She cast a glare from Jack to me. "The plan won't work. If Lark's awake, she'll scent the difference. Gabriel could too."
I said, "Not if they don't get too close, and Jack is wearing my clothing underneath."
"He would have to sound like you. And, Aric, you've already commented on--how should I put this?--his license with the English language."
I'd said he slaughtered the English language anytime he attempted it.
Jack's lips curled. "Now, how hard will it be to sound like an arrogant prick from Russia?"
I narrowed my eyes. "Latvia."
"Come on, peekon." I loathed it when Deveaux called her that--because she clearly loved it. "I can learn a few short phrases to use and imitate his accent."
She turned to me. "You sweetened the pot too much. He's not going to be thinking straight. I'd rather take the risk myself. I want to reclaim the castle, then think about the future . . . ."
Jack and I both pressed our case to her, and half an hour of arguing ensued.
At length, she said, "Fine! I'll agree to this--if I go as Jack's prisoner. We'll wrap the noose around my wrists, and he'll lead me inside with it."
"Bonne idee," Jack said. I thought he was making a valiant effort not to crow with victory.
"Are you two happy?" A flash of something cunning crossed her blue eyes.
I suspected she had agreed to the battle strategy, but not my terms. No matter; if Jack succeeded, I would keep my word and forfeit my home.
Which meant that regardless of the day's outcome, somehow I would be losing my wife for good.
"No time to waste." Jack started unbuttoning his shirt. "Let's do this."
Though she'd seen both of us unclothed, she turned her back while we traded clothes.
But I hesitated to hand him the first piece of armor. "I have never--in two millennia--allowed another to wear this."
"First time for everything. Come on!" He could barely contain his excitement. And why not? He'd be getting what he wanted most. The castle was icing on the cake.
Wearing Jack's gloves, I helped him strap on the pieces.
"Damn, this metal's light." He pounded his gauntleted fists against his chest. "Are we pissing off some death deity with this stunt?" Jack knew I'd been divinely led to this suit by my god sponsor.
"Probably."
When he dropped the visor down, I did a double take. I hadn't gazed at my armored self in a mirror in ages. Was this what I looked like to others? No wonder everyone was terrified of me. Add in red-eyed Thanatos . . .
Then I recalled that my steed was dead. Turn your mind from that scene, from the guilt.
Jack asked me, "You never get, uh, claustrophobic in here?"
He had no idea. "Just try not to think about the decomposing corpse I scavenged the suit from."
He muttered, "Beck moi tchew." Bite my ass.
Reminded of his drawl, I said, "The Empress can talk over you, but you'll need an approximation of my accent. Say the word silence as I might."
"Saylanss."
I stopped myself from cringing. "Enunciate the syllables, mortal."
She added, "And sound more arrogant. As if you never make mistakes." I stiffened at that, and she noticed. "I'm not giving commentary, but you do usually sound infallible."
"Infallible?" Choking back my frustration, I managed a harsh laugh. "I killed my parents, my unborn sibling, and nearly my wife and son. Infallible and I aren't in the same realm." I regretted the words as soon as I'd uttered them. The Empress wasn't the only one having difficulty governing her emotions.
She softly said, "Aric, don't."
Assuming a brisk demeanor, I said, "We'll spend the next hour practicing some catchphrases. You can get used to the armor and the swords at the same time."
Another mile beneath my boots. Wolves howled from the castle, preparing for a hunt. Still time! I powered up a mountain rise, fingers digging into the snow . . . .
Before she and Jack set off, I told him, "I am entrusting everything I love to you, mortal." I would be doing something so much harder than riding in to save the day. I'd be letting go. Depending on another. A rival.
"And I'll handle it, Reaper. But I want it noted that you once told me you'd never need my help."
"I need it more than I've ever needed anything."
With a nod, he continued to the truck, giving me a moment alone with my wife.
I told her, "Be your magnificent self. At any cost."
She gazed up at me from under a shining lock of hair. So beautiful, she pained me. "Aric, if I don't succeed, you'll have to win the game."
