I tried to recall the Lovers from the past, but got nothing. Maybe I’d never faced them.
All I kept seeing was an elusive memory of a picnic with my grandmother. “What have you got there, Evie?” I dimly remembered her cutting her thumb on a pecan shell, on purpose, blood welling.
“So talk.” Selena bounded like a gazelle from one plank to another, all long limbs and grace.
I trudged behind her, as if my boots were weighted. “Death told me they hunger for pain, but I don’t know why.”
“Maybe because they’re hella evil, like the Hierophant and the Alchemist?”
And Ogen? Possibly the High Priestess? What if all Arcana had the capacity for true evil? What if that was what made us Arcana? My alter ego—the red witch—could scare even me. “Tell me what you know about the Lovers’ powers.”
Selena hesitated.
“This is not the time to hold back information.” I stopped in the middle of the courtyard. “We need to be working together. I’m going to give this rescue everything I have. Will you?”
She came back to stand in front of me. “I was trained never to reveal my chroniclers’ info. Matthew always says, ‘Converge and conserve.’ I was taught, ‘Convergence, conservation, concealment.’”
I crossed my arms over my chest, as unbending as an oak.
At length, she said, “For J.D., I’ll go against all my extensive training. Because I always have his six, always will, and unfortunately I need you to help him.”
Always will?
“In my Arcana primer, there was a lot of speculation about the Lovers.”
She’d gotten a primer? I wanted a primer.
Instead I had my grandmother, a Tarasova, a wisewoman of the Tarot. She’d be a wealth of knowledge—if I could find her, reach her.
But so might Selena be—if I could trust her.
“Some say that if they whisper in your ears at the same time, they can mesmerize you to confuse pain for pleasure. If they clasp hands and swing their arms, they can tempt you to love bad things, like murder and suicide. Is any of this jibing with what you’ve heard?”
“Ditto on the mesmerizing. But I can’t remember much more.”
“Other chroniclers were totally vague about them. The Emperor? Everyone can tell you he moves mountains, creates earthquakes, and uses lava to kill. The High Priestess manipulates water, drowning her enemies. Straightforward stuff. But the Lovers are surrounded by mystery. Could be because they always die early in the game. Could be they’re good at hiding power secrets. Like most of us.”
“I’ve told you everything I can do. What are you hiding?”
She waved that away. “I didn’t know Lark has bulletproof animals or that Ogen could supersize himself that much. Speaking of which, you talked about what the Devil did to you, but not Death.”
Death? He nearly seduced me into falling for him, then broke my heart. “Let’s focus on the twins, okay? I’ll try to get more details from Matthew.”
“Good luck with that. If possible, he’s making less sense than before, and he’s having fits. Only J.D. can calm him down.”
I felt a pang that Jack had been looking out for him. “Joules and his crew don’t have any info?”
“Gabe’s line was the only one that chronicled, and his books got destroyed centuries ago.”
I’d bet Aric knew all about the Lovers. As the three-time, reigning Arcana champion, he’d lived for millennia, gathering knowledge the way he gathered priceless relics. . . .
Two armed sentries passed us. Each wore a hooded camo poncho and carried a rifle. They nodded politely.
Under my breath, I said, “Arcana don’t freak them out? Gabriel’s wings alone should throw them.”
“At first, yeah. But they look to J.D. to see how to act. They hero-worship ‘the hunter.’”
Charismatic Jack could be so compelling when he wanted to.
“He uses our help to maintain order,” Selena said. “The Azey might have the twins, but J.D.’s got three Arcana himself—a psychic, an exquisite bow-goddess, and an illusionist.”
“How did this place come to be?”
“He built a lot of the wall with his own hands, worked himself to exhaustion. It’d stand up against a tank.” She couldn’t sound prouder. “He’s been recruiting skilled Azey dissenters, leaving messages for scouts. With his leadership and Finn’s illusions, we’ve been stealing tons from the army: food, fuel, even the mines J.D. planted in the moat.”
“It sounds like you guys are gaining momentum.”
Selena nodded. “That’s why the Azey sent half their force to set up shop across the river. Their guns are out of range—for now—but we think they’re hauling heavier artillery from Azey North. If it reaches here . . .”
Another worry to put on my list. “How did Jack get captured?”
“We were going to blow the bridge I was talking about—while Vincent was on it. We’d taken up position on a cliff overlooking the strike zone, waiting for his convoy to cross. J.D. had his finger hovering over the detonator.”
“Matthew told me Vincent surprised him.”
“The bastard parked just before the bridge. While we were coming up with a new plan, one of the convoy trucks that had already crossed fired a fifty-cal at us.”
I nodded like I knew what that was. It sounded bad. “Go on.”
“Bullets chewed the mountain apart. Finn fell, but J.D. and I held on somehow. He climbed up to get a shot at Vincent, so I headed to another rise, drawing fire. Next thing I knew I was falling too.”
“How did they know where you’d be?”
She peered around. “I think we’ve got traitors here, men planted by the Milovnícis.”
I rubbed the back of my neck.
“If we can free J.D., we’ll smoke them out.” She pointed behind me. “Gabe’s tent is over there, just past the courtyard. How do we do this with him?”
“You’re going to flirt with him.”
“Are you mental?”
“He’s head over heels for you.”
Selena huffed with impatience. “Understandably. But how does this help us? You want me to act like I like him? He’s completely bizarre.”
Yes, he wore an old-timey suit everywhere with a strange tie (a cravat or whatever). And yes, his speech was outdated. But . . . “I was going to say eccentric.”