He cannot answer me, his body strangled of air. Of life.
He is . . . dead.
Even as grief overwhelms me, a suspicion tries to force its way into my mind—
“Aric!” Across the hall, my mother sees her husband. She screams, her hands covering her rounding belly, instinctively shielding the babe they’ve so long wanted. She sways on her feet, her legs buckling.
I don’t think, just run for her. In a fraction of an instant, I’ve somehow crossed the distance. I reach her in time to catch her as she falls.
She shrieks at my touch.
“Mother? No, no, no!” Black lines fork out along her arm, emanating from my hand.
With a yell, I release my hold. As comprehension dawns, my heartbeat pounds in my ears like the gods’ thunder. The sickness is coming . . .
From me.
“Mother, fight this!”
Grueling pain has robbed her of breath, has twisted her lovely face. But I can read her dread. “A-Aric?” She too suspects me.
She writhes in agony—yet I cannot defend her, comfort her. “Please, stay with me!” My tears strike her cheek. That same light shines down on her face. “Fight, Mother. Fight for your babe. F-for me.”
She stares up at me, seeming mesmerized by my eyes—as her own grow sightless. Her life is done. She has passed beyond.
My parents gone.
I’ve wrought my family’s destruction. Killed those I loved most, with my very touch.
My dark precipice has been reached. I throw back my head and roar as recognition takes hold.
I am Death. . . .
31
When I woke, muddy boots filled my vision. Jack?
“Get away from her, Reaper.” He was pointing a gun! “Or I’ll plug you.”
“Indeed?” Aric’s fingers stroked my cheek, smoothing away . . . tears?
I craned my head around. He sat beside me, and he didn’t stop caressing me—despite the threat.
I turned back to Jack. “Please, put that down.”
“My gun and your skull, Death. I warned you.” He faced me, his gray eyes crazed. “You slept with him?”
“What? No!” Okay, the scene looked bad.
Aric was shirtless, wearing only low-slung leather pants, his armor stacked against the wall. His glowing gaze was hooded with pleasure.
Voice relaxed, he asked, “Can you comprehend what it’s like to touch her after so long without? For this bliss, I’ll risk the bullet. I’ll take a bullet.”
When I jerked back from Aric, he tsked, as if to say, More’s the pity.
“Is this what you did at Death’s?” Jack demanded. “Let him touch your face, you? After you danced for him?”
“Just put down the gun, please.”
Stalemate. “Why didn’t you answer the radio?”
“What are you talking about? I didn’t hear anything.”
“Because I turned off the volume,” Aric said with a shrug. “The Empress needed to rest more than she needed to talk to you.”
“Jack, you’re scaring me. This looks much worse than it is.”
“No one in Azey North has seen her. She’s not there.”
“The Lovers lied to us.” Shocking.
“Milovníci’s in camp, with a pair of twins, but I doan know if they’re the real deal or not.” Jack absently rubbed his bandage. How badly he must want to face them, to make them pay.
“They’re not the source twins,” Aric said. “Which makes sense. If I had the Lovers’ power, I would station myself in some unreachable location and let my carnates do all the work for me.”
“How do you know for sure?” I asked.