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“I want to leave you all just as little.” As if for comfort, Circe reached for Tee. I handed him over, and she held him close. “Sadly, we don’t have a choice. We have to be vigilant. The heat of battle might return at any moment.”

So that was why Circe had been pushing Evie. There was a time element here. The Priestess didn’t want anybody getting any funny ideas.

With a forced smile, she said, “Let’s not tempt any kind of fate.” Her unspoken words: Or ourselves.

45

The Empress

I took a deep breath and opened Aric’s chronicles.

He’d left pages for his final battle. In time, I would add that story. He’d defeated one of the most dangerous Arcana ever to live; his bravery needed to be commemorated forever.

I found envelopes for Tee and Jack. I set them aside, because they were not meant for me.

My letter was inscribed in Aric’s very chronicles. Tightening my tourniquet, I began to read.

My dearest Evie,

I wrote this letter to you here for two reasons. First, because all the events in the preceding pages led me to you. And second, because this is not a private missive. Anyone who wants to read my history with this game is welcome to see what shaped me:

You.

Millennia ago, I was born, destined for you.

I hadn’t known what I would find with you; our time together humbled my most fervent dreams.

Though I spent my happiest moments here with you and then with Tee, Castle Lethe was not my home. It was my lonely fortress, the stronghold I’d selected to ride out the apocalypse and protect my lifeless possessions.

Now that I am gone, I want you, Jack, and Tee to leave this place. Lethe means to forget, but you won’t here. Reminders will beset you with grief. Find the strength to go. Remember: everything for Tee.

Besides, an Empress belongs in Haven. The life we built here is a chapter that has ended. Begin another in a settlement called Acadiana. That wasn’t only Jack’s dream; it was yours as well.

I was torn. I wanted Tee to grow up with all of Aric’s books and art, immersed in his brilliant father’s collections. But Aric was right, this wasn’t his true home.

Still, realizing I should go and doing it were two different things.

To not sleep in Aric’s bed—when I still smelled his scent on his pillow?

To leave our bedroom—when his clothes were exactly as he’d left them, as if he would return at any second?

To not eat the lotus?

I know you well, and I know you will resist. Please, Evie, learn from my card. It signifies change and new beginnings. It advises one to release what no longer serves.

Grief no longer serves you.

And yet, still you hesitate, no? So, I will tell you my final secret. A shameful one. And I hope it sparks your Empress anger.

I nearly closed the book. If my body was an emotional vessel, I was full. No room left for anger. But curiosity compelled me to read on.

When I took you as my prisoner, I reached out to the Fool, demanding some means to curtail your abilities.

As you know, he revealed an additional power of my armor and suggested the cilice. But I kept secret from you another fact: he also told me that the resulting vulnerability in my armor would kill me.

My eyes briefly slid shut. Aric had known?

Mired in resentment, I dared not trust you, but I was desperate to have you for my own. I desired you more than my own life. So I cut free the cilice. Though the Devil and I repaired my armor, the metal was stretched thin and weakened in that spot.

Zara’s rotor had struck Aric exactly there, her powers finding that vulnerability.

Then I fell in love with you, and you with me. For a time, I convinced myself I could beat the prediction, that no fate is sealed. I was selfish.

The night Aric and I had first slept together, he’d told me he would accept any risk to himself to be with me: “ . . . if I could trade seven hundred years as the victor for seven months as your husband, I would make the bargain in an instant. I would trade those centuries for seven days. Seven hours.”

He’d meant that literally.

If I had been able to trust you sooner, I would have removed the cilice from your arm and had Ogen forge it back before his demise.

A shocked breath escaped me. Matthew had told me that I was Death’s sole weakness. I had been.

To save me from Ogen, Aric had killed the only creature able to restore his armor to its original strength. Death’s desire for me, for love, had been his undoing. As soon as he’d defeated the Devil, Aric’s immortal life had become mortal.

I murmured aloud, “You should have told me. I would’ve been more patient. More understanding. I didn’t know our time was that finite.”