The Dark Calling (The Arcana Chronicles #5)(2)

Which only worked when she was awake. “I’m going to confront him.” I leapt from the bed.

Aric swiftly rose to assist me. “In time. You need rest.”

I grabbed my robe, pulling it over my nightgown. “Because of my alleged ‘condition’? I feel fine.”

“Can we not discuss this first? I am asking you to wait. Can you do that for me?” When I hesitated, he said, “Let me draw you a bath. We can talk. You can relax and contemplate things.”

“A bath?” Not a murder?

“You can confront him later; he isn’t going anywhere. Come, love.”

If I was pregnant, I would definitely eviscerate Paul, and the red witch—my homicidal alter ego—would want to savor the kill. Maybe I should wait for my powers to recharge a bit. As my adrenaline waned, my weakness increased. “Fine.” For now, I would cooperate with Aric.

I allowed him to lead me from the bedroom, shuffling along docilely—just as I had whenever the nurses had steered me around the mental ward.

As Aric filled the tub, the winds roared outside.

“What’s going on with this weather?”

“A blizzard blew in not long after we arrived back here. We’ve had nothing but snow and lightning.”

“What happened with Joules and Gabriel after I passed out? I’m sure you were all politeness when you kicked them out of the truck.” A stray thought: Where’s the wedding ring I had in my pocket? I’d vowed to give it to Aric after we’d returned home with Finn.

“Alas, I managed zero politeness when I ejected them.” He added my favorite bath crystals to the water, bubbles forming. “In my haste to get you medical care, I drove directly here, taking no pains to elude them. I have little doubt that they followed us. Circe confirmed that she saw something land on the next mountain over, just in advance of this blizzard.”

I tied my hair into a knot above my head. “Will they attack?” Had we bonded with them enough when all of us had worked together to survive?

At the edge of the tub, Aric helped me undress. “If they get hungry enough, they will. But should they somehow make it past Lark and Circe, they’d be thwarted by our home’s defenses. Not even the Flash could overcome our blast-proof doors and bulletproof windows. We’ll keep the castle on lockdown.” He took my hand and assisted me into the water. “In you go. Is the temperature acceptable?”

No. I wanted to scour my skin. I reached for the hot water lever, but he stayed my hand.

“Too warm isn’t good right now.” He rose to switch on the bathroom heater, then returned to sit beside the tub.

“What are you talking about?”

“While you were unconscious, I did some reading. I have few books on the subject of pregnancy, but I scanned them all. Excessively hot baths aren’t recommended.”

Oh, yeah. That. “I’m not knocked up.”

“Then why do you think you lost consciousness?” He dipped a cloth into the water. As he ran it over my back, my lids went heavy. “Why do you think your nose bled? I read that both can be symptoms of pregnancy.”

Should I confess to him that Matthew had communicated with me? That Jack might have? Or would Aric take that as proof that I was mental?

I had more than one reason for confronting Paul. I needed to know if my mind was right. Chain of logic, Evie. If Paul convinced me that he was telling the truth about the shot, then I’d know I was whackadoodle enough to imagine other things—like Jack’s voice. If I decided that Paul was lying, then why should I not trust my own mind? Why should I not believe Jack lived?

Reason told me that I’d gotten everything confused. History told me I’d had problems before, and I’d heaped tons of stress on myself. But I needed to believe.

I told Aric, “That truck window exploding in my face might’ve had something to do with my symptoms. Or anxiety. Even Paul said I probably had PTSD.” That asshole. I dunked my hands under the bubbles, hiding my purple thorn claws. “Have you spoken with Lark or Circe about this?”

“They’ve both heard you’re with child, of course. There’s little they do not hear.” Lark spied through her creatures, Circe through water.

We didn’t have a lot of secrets here at Castle Lethe, a.k.a. the castle of lost time. “Then they might’ve picked up on my conversation with Paul.”

He shook his head. “Regrettably, no.”

“You asked them? Why couldn’t you simply accept what I’d told you?”

“Can you say without any doubt whatsoever that he lied?”

After a hesitation, I said, “No. But I don’t trust him.” Unfortunately, I didn’t trust myself completely either.

Aric washed one of my arms, then the other. “Until you have decided with absolute certainty, I will lock Paul in his rooms. Will that make you feel better?”

“Why are you being so understanding with him?”

“Not everything is black and white in this situation.” He paused with the cloth. “This pregnancy does not strike me as lamentable. Nor worthy of a murderous rage. Yet your hair was turning red earlier.”

“So, Paul will be acquitted because you don’t think this is lamentable? He’s screwing with our lives.” With my mind.

“He has been a loyal servant to me since not long after the Flash.” Aric had once told me that the medic had grown up in this area. After the apocalypse, he’d found Paul in the nearest town, treating others’ injuries, sharing his supplies with them.