“I told you emerging from the deep might be my only hope in this game. I had no choice. To reach my temple, I become one with the ocean, but it no longer has life, which means I have no life there.”
Communing with an element cut both ways, an Arcana power side effect that she and I both contended with. I felt injuries through any plant life I created, and when Circe controlled a body of water, she experienced everything each droplet experienced.
She continued, “The mysteries have drowned. Currents still whisper, but they speak a language I don’t comprehend.”
I didn’t really understand what she was describing, so I just listened.
“I left my trident and temple.” Her voice dropped lower. “I will never see them again in this lifetime, can never return to that form.” She glanced up at me, seeming surprised she’d revealed so much.
I was pretty sure Circe had grown tentacles for legs down in her abyss. Now she only had scales on her arms and her elbow fins. I’d bet they would enthrall Tee. “Then why not come to us right after we’d defeated Paul? You’ve obviously been suffering for some time.” I just wanted to cook for her, getting nourishment into her depleted body. Then hug her for days.
“I was too weakened.” She stared at the pool, guilt welling in her luminous fawn-colored eyes. “I didn’t intend to swamp an entire coastline. I could just as easily have killed you as saved you.”
“But you didn’t kill us. We’re here because of you.”
She met my gaze. “Decent people made their home in Jubilee. That settlement had horrible faults, but it was the best one I’d seen in all my watercourse wanderings.”
Calanthe’s chronicles had said that guilt could only fell the truly good. My heart hurt for Circe.
Making her tone brisk, she changed the subject. “Do you remember any of the times when I first came to land?”
“No. I don’t remember much about previous games. I keep waiting for more revelations.” Matthew had told me he’d given me my memories from two games, accessible through dreams. My nightmares left little room for mere dreams.
“Maybe you don’t want to remember. Your past might punish you.”
I believed this.
A wolf gave an eerie howl outside. Lark had declined to welcome our new guest in the flesh, saying, “When Poseida occupied the river, she ate my tiger and snarked on Finn’s talents as a Magician. Why would I give her the time of day?”
Circe gazed out at the night. “You court fire with Fauna.”
“We already court fire with the Emperor.”
“Unless your Jack lures him away. Isn’t that their plan?”
He and his crew were closing in on the Swords’ stronghold. Talking to Circe helped distract me. “It’s their hope. But I’m beginning to believe the Emperor will come here.” Sol had confirmed Richter’s sick interest in me.
If my powers equaled the Emperor’s, or Circe’s, I could defend our home.
If.
Circe said, “I was surprised you let Jack walk away after the Hanged Man’s demise.”
“It made sense at the time. I’m still in love with him—and with Aric.” I fiddled with my ring.
She sighed. “You never loved in your past lives. It figures that in this one, you’d be a glutton for love.”
I could deny nothing.
“We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.” Circe’s eyes grew heavy-lidded, and she looked like she’d stifled a yawn. “I’ll be up early to visit with my godson, so plan accordingly. Speaking of which, is it not time to feed him?”
I’d started pumping and using bottles alongside breastfeeding, just in case something happened to me. “Why are you so protective of him? He didn’t usher in the sun or a new age.”
“Though I don’t like you, I do like Death, and Tee is his son. Besides, I’m aware that in all these centuries, a child between two Arcana has never been. It makes this game unique.”
“So does the apocalypse.”
“True.”
With a sudden insight, I said, “I believe you resent being cursed by the gods.” Like Aric did. “They might not have wanted this child to be born, and you want to thwart them.”
She inclined her head. “I’ve long been a devout follower of all things Arcana—a Priestess, even. I could forgive the gods for cursing us, but not for cursing the world.”
“With a tilted stage. Sol told Jack that he sensed the sun still rising and setting every day, but dark magics corrupt it.”
She nodded. “As with my currents. As with Lark’s unfruitful animals and your lifeless soil. I sense those magics too.”
For some reason, talk of curses and magics made me uncomfortable—which led me to believe we were on to something. “So how do we remove their curse on the world? Mount a rebellion? Out in the Ash, Kentarch told me that we needed to fight the gods instead of each other and take control of the deck.”
Circe gave a weak laugh. “Of course, you believe we can defeat deities. I’ve often joked about how highly you think of yourself.” Growing serious, she said, “Still, the fact remains that your powers are vast. You are as unfathomable as the Fool is.”
She’d once told me that Mother Earth had powers of birth and rebirth that we couldn’t know. “Unfathomable. That’s exactly how I would describe the red witch in me.”
“We both have our witches, it seems.” Though Circe was a legitimate spellcaster.
I let drop the subject of the game and any curse until she felt better. “I always thought witches got a raw deal. All they wanted was to be left alone to practice their craft.”
She looked pleased with me, her lips curving. “And if it harms none, do as thou wilt.”
I smiled back. “In one game, men tried to burn me at the stake. A wooden stake. Needless to say, it didn’t take.”
Her smile widened. “That anecdote was funnier the first time you told me. Back then . . .” Her expression hardened, the moment of bonding over. “Run along and feed my godson. If I die before I wake, I’ll come back to haunt you in the next game.”
I sighed. “It’s a date. . . .”
Returning to our room, I found Aric holding a sleeping Tee. I gave them both a kiss in greeting. “Circe is very thankful to be here.”
“Hmm. Giving to her means taking resources from this one.”
“We either figure out how to end this game—and Snowmageddon—or we’re doomed anyway.”
I expected him to pull another card from his pocket, a new idea for our survival. Instead, he said, “I don’t disagree.”
Now that I’d given birth, Aric had stopped shielding me from bad news. Sometimes I wished we were back in those buffer Evie days.
He lowered his voice. “Perhaps we don’t need Circe here or anywhere near this place for any reason. She destroyed an entire settlement.”
“Accidentally! And she only lost control because she was trying to save me and Jack.”
“Lost control of her powers? Or her appetites?”
“You think the heat of battle overwhelmed her? You told me she’d garnered a lot of self-restraint over the games.”