The Arcana Chronicles 3: Dead of Winter

Helmet in hand, Aric paced along a line of dirt-caked windows, casting glances outside. Tonight, he moved soundlessly in that armor. Sometimes his spurs clinked as he entered a room; other times silent. Maybe he adjusted his stride. “The mortal’s handy, Empress. Your very own squire.”

Jack didn’t rise to the bait, asking me, “You eat anything?”

I sat beside the fire, dropping my bag. “Not yet.” I stretched my hands to the warmth.

Once my fingers thawed, I retrieved my canteen and dinner, a nutritious energy bar. Those bars gave me enough calories for an entire day, but the taste was so foul, I earned every one of them. I peeled the wrapper, knowing I’d need the energy to keep up with these two.

Jack polished his bow’s arrow cartridge with the tail of his shirt. “It’s goan to get worse and worse on this route. I brought an extra bulletproof vest for you.” Like the one he wore. “When we head out, I want you to try it.”

That vest would swallow me.

Death scoffed, “She can take a hundred bullets to the heart and survive.”

“I bet you know just what can kill her—since you’ve offed her so many times in past lives.”

“I wouldn’t say many. And she’s tried for me just as often.” Aric made a last round along the windows, then took a seat against the wall near the door. One arm rested over a bent knee.

“How’d you murder a girl who can regenerate, you? Decapitate her?” If a guy has beheaded you on more than one occasion . . . “Did you do to her what you did to those Baggers earlier? Sounds like a match made in hell to me.”

Aric’s fists clenched, the metal of his spiked gauntlets grinding. No doubt he wanted to drive those spikes into Jack’s face. “Unlike you and the Archer, who have everything in common?” To me, Aric said, “I would advise you to ask the mortal if he’s been with her in all these months, but then, he’d simply lie to you.”

Aric’s words cut right to the heart of my problems with Jack: trust. Despite Jack’s denial, I wondered again if something had transpired between him and Selena. She wanted him so much. . . .

The bar tasted like cardboard. I struggled to chew it. If Jack had lied to me about her, I could never accept him.

“You stirring the pot again, Reaper? Evie’s the one I want. It’ll always be that way.”

I glanced over at him with a question in my eyes. In a matter of hours, we’d gone from I can’t look at you to this. Why the turnaround?

“You had many women before the Empress.” Aric took a whetstone from a pouch on his swordbelt. “You’ll have them after her as well.” He slid one sword free.

That muscle ticked in Jack’s jaw. “I found the one I’m goan to be with. It’s her for me. Period. I’ll protect her with my life.”

Aric ran that stone along his sword blade. Graaaate. “As will I.”

“Like you did with those Baggers? I wrote the book on toughening Evie up, but that was too much risk.”

Graaaate. “Arcana are superhuman—should our lessons be merely human in intensity? Or even humane for that matter? Those Bagmen had been washed away with those victims, buried alive among them for weeks, perhaps months. They chose to rise today—because they finally had motivation. They tapped into the depths of their blood-thirsty natures for more strength. In battle, the Empress should do no less.”

“She can’t do that if she’s dead, no.”

“I’m right here,” I cried. “Right—here. If you two are going to fight, then do it over something other than me.” I folded up the remains of the bar, stowing it and the canteen. Dinner had officially concluded.

Aric raised his brows. “Aside from you, I have no quarrel with the mortal. He’s an uncouth drunkard who slaughters the English language every time he attempts it, but I probably wouldn’t kill him just for that.”

“You keep talking about slaying me, Reaper. Let’s go outside and see if you can.”

My impatience boiled over. “Just stop it—both of you! Get your heads in the game. We’re out here to save someone’s life.”

After a hesitation, Jack returned his attention to his bow, Aric to his sword.

I asked Aric, “Can you call to Selena without the Lovers hearing?”

“Of course.”

“Will you tell her we’re coming for her? And ask her for any information that can help us?”

“What makes you think she’ll respond to Death?” Graaaate. “But for you, I’ll try—because it seems I can deny you nothing.” He paused, his gaze going distant for long moments. “She’s ignoring me, letting my words drift over her thoughts. A feat not easily done. Someone taught her a great deal about focus.”

That extensive Archer training. Looking from Aric to Jack, I asked, “What’s our plan?”

“I’m curious as well.” Aric turned to Jack. “How far are you willing to risk the Empress in this endeavor?”

“If not for coo-yôn’s prediction, she’d still be back at the outpost.”

I shook my head. “I need to help. Jack, the Lovers want revenge against me. I was in an alliance with them in the last game, but I betrayed them. Horribly. Their line chronicles, so they know every detail.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know until they said something.”

He jerked his chin at Aric. “I bet he knew that history. Guess he couldn’t find time in three months to warn you about a pair of psycho killers who’re out for your blood.”

I had wondered the same.

Graaaate. “After she earned my trust, I had only scant hours with her—because of your foolhardy capture. And actually that insults the Fool.”

I rubbed my temples. “Can we just talk about the plan, please?”

Jack cast a last scowl at Aric, then shifted his attention to me. “I’m meeting some dissenters from Azey North tomorrow on the road. I’ll work with whatever I learn, see if I can trust them. At worst, they can give me intel on Selena. At best, they’ll help me take the twins and the general off guard. I’ll kill those three, free Selena, and seize command.”

Aric raised his sword, eyeing the edge. “So our ‘plan’ rests on how well the mortal can read his co-conspirators’ trustworthiness?”

“You got a better idea, Reaper? I’m all ears.”