowed him to lead me from the bedroom, shuffling along docilely--just as I had whenever the nurses had steered me around the mental ward.

  As Aric filled the tub, the winds roared outside.

  "What's going on with this weather?"

  "A blizzard blew in not long after we arrived back here. We've had nothing but snow and lightning."

  "What happened with Joules and Gabriel after I passed out? I'm sure you were all politeness when you kicked them out of the truck." A stray thought: Where's the wedding ring I had in my pocket? I'd vowed to give it to Aric after we'd returned home with Finn.

  "Alas, I managed zero politeness when I ejected them." He added my favorite bath crystals to the water, bubbles forming. "In my haste to get you medical care, I drove directly here, taking no pains to elude them. I have little doubt that they followed us. Circe confirmed that she saw something land on the next mountain over, just in advance of this blizzard."

  I tied my hair into a knot above my head. "Will they attack?" Had we bonded with them enough when all of us had worked together to survive?

  At the edge of the tub, Aric helped me undress. "If they get hungry enough, they will. But should they somehow make it past Lark and Circe, they'd be thwarted by our home's defenses. Not even the Flash could overcome our blast-proof doors and bulletproof windows. We'll keep the castle on lockdown." He took my hand and assisted me into the water. "In you go. Is the temperature acceptable?"

  No. I wanted to scour my skin. I reached for the hot water lever, but he stayed my hand.

  "Too warm isn't good right now." He rose to switch on the bathroom heater, then returned to sit beside the tub.

  "What are you talking about?"

  "While you were unconscious, I did some reading. I have few books on the subject of pregnancy, but I scanned them all. Excessively hot baths aren't recommended."

  Oh, yeah. That. "I'm not knocked up."

  "Then why do you think you lost consciousness?" He dipped a cloth into the water. As he ran it over my back, my lids went heavy. "Why do you think your nose bled? I read that both can be symptoms of pregnancy."

  Should I confess to him that Matthew had communicated with me? That Jack might have? Or would Aric take that as proof that I was mental?

  I had more than one reason for confronting Paul. I needed to know if my mind was right. Chain of logic, Evie. If Paul convinced me that he was telling the truth about the shot, then I'd know I was whackadoodle enough to imagine other things--like Jack's voice. If I decided that Paul was lying, then why should I not trust my own mind? Why should I not believe Jack lived?

  Reason told me that I'd gotten everything confused. History told me I'd had problems before, and I'd heaped tons of stress on myself. But I needed to believe.

  I told Aric, "That truck window exploding in my face might've had something to do with my symptoms. Or anxiety. Even Paul said I probably had PTSD." That asshole. I dunked my hands under the bubbles, hiding my purple thorn claws. "Have you spoken with Lark or Circe about this?"

  "They've both heard you're with child, of course. There's little they do not hear." Lark spied through her creatures, Circe through water.

  We didn't have a lot of secrets here at Castle Lethe, a.k.a. the castle of lost time. "Then they might've picked up on my conversation with Paul."

  He shook his head. "Regrettably, no."

  "You asked them? Why couldn't you simply accept what I'd told you?"

  "Can you say without any doubt whatsoever that he lied?"

  After a hesitation, I s
aid, "No. But I don't trust him." Unfortunately, I didn't trust myself completely either.

  Aric washed one of my arms, then the other. "Until you have decided with absolute certainty, I will lock Paul in his rooms. Will that make you feel better?"

  "Why are you being so understanding with him?"

  "Not everything is black and white in this situation." He paused with the cloth. "This pregnancy does not strike me as lamentable. Nor worthy of a murderous rage. Yet your hair was turning red earlier."

  "So, Paul will be acquitted because you don't think this is lamentable? He's screwing with our lives." With my mind.

  "He has been a loyal servant to me since not long after the Flash." Aric had once told me that the medic had grown up in this area. After the apocalypse, he'd found Paul in the nearest town, treating others' injuries, sharing his supplies with them.

  Aric had hired him, inviting him back here to do anything and everything--castle maintenance, vehicle repairs, cooking, cleaning.

  "Well, he hasn't been loyal to me." I pulled my knees up to my chest. "And where's your loyalty? I told you that I wasn't ready to have kids, that I didn't want to bring a child into a world like this." For a split second, I wondered if Aric had conspired with Paul. My resentment simmered hotter and hotter. I understood why the Fury Card spat acid. I wished I could right now. "You can't truly want a kid."

  Seeming to tread carefully again, Aric said, "I don't not want it. Maybe your pregnancy was inevitable. After all, a fertility goddess imbued you with powers. For ages, the Empress Card has been associated with motherhood."