Endless Knight(64)

—I broke ranks! Renegade! Eyes empty of him.—


What about your past deal? Your debts?

—Jack is bellowing at me to tell him where you are. He is swearing to Christ a lot. I stare at my hand.—


Have you told him I’m okay?

— Told Jack you’re alive. Okay in lair of Death?—


True. But, sweetheart, maybe you could fib and tell him I’m completely safe?

—He wants to come for you.—


So Death could “gut” Jack? You have to keep him out of the Reaper’s way! You can’t ever show Jack how to reach this place. Lead him on wild-goose chases, anything to keep him from this man. Taking Death down is all on me.

—Always was.—


Then tell me how. With poison?

—Passion.—


That’s disgusting! In the words of Finn, are you humming my balls?

—You can’t fight Death with force.—


Um, that’s kind of the definition of fight. But, Matthew, he put a cilice on me. I can’t use any of my abilities.

—If he bound your powers, then your powers are already working.—


I don’t understand.

—He gave you that cilice because part of him thinks to keep you. You are the card that Death covets.—


The room seemed to spin. So that was what these new Empress dreams were supposed to teach me! The earlier dreams had instructed me how to use my arsenal; this one was to teach me how to use Death’s one weakness against him.

His attraction to me.

Matthew had said I would fight Death with my powers. I’d thought he meant some kind of attack. But the Empress also had the power to beckon and allure. You and all the other Arcana expect me to seduce him. I gave a bitter laugh. To win his trust. Was that how past Empresses got him out of his armor?

—You fight him with your powers.—


And now Matthew believed Death had already changed his course with me, planning some kind of sick captor/hostage future. A plan I would have to capitalize on?

At least up to a point.

Two problems. Death still hated me. And even if I could turn off my own aversion to him, I was in love with someone else. How could I flirt believably with someone I was plotting to take down?

If I win him over, the first piece of armor I’m getting him to shed is this cuff around my arm. It continued to pain me, as I was sure he’d intended. Matthew, Death despises me. What happened in our past lives?

—You both have waterfalls on your cards.—


What does that mean?! You haven’t seen him with me. He is cruel and merciless.

—The Reaper thinks about touching you. All the time.—


GROSS! I’m not talking about this with you.

—You will not leave Death’s home until he trusts you. Proximity. Seduction. Freedom. It’s in your nature.—


Matthew faded from my mind, leaving me more confused than ever.

In my nature? No wonder Death had called me a femme fatale. Because I’d been one! Had I coaxed him out of his armor, then tried to sink my claws into him? That would certainly give him reason to hate me above all other Arcana.

I couldn’t decide what was more disturbing: how diabolical I’d been in past lives, or that I was even considering repeating history in this one. I gazed out the turret window at the dark sky and recognized the truth. I would do anything to get back to my friends. To get back to Jack.

Even seduce a knight named Death.

I now had a mission, and failure was not an option.

27


“So is this going to be my last meal?” I asked Lark as we descended the turret steps. She’d just unlocked me and Cyclops from my cell for breakfast.

When she pulled her silky black hair over one shoulder, a gecko peeked out from her purple turtleneck. “If it is, I’m not aware of the plan.” Lark looked me over. “You don’t seem crushed by all this.”


Now that I knew my friends were alive, I’d allowed myself to enjoy the shower and the clothes. Tops, jeans, shoes, underwear, and nightgowns—all in my size. I’d dressed in a white cashmere sweater, warm slacks, and boots of butter-soft leather. Even with only a couple of hours of fitful sleep, I felt almost human again.

“You’ve heard from Matthew, haven’t you?”


In a confused tone, I said, “And why would I tell you that, Judas?”


She just shook her head like I was being unreasonable. “No one got their icons. Which means we left them alive.”


“How do you know they’re not still trapped there?” I asked, hoping she roiled with guilt. “Or that they didn’t die horribly over the last week?”


Had she paled?

Once we’d arrived on the main floor, Cyclops trailing along, my attention was less on her and more on my sumptuous surroundings. I tried not to gawk as we passed a library filled with books, a media room with thousands of DVDs, a billiard room, and a well-equipped gym. But when food scents reached us, my mouth watered. “Bacon?”


“If you give this place half a chance, you’ll really like it here,” Lark said, leading me into a dining room.

Inside, Death sat at the head of a long table, drinking coffee, reading a faded newspaper.