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Evie said, “Why? Because it’s run by Minor Arcana?”
Sol rubbed his chin. “So demigods are in charge of it?” Demigods? No one bothered to correct him. “I couldn’t sneak a Bagger past the walls to snoop around, and I never heard Zachter talk about it, even with my spy. When I asked Zara what the deal was, she wouldn’t tell me. I think she’d already begun suspecting me by then, because I’d allowed some human freedom fighters to get too close to Richter’s lair.”
“Freedom fighters took on Richter?” I swigged my bottle. “God love ’em.”
Sol’s expression fell. “Zara stumbled onto their heat signature, and Richter roasted all eight of them with one continuous beam of fire.”
Christ.
Gabe asked, “What is Zara and Richter’s endgame? Their paths are not sustainable.”
I said, “Richter thinks the world will come back if he wins, giving him more stuff to burn.” His exact words: I’ll fry anything new that grows. More ash. Smoke. Misery.
“And Zara?” Evie asked. “Eventually even the luckiest Card will run out of humans to steal from.”
Sol answered, “She thinks that survivors are just hiding—stingy them—and once things go back to normal, they’ll show themselves, and she’ll harvest them. Zara’s not used to waiting for anything.”
The whiskey kicked in, that familiar warmth settling over me. “Look, our alliance won one today. We’ve stolen the chronicles from them and destroyed their hideout. We should celebrate that.” I sounded very noncelebratory.
Joules said, “That doesn’t mean the book is goin’ to the Reaper.”
Kentarch exhaled in irritation, and even Gabe rolled his eyes.
Evie made a sound of frustration. “Come off it, Joules! You’re either in our alliance or not.”
“Still debatin’ it. Looks like you’ll let any ole riffraff in.”
“Bueno. I’ll take his place. Hasta luego, Tower.”
Not helping, Sol. My job at the end of the world might just be to keep these guys from killing each other, going against the will of the gods—and the rules of the game. “I’ll work on Joules.”
“Work on this.” He flipped me off.
Dominija said, “Sun, I’ll have more questions for you in the future.” To me, he said in French, “Keep your guard up around your new guest. I’m unsure about him. Just . . . stay safe.” He sounded like he genuinely gave a damn.
In English, Dominija addressed Sol again. “One last thing, Sun Card.” His tone turned sinister. “Mark me: I have eons of killing experience. If you harm anyone in that cave, I will make your murder the longest and most memorable of all.”
Sol swallowed. “Unlike the Tower, I debate nothing about this alliance. I am gladly part of it. You can count on me to be loyal.”
Before Death hung up, he said, “Jack, we’ll talk more tomorrow.” Click.
Had he gotten off the phone because I’d sounded so tired and pissed? Or because he was ready for bed with Evie?
The cave wasn’t full of dummies—everybody knew why my mood had plummeted. They looked everywhere but at me. . . .
Eventually the night grew longer, and we broke out pallets around the fire. When Sol went outside to take a leak, the Tower said, “Why do you think the Reaper said anyone in this cave? You think he’d avenge me?”
“Ouais. One thing I know about Dominija? If he said it, he meant it.”
Joules lay back on his pallet, appearing in deep thought. Was he coming around to the Reaper? From experience, I knew that process wasn’t fun.
I sat up drinking while the others nodded off. Gabe’s wings twitched in sleep. Joules sometimes sparked from his dreams.
Though the pallets must be heavenly compared to sleeping in the truck, Kentarch tossed and turned as if he couldn’t get comfortable. I figured he would never again be comfortable in this life.
Sol too had found a pallet and bedded down. To distract myself from Evie and Dominija, I reviewed everything the Sun had told us tonight. I didn’t know if I trusted him or not, couldn’t get past Evie’s account of his initial betrayal—how she’d never seen it coming when he’d clocked her and tried to turn her over to Richter and Zara.
He woke. When he caught me eyeing him hard, he cast me a seductive grin. “Hola, bello.” He rose, then sat beside me. “What thoughts go on behind those gray eyes?”
Flirting with me again? I was a one-woman man. Even though Evie shared someone else’s bed right now.
“Just got a lot on my mind.” Needing to be alone, I dragged on my coat. Bottle, bow, and bag in hand, I walked outside to the truck.
Note to self: In the morning, check the Beast’s undercarriage for a Bagger head.
Inside the cab, I cracked open the chronicles. The majority had been written in a foreign language I didn’t recognize, but Calanthe’s section was in English, transcribed by her sister.
I read how the two had plotted to seduce Joules into an alliance, and how the sister feared Calanthe was falling for the scrappy Irishman. Aside from a couple of warnings about killing the Reaper first and never trusting the Empress, I didn’t find any game-changing details.