"I know I have no right to ask anything of you. But imagine what the next centuries would be like if you do not seize a victory. Could any man withstand such guilt and loss for one lifetime, much less several? I am relying on you to fight hard and prevail. I am expecting you to slay our adversary."
The pulse point in her throat fluttered. Nervousness about the upcoming battle? Or my nearness?
"I believe in you, love." I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, knowing it would be our last kiss.
She allowed it, which made my heart thunder . . . .
Running headlong, I spied the boundary's glow in the distance.
The need to charge into that fray blistered me inside. I didn't crave the Hanged Man's false sense of clarity--I craved fighting for my family.
I felt as if my entire endless existence had led up to this. As I ran, I clenched my fists impotently. Please, gods, let her prevail.
How many times had I clenched my fists because I couldn't touch? Now I couldn't even kill--the one thing I'd been born to do.
51
The Empress
"Evie, now!" Jack yelled, his voice distorted behind Aric's helmet.
As I slipped from my bindings--the noose--Paul's expression twisted.
That light behind his head flared. "You can't kill me." He still held the other end of the rope.
"This is for Finn, you asshole!" With a wave of my hand, I commanded the noose to strike. Like a serpent, the length shot up his body, coiling around his neck.
"Nooo!" His fingers clutched the rope, digging in between the hemp and his skin.
Finn's icon was stark on his right hand. I'd barely kept up my damsel-in-distress act when I'd first seen it.
Wolves howled, answering his scream. They were inside the castle!
When Lark had first blown our cover, Jack had run for the door and slammed it closed, locking it.
What sounded like a stampede headed this way. Our plan depended on Paul's quick demise. Could I take him out before those animals swarmed the study? Before Gabriel returned? I'd been stunned by his menacing new size.
Gritting my teeth, I tightened Paul's noose. His eyes bulged and his glowing light flickered, but he still fought me.
Jack raised one of Aric's borrowed swords, positioning himself between me and the door. "They're coming, Evie!" Wolf claws clattered in the hallway.
Tighter, tighter. But Paul remained on his feet, grappling against my hold. His face was purple. Veins jutted in his neck and forehead.
He made unintelligible sounds, his eyes pleading. Vessels burst across the white. Why wouldn't he die? With each moment, I was weakening.
What if the noose didn't work? As I kept up the pressure, I tried to muster spores . . . .
Nothing. I'd only weakened myself.
Growls sounded from the hall just before the door bowed. Surely they couldn't break through--
In a rush of splinters, the wolves tore at the wood, ripping out chunks with their fangs.
Jack jabbed the sword through a hole in the door.
Yelp.
The blade came back bloody, but the wolves kept attacking.
I tightened the rope even more, cutting short Paul's gurgling. "Die already!"
A giant frizzy head breached the door, jaws snapping the air. Cyclops. He snatched his head back just as Jack swung.
"Evie, whatever you're goan to do, do
it fast!"
Lark had reached the hall. "Empress, release Paul, and I'll spare you and Deveaux. Otherwise, my wolves will clean your bones--like you did to my lion."
"You think I killed Finn. You'd never spare me."
She screamed, "You don't get to say his name! Gabriel, kick down the door." The Archangel was here as well!
The battered door rocked off its hinges, crashing to the floor. I gaped at Gabriel and Lark in the hall.
His wings flexed ominously, his eyes crazed. She was just as wild-eyed, with her mane tangled, looking more like an animal than ever before. Her wolves crouched beside her, saliva dripping from their bared fangs.
Jack readied his sword, gliding it back and forth.
I scrambled behind Paul, raising my claws to his face, all the while keeping the pressure on the noose. "No closer!"
Lark laughed. "Your glyphs are dark, which means you're out of juice. Besides, he can't be killed, dumbass. You can strangle or poison him all you want, but he won't die." She said to Gabriel, "The Empress is my kill."
His eerie green gaze landed on Jack, and his wings flexed again, those talons so sharp.
Realization: We're done for.
Gabriel struck, one wing zooming out from the hallway. Before Jack could swing his sword, his body had been launched across the room.
"Ah, God, Jack!"
He unsteadily rose, had somehow managed to keep hold of his weapon.
"Don't touch him again, Gabriel!" Or what?
