I was contained. In any case, why wouldn’t Sol have attacked me? I took him prisoner, threatening the ‘lives’ of his loved ones. I behaved like a lunatic and gave no sign that I’d be his ally. I told him I was taking him to Death and outlined his imprisonment here.” It didn’t have to be this way . . . Sol’s words to me just before he’d taken me down. “Naturally, he fought back. And he used the tools he had at hand.”
Lark rolled her eyes. “She wants to be friends with another one!”
“It’s not that! I’m just saying I gave him no reason to choose our alliance over his own. In his mind, I’m probably as bad as Richter.”
Looking back, I could tell Sol had been shocked by my description of the Emperor’s massacre—and then by the evidence when he’d followed me into the mountains outside Fort Arcana. But he’d already been in deep with the Emperor and Fortune. Maybe the Sun believed it was too late to do anything about his alliance.
Or I could be projecting my instincts and feelings onto him.
“I repeat: he had zombies dine on you.” Aric’s arm muscles flexed under his thin sweater. Yep. Clenched fists. “Perhaps those bites have affected your thinking?”
Lark snorted. “You can’t be this big of a dumbass.”
I was confused on a number of things. I was half-crazy. But these two had a lot of nerve giving me flack about this. “Of the last four Arcana who have abducted me, each one gave me a reason for his actions. Arthur wanted to experiment on me. Guthrie tried to turn me into a cannibal. Vincent planned to sever parts of my body and watch them grow back. Death wanted to cut off my head for vengeance, threatening the ‘creature’ every day that he would do so.”
Aric’s brow furrowed.
I gazed from him to Lark. “When I asked Sol why he was hurting me, do you know what he said? ‘Already in an alliance.’” I rubbed my temples. My head was now pounding. “For no other reason, we should keep him alive because he juiced my abilities like nothing before.”
In a measured tone, Aric said, “That is something to consider.”
“Yeah. Sure, Eves.”
I hadn’t changed their minds whatsoever. So I changed the subject. “How did Sol and Zara live through that crash anyway?”
Aric rose, heading to his bar service for a bottle of vodka and a shot glass. “Fortune possesses the divine power of luck.” He poured a shot, then decided to bring it and the bottle back to his desk. “When fully empowered, she can overcome insurmountable odds.”
He didn’t offer me a glass? We’d also shot vodka in this study, talking into the night.
Lark said, “Like she’ll always get a lucky bounce?”
He took his seat again. “In that crash, any number of scenarios might have played out. She could’ve been thrown from the helicopter, landing perfectly on the remains of a tree, cradled between two limbs. Or she could’ve plummeted into a pond deep enough to break her fall. All I know is that she walked out of that canyon, likely unscathed.”
Lark frowned. “I thought she was associated with fate. Her Arcana name’s Our Lady of Fate.”
“As she desired it to be,” he said. “But it’s a very liberal translation.”
I’d thought these Arcana things were set in stone. Now the goalposts were moving.
He downed that shot, then poured another. “She appears to control fate, but she doesn’t have any influence over what happens to her. Her power is passive. She doesn’t read the future and consciously affect it—not like the Fool does.” Aric’s gaze grew distant. “Ages ago, Fortune was known more accurately as Lady Luck. The Fool was known as the Hand of Fate. She despised him for that and envied his power.”
I’d once called Matthew the hand of fate. He could see a thousand years into the future, but he’d also been able to guide me through a hail of bullets. “But how would Sol have survived?”
“Fortune’s allies often benefit from her luck—unless she takes it from them. She’s also a luck thief. That’s her active power.”
I murmured, “She can steal it through touch.” As Death stole life. She’d been about to touch me before she’d been interrupted. “When Matthew said fate had marked me, he meant destiny in general? Not Zara?”
“I would believe so.”
Adjusting the creature around her nape, Lark tugged a folded-up piece of paper out of her jeans pocket. “I’ll update my new list of Arcana.” She