to swell so much it ached. He knew then that he’d give anything to give her peace. But peace was not what he had to give. Only truth.
“Yes,” Asa said. “I believe She did choose you, just as Life chose me. And for the…” A wisp of smoke curled up out of his mouth, blending with the cigarette smoke. “… the reason you guessed. I’m sorry, Olivia.”
Silence fell. Olivia’s eyes were on the table.
“But what does it all mean?” she asked, her voice taut. “I’m supposed to… to help destroy Elysium? To help destroy all of us?”
“It means that you could,” Asa said. “It means that you are capable of it because your decisions have been given more weight than those of others. But it doesn’t mean you will.” Asa stood. “Look at me! I’m a Card too, and I certainly haven’t helped Life’s cause at all.”
“But everything I do… everything I have done… it’s only helped Her. Death, I mean. When I killed him… when we attacked Elysium. All of it only pushed Elysium closer to collapse. Like I wasn’t even trying. Oh, God…”
“That’s how it works,” Asa said. “There’s likely something She wants you to do, some mission you have that only you can accomplish, like mine.”
“But what could it be?” Olivia asked, her eyes on the table, her brows furrowed.
“I have no idea.” Asa shook his head.
“Are you sure I’m the one?” Olivia asked.
Asa thought about this. He had felt a growing sense of dread as he had headed toward the settlement, felt a tug of significance on his heart when he had first laid eyes on her, first fought her. But now that dread was gone. Now talking to her was as natural to him as breathing.
“No,” Asa said honestly. “But I know that Death’s Card is female, and that she uniquely proves the greatest threat to me.”
Olivia looked up, her dark eyes on him.
“What do you mean I’m the greatest threat to you?”
“The two Wildcards can…” Another wisp of smoke, a burning in his chest.
Thinking fast, Asa made a hand motion of two cars colliding and exploding. Olivia watched with a grim expression. “Do you get it?” he said.
Olivia nodded.
“And if I think about it… I think it may be why we’re drawn to each other,” Asa sighed. “We are each most vulnerable to the other.”
“It’s more than that, what’s between us, and you know it,” said Olivia.
“I know,” said Asa. “But we cannot ignore what we are, our parts in this. All we can do now is fight.”
“Can we fight something like fate?” Olivia asked.
“Of course,” Asa said. “Humans do nothing but fight fate every day. Humans are the most blessed and cursed of all creatures because humans can choose. Humans can change. For this reason, they cannot completely be used. That’s what I think I’ve envied for so long: the ability to be… not just a person, but my own person. Someone who can’t be used.” He paused, hoping desperately that she understood. “Death has positioned you based on your potential to be useful to Her. Nothing more. Your choices about what to do are completely your own. And it’s not like you, the strong, patient, ingenious girl I know, to bow before something as insignificant as fate.”
Olivia turned to him, her eyes so dark and wide and beautiful. Asa found himself leaning toward her, drawn, again, as though magnetized to her and she to him. But this time, they didn’t stop. They didn’t pull back. Their lips met and it seemed as though an explosion went off somewhere within him. A very un-daemon-like explosion of affection, of urgency, of several thousand other things at once, but this time Asa didn’t care to quantify them. He shut his eyes and fell into the moment, into a cigarette-tasting frenzy of kissing, heat, closeness, passion, and he couldn’t really tell if this was all one kiss or more than one, but he didn’t care, because her hands were in his hair and she was nearly in his lap and—
A knock on the door. Asa and Olivia sprang up as though burned. “Olivia Rosales!” a deep voice said. “Are you in there?”
Adjusting his clothes, smoothing his hair, Asa went to the door and opened it to find two guards standing on the doorstep.
“We’re here for Olivia Rosales,” one guard said. “We were told she might be here?”
“I’m here,” Olivia said, coming to the door beside him. “Is it time?”