"I wish I had a specific answer for you, but I don't just yet. I learned that we're having a child less than a day ago. For eons, I'd envisioned a certain existence, then I altered my plans to have a life with you. Now everything is in flux once more." He took a step closer. "But I do know that we must be stronger, smarter, and more adaptable. We'll call on allies as never before. We'll do whatever it takes to survive long enough to raise our child together."
I must've looked unconvinced, because he said, "I have prevailed against the Emperor before." By using Richter's rage--his strength and his weakness--against him. "We can do it again."
"And if we fail? If we die?"
"With your consent, Circe will be our child's godmother."
Though our options were slim, I probably would've chosen her above anyone. She adored children. In a rare moment of trust, she'd once confided to me that she and her fiance had planned on three of them. "I agree. She's a good choice."
"I also entreated her to do that memory spell for us." In future games, we'd be able to remember our shared past--so we didn't kill each other. "She said it is demanding to perform, but she will try."
Then he wasn't planning to crown me the victor. My relief was short-lived. I still had Paul to deal with.
Aric reached forward and cupped my nape. "I know what I want in the future. I know what I will work toward. And step one is making my wife believe me when I tell her this baby is a good thing."
I wanted to be more understanding with him. Yet I couldn't manage it at all. "Step one is getting rid of the man who betrayed me." I shrugged out from under Aric's grip and continued down the hall.
As we neared the den, I heard Lark and Finn laughing at some movie. The scent of buttery popcorn hit me, and my stomach lurched.
Aric said, "The Magician's appetite is equaled only by his use of incomprehensible slang. While you slept, he must have eaten a year's worth of rations."
Rations. I'd never heard Aric speak about food in those terms. So we were conserving everything? He'd been prepared to feed Ogen; I had to believe Finn would eat less than a demon/troll.
We reached the den entrance. Inside, the lovebirds were snuggled up on the couch.
Lark paused the flick. "Look! It's the mama bear, up from her nap!"
Between mouthfuls of popcorn, Finn said, "Blondie's baking a bun!"
I grated, "Apparently."
Lark scanned my face. "Uh, where're you headed?"
"To confront Paul. Seems he gave me a mock contraceptive shot. Then he lied and told Aric I refused to get one."
Finn set aside his jumbo bowl of popcorn. "Uncool! What gives?"
Good question. "I'm trying to figure that out myself."
Lark sat up straighter. "What happens if he did screw you over?" If? "Are we talking exile?" She waved at the window. Snow fell in a torrent of white. "'Cause that'd pretty much mean killing him. You ready to do that?"
"That, and so much more." Could she not comprehend what he'd done to me?
"Finn needs that leg operation." She pointed a claw-tipped finger at the Magician. "He tries to hide the pain he's in, but you can't hide things from a girl who can see through an insect's eyes."
"I'm chill, babe." Finn took her hand. "All in all, I'm not stoked to get my leg cracked again. And if Paul dicked Evie over, then he's got to vacate."
Again with the if.
Lark murmured, "You're just saying that because I told you Evie got you in here." I'd talked Aric into letting Finn live in the castle.
Gazing into her eyes, he said, "That's a pretty good reason, huh?"
Looking unconvinced, she turned to me. "I heard some of the stuff your grandmother said in those last few weeks. She was 5150 crazy, and you just sat there listening to it, hour after hour. How could it not affect you? You'd already been through a lot. Maybe you got confused about some things."
When Gran died, Aric had said much the same thing--that I was too shocked to grieve. Wasn't too shocked a way of saying messed up mentally? I shook my head. "I remember going to Paul for contraception, and I remember talking to you about it. I told you there were a few extra doses, and you said you'd leave the breeding to the animals."
Her blank look gave me chills.
"You do remember that, right?"
She stared at her animalistic claws. "I remember girl-talking with you, but not that specifically."
Perfect. A potential witness for me was casting doubt on my story. "Well, half of your brain was in a falcon at the time." When she'd been relentlessly searching for Finn out in the Ash. "You weren't tracking great yourself."
"Before you do anything to Paul, think about the fallout, Evie. This castle will collapse without him. We might have frozen food, but there're no staples. He prepares everything. Fixes everything. Cooks all the meals. Scrubs the entire place."
