I stopped in my tracks. "I can't believe you're using my heartache to pitch me an overthrow of Aric's home--"
"Heads up!" Joules cried as shapes materialized in the cave.
Kentarch and Jack appeared, dragging something with them.
I stumbled to Jack, wrapping my arms around him. Relief flooded me, until I registered blood. "You're hurt!" My hands flew over him, checking for injuries, brushing away crimson snow.
"Not my blood, peekon. I'm fine." He looked wiped out, but in good spirits.
Kentarch certainly was. "Your hunter deserves the name. He took down a lion with merely a crossbow."
Joules crouched beside the creature. Its lifeless eyes stared at nothing. "Fauna's got a lion on her card."
In the previous games, they'd surrounded her. I'd once asked her why she now favored wolves. All business, she'd said, "Better suited for the terrain here."
Lark would be furious at this loss. "Jack, I thought you were going to snare a hedgehog or something." When he reeled against me, I said, "You need to sit and rest."
"Bonne idee." Good idea. He all but collapsed by the fire.
Sitting beside him, I stroked damp hair from his forehead. "Are you sure you're not hurt?"
Kentarch answered for him. "He carried this game through the snow--what should have been an impossible feat--while the Archangel bore down on him."
Joules's head whipped up. "You saw my boyo?"
Jack nodded. "Since when did he grow wing claws?"
"One of his cult elders said that he'd grow 'em eventually, along with his wings getting bigger and tougher. Must be all the food he's tucking away at the castle." Joules bit out a curse. "I canna believe he's still under the influence."
"Gabe was twisted." Jack looked at me. "Is that what Dominija was like?"
"Worse. Gabriel doesn't have a history with you or a reason to hate you. And you're not an Arcana."
Joules poked the lion carcass with his javelin. "Is this one of her familiars?" Poke. Poke. "What if it comes back to life?"
Kentarch assessed the animal. "Aren't her familiars giant like those wolves?"
I shook my head. "No, the wolves grew so big because they drank her blood when they were pups. Her falcon is a normal size. This lion could be connected to her."
Joules stumbled back. "Can we eat a familiar?"
Jack said, "After what I just did to bring that back, we're goan to clean its goddamned bones."
At this point, I had no qualms about dining on one of Lark's creatures, but what would lion taste like? Would I be able to keep it down? "We probably want to cut its head off as quickly as possible." We? Right now, I couldn't cut butter with a hot knife.
Kentarch gestured toward Joules. "You and I will take it outside to butcher."
"Tarch, I'm more on the consumption end of things. Less production, you understand? But I'm an ace baster."
"Now, Tower."
As the two hauled up the lion, Jack started to rise, but Kentarch waved him down. "Stay and rest." Catching my gaze, he said, "I'm sure you have much to tell each other." So he hadn't revealed my secret.
Perfect. I'd get to.
At the cave entrance, Kentarch turned back and told Jack, "A lion marked me when I was young, nearly taking my life"--he'd never volunteered anything about his childhood to me and Joules--"but now one will save us from starving. Good work, hunter."
Jack gave him solemn nod. "Thanks for the ride, podna."
This exchange reminded me of how people responded to Jack. He commanded loyalty because folks genuinely liked him. Aric commanded loyalty out of fear.
Once we were alone, Jack pulled off his bow and bug-out bag. "Adrenaline's wearing off." He snagged a flask from his coat pocket.
When he offered me a drink, I held up a hand. "All good." Just seeing his face was a luxury for me. He was safe. Warm. Larger than life. I leaned in closer to him.
One of my biggest regrets was never telling him that I loved him. How would he react to those three words? And to my news?
He took a swig, then stared into the flames. Was he remembering his harrowing escape from Richter?
Needing to comfort him, I took his hand in mine.
He turned to me, and a marked longing lit his gaze. Then he tapped my ring. "So, you and Dominija, huh?"
Voice soft, I said, "I thought you were dead. We all did."
"That's all that needs to be said, then." He took another drink. "You get hitched?"
"Not officially in this life. Kind of a leftover from the last game." Aric had never considered us not hitched. Not even when he'd been trying to behead me.
"I'd love to see the look on the Reaper's face when Gabe tells him I'm alive." I could only imagine Aric's fury. "Still can't believe he attacked you."