"ARCHANGEL," Aric yelled from a distance. He must be at the edge of the sphere. "Face me! I have no armor. No swords. Come seize my icon."
Would Gabriel take the bait? "Death has no protection," he told Lark. "We will not get another opportunity like this. My wing's reach is long. I can kill him without crossing the boundary."
Then Aric was more vulnerable than he'd ever been. Need Paul to die before Gabriel reaches the edge!
Lark nodded. "Go. I can handle one mortal playing dress-up and a powerless Empress." Cyclops slinked inside, Scarface and Maneater behind him. They circled me and Jack.
Gabriel charged away, and Lark focused her chilling red gaze on me. "I'm going to make this hurt." The wolves pounced.
I tossed vines their way, muzzling their snouts. Each ounce of power I used for defense weakened my attack on Paul.
Jack swung at Scarface, landing a sword blow against his flank. The muzzled wolf leapt for him, knocking him onto his back.
"Putain!"
"Jack!"
Scarface broke free of his vines and snapped at Jack's raised arm, fangs on metal. Clang clang. The sword flashed out again, striking the wolf's other side. Blood poured, but its eyes were demented.
When I threw another vine to protect Jack, Paul stole a few wheezing breaths. His struggles grew stronger.
Maneater pawed her green muzzle off, then charged me. I scrambled back, blocking her way with more vines. All the while, I could feel Paul inching his way out of the noose.
We were losing ground, about to lose our lives! Anytime, red witch. Here's another monster for you.
Jack had the same thought. Between breaths, he grated, "Let her loose, Evie!"
Out of the corner of my eye, I spied Paul fumbling with something in the desk drawer. What was he--
A pistol.
He used my moment of shock to yank back from me. I tightened the noose, but he still managed to raise the weapon, aiming it right at my stomach.
The gun fired.
Blinding pain made me scream. Aric's anguished roar carried from the distance.
I gaped down at my body. The bullet had gone in and out of my arm. Paul attempted to steady his shaking hand. Too late; a vine leapt from my skin, knocking the weapon to the floor.
Paul had only given me a flesh wound, but he could have shot my vulnerable belly. The red witch shrieked for vengeance, rising up inside me, a terrible fever. Drawing on my wrath felt good. Surrendering to rage was like living in Paul's sphere: simpler.
Power surged. With every one of his exhalations, I tightened the noose's grip. The scent of roses steeped the air. The heat of battle was an inferno.
The light behind his head dimmed as he fell to his knees. He clawed at his throat, his eyes pleading.
Ah, heavenly. "Come, Paul. Touch." When one eyeball popped out, I laughed with delight. Just like old times. "But you'll pay a price." I flicked my wrist.
The noose contracted. SNAP.
Paul's limp body collapsed to the floor, and his tongue lolled from his slack mouth. At last!
I laughed again as a shivery feeling tingled on my hand. Then another. Icons.
Yanking off my glove, I stared down at the new marks: a noose for the Hanged Man and Finn's ouroboros. Want more.
I slowly turned to Lark. I could take her down, just as my grandmother had wanted. Then Gabriel. Four icons in one day!
Why stop there? Death had no armor . . . .
Expression baffled, Lark clambered back against a wall, her wolves staggering toward her. "What the hell?" Her red eyes sparked with realization. Her lips curled back, revealing her fangs. "Paul did it? He killed Finn! He made me burn . . . ah, God, I burned Finn."
The wolves leapt upon the Hanged Man's corpse, snatching at flesh, tearing him apart.
Crunch, crunch. Blood painted the walls, crimson spatter arcing over antiques and book spines. It pooled on the floor around Paul's remains as the beasts fought over pieces.
The violence excited the red witch. As I sized up Lark, her eyes were laser-focused on the gore.
Jack lumbered toward me. "Hey, hey. Come back to me." He pinched my chin and turned my face. "Lark's been through enough. Come on, you can do this."
I thrashed my head away. Nooo. Now awakened, the witch had no desire to yield. Evie a sliver of me! I can protect the baby better than anyone. We're stronger like this.
"Come back to me, peekon. The fight's over."