Her words only convinced me that we were far too vulnerable to him. "You've listed things he can do for us. Not reasons why he should be trusted." I continued down the hall, leaving Lark and Finn with worried expressions.
She called after me, "He fixed you when you showed up with three bullets in your heart and no legs to speak of!"
Aric caught up to me as I neared Paul's door. The medic occupied a large bedroom connected to a spacious study that had been converted into an examination area. When we entered, he was seated at his desk, making notes.
For my patient file?
He glanced back at us with a toothy smile, but his wide blue eyes held concern for me. "I'm not sure you should be up so soon. And I would've come to you." As accommodating as ever.
Doubts arose. Maybe you've just lost it, Eves. Maybe Richter's attack was the final mental straw.
Paul laid down his pen and twirled his chair to face us. "What can I help you with? I'm sure you've got a ton of questions. This is exciting, right? I know the boss is beside himself." He waved at Aric.
Before more uncertainty gripped me, I said, "You gave me a shot. Why wasn't there a contraceptive in it?"
He blinked, then said cautiously, "Because you told me you didn't want one?"
I clenched my fists. "You're lying. A little more than two months ago on the night all that snow fell, I'd been crying, and you asked me how you could help."
Paul scrubbed a hand over his buzz-cut black hair. "I did. I'd been worried about your mental health. You were cooped up inside, listless and not eating."
As if he hadn't spoken, I said, "As you injected my arm, you told me the contraceptive would last for three months, and I told you the idea of living that long seemed far-fetched. Your response: 'Better safe than sorry.'"
Paul's lips parted. "I don't know what to say. I don't remember things the same way." His voice was kind, his demeanor baffled. "I recall giving you a B-12 shot. You can look at your file. It's all right there."
"That's not what happened!" My claws budded.
"Evie, it is."
Aric watched this interchange with his muscles tensed, as if he expected he might have to step in--to save Paul. Aric was believing him over me.
I rubbed my temples. Maybe I should believe them over me?
No. Paul was lying to my face! For what malicious reason?
Gaze on my hideous claws, he held up his palms. "Ah, let's just take it easy. Hey, this is A.F." After the Flash. "Maybe I, uh, got everything wrong."
Why did he have to roll over? If he'd continued his denial, I would have skewered him.
"I don't want to do anything to cause a patient distress. Regardless of what happened in the past, you are pregnant now, and you don't look so great. Please let me check your vitals again."
"No need. You know how resilient I am." My claws ached. "Do you think a single medic and his lies can slow me down?"
When my hair began to turn red again, Aric stepped closer to me. A warning not to use my powers? As if I could! Though my claws had sharpened, my vines still seemed to be dormant.
Paul exhaled a breath. "Lies? You think I would purposely withhold birth control from you? Why would I do such a thing?"
"You know I don't want a child, and you know Aric does." Paul glanced at him with a nervous look. Again, I wondered if they'd plotted this thing. Gran would believe they had. No, Aric could never do that to me. "You're trying to drive a wedge between us."
"You're making me out to be evil. I'm not. I can only imagine the horror you've seen out in the Ash, but I'm not like the villains you've encountered. I'm not a cannibal or a mad scientist. I'm not a torturer living in a house of horrors."
"That's what makes you even more dangerous."
"All my life, I've tried to look out for others. To help." Paul's blue eyes were guileless, his tone willing me to understand and be rational. "That's my job, my calling."
Calling. Gran had mentioned the dark calling. Had she been talking about Paul? I remembered her words: You have to kill Death. He will turn on you--they all will. Death is poisoning me!
What if Paul had hurt her, and she'd thought Aric was responsible? What if Paul was crazy?
He must have lost loved ones in the Flash. Had the apocalypse twisted him as it had every other survivor I'd met? "What exactly did my grandmother die from?" I would go back and study each word she'd written in the back of my chronicles. I would compile all she'd told me--even what I'd considered to be mad rantings.
"Your grandmother was sick, had been suffering from strokes." In a tone that would rival a mental ward doctor's, Paul added, "Evie, do you not remember that?"