"Paul reverses a card, bringing out an Arcana's worst traits. You can actually see a tableau turning upside down. Aric's resistance to change and his rage were brought to the fore. His unresolved anger over the past spilled into the present, and he hated me. He truly would've killed me."
"Tell me everything that happened."
Staring at Jack's beloved face, rememorizing every feature, I told him about the Hanged Man and his powers. About Finn's poisoning and Lark and Aric's attack. About Gabriel and Joules rescuing me, and Kentarch saving the day.
Jack took it all in. He was silent for a moment, then asked, "Why weren't you affected by the Hanged Man?"
"Aric once told me I'm immune to brainwashing after my run-in with the Hierophant." But I didn't know why I'd escaped a reversal. After recounting everything to Jack, I began to see how distinct those powers were.
His fists clenched as he said, "I'm goan to kill the Hanged Man for what he's done to you. And Finn too."
"The problem is how. I didn't tell the others this"--I glanced at the cave entrance and lowered my voice--"but I clawed him and nothing happened."
"He regenerates like you?"
"It's hard to explain. His skin was simply unaffected. Aric told me he's invulnerable to harm."
Jack muttered a curse. "You think there's any way to lure the Reaper out of that dome? Gabe didn't seem keen to leave it."
"Nor Aric. He believes it protects him from my spellbinding, bringing him much-needed clarity. Since my escape, I've tried to goad him into leaving, but he refuses."
"How'd you talk to him?"
"Kentarch has a satellite phone that still works. I called Aric a couple of times. He's cruel. Jack, you can't believe how cruel." He'd been about to make me beg, had enjoyed my tears. Before I went down that rabbit hole, I said, "Let's talk about something else, okay?" I still needed to tell Jack about the baby, but he looked so whipped with exhaustion. "How did you escape from those slavers?"
"The Fool showed up and rescued me."
I raised my brows. "Matthew saved you?"
"In the nick of time too. I'd injured my leg really bad and wasn't long for the world--about to be served up as breakfast for the other slaves. Fucking hate slavers, me." Jack explained the carnage Matthew had caused, and how he'd felt like he hadn't known the Fool at all.
I shuddered. "Where do you think he went?"
"Doan know. And I didn't look for him after he left. Even though he saved my life, we got sideways on some things."
"Like why he allowed all those people to be killed by Richter?"
"Coo-yon said he had a reason. Said he 'sees far.'"
Sounded familiar. Would that be his excuse for letting Finn die?
"I tell myself something worse must've been in store for them." Again, Jack stared into the flames. "Cannibals attacking or the plague. I tell myself his reasoning was pure. Some days I even believe it." Could Finn's fate have been worse?
Yes. Definitely yes.
Jack cleared his throat and faced me. "So, what're the details on Circe?" He didn't want to talk about the massacre any more than I wanted to discuss Aric. "She's the one you fought outside of Fort Arcana?"
"Yes, but she and I have come to an
understanding since then. If free of Paul's influence, she'll try to help us. We just need to find her."
"Okay. We got a plan, at least." After a hesitation, he said, "There's something I need to tell you--"
A commotion at the mouth of the cave announced the return of Kentarch and Joules, with the butchered lion in hand.
"It can wait," Jack murmured to me.
"We wanted to give you more time to talk"--Kentarch set up a spit over the fire--"but hunger calls." Once the lion started to cook, he handed us each a skewer with a slice of raw meat the color of pork.
As we roasted them over the flames, my attention shifted back and forth from Jack--Is he truly here with me?--to the broiling meat. My mouth watered.
Joules inhaled deeply. "Smell that, would you? Hope we don't draw company. This is Richter territory, after all."
Jack rotated his skewer. "When's the last time anyone saw him?"
I said, "A few weeks ago, we encountered him and Zara. She's the Fortune Card, a chopper pilot. I've tangled with her before."
"What's her power?"
"Freakish luck. She can steal it through touch. She was just about to steal mine when Lark and Aric rescued me."
"Richter's targeting food depots," Joules said. "Anything they canna carry back to their lair, he incinerates. No one knows why."
Jack said, "I'd wondered why supplies had dried up even more lately."