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“Not my strong suit.” And more, I couldn’t reconcile how meaningless this game was. “You told me the lesson of life was to stand up and walk despite the ten swords in my back. But I feel like there’s more for us to learn.”
I’d accepted I was the Empress only after defeating the Alchemist. When battling Ogen, I’d finally delighted in my powers. Upon defeating the Lovers, I’d comprehended that love wasn’t just the most powerful force in the universe; it was the universe.
But after Richter’s attack on Jack’s army, I’d lost myself, letting rage consume me. My clashes against the Cups and the Hanged Man had topped off my toxic well.
Could I find my way back to love?
I told Circe, “I keep waiting for this game to make sense. To serve some kind of higher purpose.”
In a tone filled with bitterness, Circe said, “As soon as you accept that our existence is a game show for the gods’ entertainment, your wait will be over.”
She sounded like my grandmother. Why do you think the gods would end their amusement?
Circe added, “In your situation, I would prepare myself to win.”
“The last we talked about it, you were going to.” In order to give Death and me a chance at a life together and to give Circe immortality to chase the mysteries in the deep.
“The world can’t continue like this for much longer.”
“If I lose you all, I’ll go insane. Is that who should guide humanity out of an apocalypse? Is that who should take care of Tee?”
She shrugged. “You’re his mother. It’s what we’ve got.”
Lark entered the pool room, Maneater at her side. I was surprised Circe allowed the gigantic wolf so close, yet she looked happy to see them both. “Hail Tar Ro, Fauna.”
“Yo.” Lark waved. “Tar Ro, yada.” Despite the initial chill between the two, they’d eventually hit it off.
As Lark had explained to me, “I didn’t understand her at first. Remember, how you described the Sun Card as layered? So is the Priestess. She’s a destroyer of coasts, a recipient of human sacrifices, and a woman with a conscience.”
Circe and Lark had a lot in common, each having lost the love of her life. Circe’s soul-mate fiancé Edwin, nicknamed Ned, had died on Day Zero, which was supposed to be their wedding day.
The only friction between my roommates was over who got to hold Tee. Though he adored his aunties equally, they squabbled about Tee time, as Lark called it. Tee o’clock was a thing.
Now Lark clapped her hands for him. With pursed lips, Circe reluctantly handed him over.
Lark nuzzled him, puppylike, and he babbled happily. “Is Kentarch here yet?” she asked me. With a wave of her hand, she summoned some lightning bugs out of her pocket. They flitted above Tee’s head while he watched in a seeming trance.
“Should be arriving this afternoon.” Sometimes we coaxed him to stay and eat. Well, whenever I wasn’t in charge of the meal.
Circe asked, “Jack still won’t come?”
“No. Maybe in the future.” Though I pined for him, I understood. “We’re going to review the latest defense plan with Kentarch. Do you want to hear it here first?”
Lark rolled her eyes. “Duh. We know all about it. We know everything you and Death talk about.”
Expression brimming with humor, Circe said, “You and I are slated to team up on the Emperor, with Sol as support. The Sun will thaw my river and empower you. Everyone else will face Fortune with animals, rocket launchers, and javelins.”
Lark added, “Joules will take care of Zara’s rockets and missiles, and he’s started producing extra spears to stage here for Death’s use. You’ll use your vines to build foxholes as cover from Zara’s bullets. Once we’ve sapped her luck, Gabe will fly above her and drop something on her copter while my wolves fang it.”
“Oh. That about covers it.” Talk about stolen thunder.
Circe rose to stir a cauldron. “I’m curious if Sol can truly melt that river. I miss it. We had lovely times together.”
“Remember, I call the copter.” Lark bared her fangs. Her wolves had already attacked Fortune’s various helicopters twice. “Me and mine are ready to fight with tooth and claw.”
The red witch stirred at the thought of violence. “And my smiling face will be the last thing Richter ever sees.”
Both Lark and Circe raised their brows. I guess my tone had sounded much more malicious than Lark’s.
The witch continued readying inside me, and more strands of my hair had turned red. As Spite had molted, Lark had grown more animalistic, and Circe had once evolved into a sea monster, I was undergoing my own Empress metamorphosis.
The witch infused my up-and-down emotions with stability—and menace. My aggression came to the fore more easily, the heat of battle simmering just below the surface.
Like the Emperor’s magma.
