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I was looking forward to a hot shoith him We rarely showered alone To be fair, ouldn’t conserve water after living through the Flash?

Then ould eat in his study, holing up in front of the fire to read the chronicles he’d acquired over the last three ga the Lovers’

Aric was al theirs When I’d pressed about the contents, he’d admitted there wasn’t much to help us The entries were basically stream-of-consciousness murder fantasies--and I starred in every one

I’d assues would, you know, make sense Or be helpful But even the Lovers’ father had ade contract No wonder Aric hadn’t wanted to share the deets

He’d also read my own book The inforued hi a dozen other mysteries, he’d wondered how I’d defeated the Centurion, how I’d survived the Tower and the Angel’s fire, and what I’d done with the Magician’s chronicles after I’d killed hi)

He’d also suspected Lark could create animals, but he’d never been able to verify that ability until now

Just as he’d never been able to verify the Minor Arcana Which made sense The Minors had probably steered clear of hi Would they repeat that strategy in this game?

Even after all these weeks, I still couldn’t shake ; maybe I sensed their approach?

Tick-tock Tick-tock If not them, then what threat loomed?

I’d told Aric about my sense He’d replied, "We can’t possibly do ainst eneame will try to make you insane"

He’d scratched his head at Gran’s cryptic writings in the back offor answers

Since she’d passed away, I’d tried to focus on good ht me a lot about eared toward killing

She’d told me an Empress could fashion wood into whatever shapes she liked; in ly crafted

I’d figured the band would need to be as resilient as est trees in the world: lignum vitae Latin for wood of life

Aric would like that detail

After secretly er--I’d used a tiny vine as he slept--I’d created prototype rings, honing my ability

Once I was satisfied with the band, I’d reinforced it with everything in rain and sht not be wielding the earthshaking plant powers I’d had in the past, but I couldas he was

But for soive it to him