But it wasn't. The monsters would just keep coming. And I couldn't keep doing this without drowning in the well. "It's better this way, Jack." My voice even sounded different, breathy and evil.
I'd never felt so in line with the red witch, so unified. Maybe my split personality was melding. Maybe it should.
"I'm right here, bebe. You have to come back to me."
With each second that I clashed against the witch for control, Lark seemed to be emerging from her own inner battle. Eyes lost, she gave a heartbreaking sob.
That sound was like an alarm going off inside me, warning me of danger.
I was the danger.
Damn it, Lark was my friend! I never wanted to hurt her. I peered up at Jack, holding his gaze, taking deep breaths.
The witch finally began to recede.
"Ma bonne fille, that's it. You've got this."
In time, I met eyes with Lark. "Are you with us again?" Her tableau appeared--right side up.
She nodded. "Yeah. I'm back now."
I glanced out the window. The sphere had dissipated. The pall was gone, but had I gotten to the Hanged Man in time to stop Gabriel? "Can you see if Death is safe?"
Looking for him through her creatures, she said, "The boss is closing in fast."
Relief overwhelmed me.
"I'm so sorry, Evie," she said, tears welling. "For everything."
"You couldn't help it. It's not your fault."
"Great trick, by the way." Her voice broke as she said, "F-Finn would've loved it." She lurched away.
I hurried after her. "Lark, wait."
Glancing over her shoulder, she held up her claw-tipped fingers to stop me. "Need to go lick my wounds. Alone." Her gaze flitted past me to the blood. Was she staring at it hungrily? Red of tooth and claw. Maybe I wasn't the only one wrestling with the heat of battle. "Just give me a t.o." She turned once more. Her wolves followed her, severed limbs dangling from their jaws.
Jack grabbed my shoulder, enfolding me in his arms as much as the armor would allow. "Let her go. Finn's death is probably hitting h
er for real for the first time."
I couldn't even comprehend how she must be feeling. Oh, wait--yes, I could.
Jack pulled off the helmet, setting it on Aric's desk. "You okay? Can't believe that bastard shot you."
"Yeah." I checked the wound. Regeneration was kicking in slowly. "It's nothing. Already healing."
"If Dominija had been here, he could've prevented that."
"It was close quarters. Are you okay?" Without that armor, he might have died.
"I'm good." Jack drew back and started to remove the onyx pieces, piling them next to the helmet. Breastplate. Left armguard. "But I want this off me." He reached down to unbuckle the last leg guard.
I frowned at the discarded armor. "That suit probably saved your life. Gabriel's strike could've broken your back. At the very least, Scarface would have taken your arm."
"Wearing this made me understand some things." He straightened. "This suit isn't just Death's protection against the world; it's the world's protection against him--a cage. Dominija told me I'd walk a mile in his shoes. I have. And inside this armor is the loneliest place I've ever been, the most separated from everything I've ever felt."
I thought back to all the times I'd asked Aric to wear it. "He must hate it." But he'd still worn it to allay my fears.
"Ouais." For the first time, Jack's attention strayed from me. Details of the study caught his eye, the books and scrolls, the scepters and crowns on display. His curiosity was clearly redlining. "So this is the Reaper's lair. Mind-blowing, non? One thing to hear about it; another to see it inside. I was slack-jawed the whole way in. Almost forgot to act like an asshole to you."
And now, by rights, the castle of lost time was his. Yet as much as I tried to picture living here with Jack, I couldn't see it.
He must've picked up on my shift in mood. "You never intended to send Death packing, did you?"
"I didn't make any decisions about him or you, but it felt wrong to oust him from his home."
"For true." Another glance around the room. A rueful exhalation. "Nice place to visit . . ."
Despite everything, Jack made me want to smile. "When Aric brought up his idea, I just kept my mouth shut and went along with it."
At the same time, we both said, "Kick the can down the road."
I gave a weak laugh. "Yeah."
He took my hand in his. "But now we're at the end of the road. Castle or no, ousting or no, how're you feeling?" He took a step closer. "Just so we're clear about how I'm feeling . . ." He leaned down to press his lips to mine. The tender kiss told me more than words ever could.