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Braxton’s gaze is tender as he looks at me and says, “Tasha, darling, you do realize that if we stop Gray Wolf from being built, then you and I never meet.”

A sobering silence descends upon the room. I hadn’t thought of that.

“Listen.” He leans in, pressing a kiss to my forehead and cupping my cheek with a loving hand. “If we’re truly fated, which I have no doubt we are, our plan will work. Simply because it has to.”

“I’m just so afraid of losing you,” I admit.

“You won’t,” he assures me, pulling me deeper into his arms. “I will find you, no matter what it takes.”

“How can you be so sure?” I ask, my words a whisper pressed to the soft hollow at the base of his throat.

“Because it’s our destiny,” he says, pressing his lips to my nose. “And our fate.” The tip of his tongue traces an enticing path down my neck. “And all we can do now is trust and believe.”

He lowers his head to claim my lips, and together, we love each other again.

39

First thing I see when I return to my room is that Arthur has made good on his word.

Positioned with deliberate care is Artemisia Gentileschi’s iconic piece,Judith Slaying Holofernes—my reward for procuring the Moon.

Resting just beside it is Albrecht Dürer’sMelencolia I, the intricate engraving Arthur wants me to decipher to locate the Star.

These two pieces, each a masterpiece in its own right, serve as a visual representation of our conflicting ambitions, the monumental task I’m preparing to face.

Artemisia’s painting, with its vivid depiction of determination and courage, symbolizes the daunting challenge of confronting a man like Arthur whose ambition is boundless.

On the other side,Melencolia I, with all its layered symbols, mirrors the complex puzzle I still need to solve to locate the Star.

As I stand before them, my shoulders slump under the weight of the responsibility I’ll soon have to face.

Arthur, with his dream of remolding reality, views these two artifacts as mere steppingstones toward achieving his goal.

For me, they serve as stark reminders of the delicate balance between creation and destruction, a balance I’m sworn to protect.

Though I’m quick to remind myself that this battle is about more than just stopping Arthur’s plans—it’s about protecting humanity’s freedoms—a question remains that I can’t seem to shake:if we’re both making choices for others, at what point do our destinies become so entangled that we are merely two sides of the same spinning coin?

The path ahead feels like a twisted odyssey, where the line between hero and villain is beginning to blur. Yet it’s a path I must walk all the same.

Reaching for the envelope Roxane left earlier, I lift the flap, and three tarot cards slide onto my palm: the Star, Strength, and the World. Each card, part of the Major Arcana, feels weighted with significance, their vibrant images resonating with a silent call to be deciphered, understood.

It’s also interesting to note that these tarot cards are not from the Visconti-Sforza tarrocchi deck that Arthur usually favors. Instead, they’re taken from the Rider-Waite deck, a product of a more contemporary era.

Could this selection of modern cards signify Arthur’s vision for a new world?

Alongside the cards, folded with care is a copy of the map Christopher Columbus used to navigate the Atlantic. In its margins are hand-sketched symbols that correspond with the imagery found on the tarot cards. Among the engraving, the map, and these cards lies a complex puzzle—an enigmatic blend of history, art, and mysticism—that forms a cryptic guide leading directly to the Star.

Having already interpreted the engraving, I settle onto the velvet settee and arrange the cards and map on the table before me. Beginning with the Star, I try to recall what I know.

As the seventeenth card of the Major Arcana, The Star symbolizes a guiding light of hope. By adding its digits—one plus seven—it shares a numerological link with Strength, the eighth card in the deck. Though the challenge lies in determining how these cards work together.

Let’s see, let’s see…The Star’s astrological link is Aquarius, its element is Air, while the Strength card’s element is Fire, and its astrological link is Leo.

Okay, so what does that mean and how does it help me?

Usually, I have a little more time to figure this out, but with Arthur likely to dispatch me tomorrow, with either Elodie or Killian overseeing my actions, I need to unravel these mysteries sooner, rather than later. Time is a luxury I no longer possess.

Lifting the Star card to examine it more closely, I focus on the golden-haired maiden gracefully pouring water from two urns—one onto the land and the other into a natural pool. A distant memory resurfaces: my father’s voice explaining that this imagery represents the healing of both present and past.