The gates slammed closed behind Cyclops’s tail.


Matthew was there to greet us, wearing a vacant smile. When he crossed to me and held up his arms, I fell out of the saddle, legs gone boneless. He caught me against himself, helping me stand.


“What is this place?” I wheezed, taking in details. The wall was made of scrap metal: car hoods, road signs, rebar. Large military-style housing tents were spread out over a sizable area. Covered torches hung on lines above, casting light.


“The hunter was busy while you were away.”


“This is Jack’s?” Horses dozed in a stable, chickens clucked in a coop, and dozens of people milled about.


All guys, naturally. They stared not only at me—a female—but at my colossal one-eyed bodyguard, currently scarfing down the last of his human chew toy. Wolves gotta eat.


Matthew peeled me off him, shoving one of his sleeves up. “Take off your gloves, Empress.”


I did, too exhausted to protest. My head spun like I’d just stepped off a playground round-a-bout.


He brandished a knife and sliced his pale arm before I could stop him. Then he used his blood to draw a line over the back of my icon hand. “This is Gamekeeper’s blood. There’s protection here.” Crimson crossed over the two markings of my Arcana kills, as if to cancel them out. “Lots of other Arcana here, but we have trues. No one strikes on hallowed ground.”


“Truce?”


“Trues. The true-hearted cards,” he said, adding darkly, “for a time.” Matthew had created a war-free area with a power I hadn’t known about.


I gazed up at him. In the last three months, he’d grown even taller. Had his birthday passed? Was he seventeen yet? He wore a water­proof parka, a wool button-down, jeans, and a pair of hiking boots, all newish looking. Had Jack sourced clothes for him?


As Aric had done for me?


Inner shake. “Thank you, Matthew. You got me here safely.”


With his brown eyes as adoring as a puppy’s, he asked, “The Empress is my friend?” He used to declare this. Now he had to ask.


Was I still pissed that he’d covered up Jack’s lies? I’d been furious when he’d taught Aric how to neutralize my powers, but Matthew had probably saved my life by doing that.


Maybe I needed to accept that he did everything for a reason. I’d trusted him to steer me through a minefield (talk about a team-building exercise). I’d relied on his mysterious guidance to escape Death.


But trusting Matthew completely would be like falling backward. A free fall. Was I ready?


Life had been too short for grudges before the Flash. Now . . . “Evie is your friend.” I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tight. When I pulled back, I said, “Matthew, where is Jack?”


“The hunter is nigh.”


“How do I get to him?”


“Horse.”


A nondescript middle-aged man approached. With a wary glance at the wolf, he took the mare’s reins, promising to care for her. Oh. Horse.


As the guy led her to the stable, I made a mental note to grow her a treat. “Who are all these people?” Some cleaned weapons beneath a bright tarp—the kind you used to see at raucous tailgate parties. Others were heating water and doing laundry.


“Humans. Jack collects them. I like their soup.”


“Do they know what we are?”


“Jack lets them think we’re gods. They call this Fort Arcana, established Year 1 A.F.”


“What about keeping ourselves secret? You told me Arcana and non-Arcana mix poorly. You told me humans burn what they fear.”


A glimmer of something unsettling crossed Matthew’s features. “There aren’t enough humans left to consider.”


I’d have to think about that later. “Matthew, I need to get to—”


“The watchtower!” He stepped onto a narrow board path that ran through the muddy camp like a freeway. A plankway. Off he went.


“The what?” My legs were so tired, I could barely balance as I tried to keep up.


Cyclops padded along beside me, his frizzy black fur shimmying. His scarred snout was just to the right of my head, his filthy whiskers almost brushing my cheek. His enormous paws sloshed mud up my pants.


Was that a finger stuck in the knotted scruff under his chin?


I trailed Matthew to the far side of the fort. “Did you send me a vision of my mother? Or did I dream?”


Over his shoulder, he said, “Our enemies laugh. Smite and mad. Fall and struck.”


That was his answer? Sometimes I wanted to grab him and shake him.


“We’re here.” Along the back wall stood a three-story structure, clad in metal sheeting. Matthew climbed a ladder to the top.


I followed, leaving the wolf to prowl below. At every rung, I wheezed and winced. “Can we . . . please talk about . . . a rescue for Jack?”


At the top level, Matthew tilted up a license plate, revealing a small slot. “Empress.” He motioned for me to peer out.


“Okay, what am I looking at? Oh, wow.” We were high up on a blustery vantage with a sheer drop-off. A river that looked as broad as the Mississippi coursed below. An amazing sight. Before the rains, there’d been no bodies of water like this.


“The placement of this fort is genius.” That minefield moat bordered three sides of the wall, while this steep bluff and river protected the fourth.


“Jack,” he said simply. “Fort Arcana grew from you. The mission . . .”


When he couldn’t find me at Death’s, Jack had targeted the Lovers for me—and for him. He’d had his own vendetta against the Milovnícis.


I gazed across the water at an opposing bluff. Fires dotted the area. Tents stretched for what seemed like miles. A few rock ridges jutted upward, offering protection from attack.


“Is that the Army of the Southeast?” It was huge. I tried to imagine where Jack was being kept. To be this close to him . . .


“Half of the Azey. Azey South. Azey North’s not too far away.”


Which meant Violet wasn’t too far away either. How to get to Jack before she did? “I don’t suppose this wind ever dies down?” I could launch spores from here, putting all the soldiers to sleep. Then I’d take a boat across, stroll into their camp, and drag Jack out.


“The winds go all night. Which is all day.” There went that idea— Shots erupted from across the river, lots of them at one time.  

Finn-Selena

por qué crees que ya no será Finn-Selena   se que ella se esta haciendo la difícil porque se siente traicionada por Finn al hacer lo que ya tu sabes    pero pienso que tal vez ella flaquee al final y caiga    

Ari

Muerte

Finn. Leg healing. Heart broken. Lark tricked the trickster.

Selena y Finn.

la chica esta, Lark. 

Finn por Lark me decepcionó un poco, la verdad.

liar a Selena con Jack mientras Evie se decide entre él y Ari. 

se me había olvidado por completo que Finn se sintió atraído por Lark, rayos, llevas mucha razón con eso de no gustarte lo de enamorarse y desenamorarse solo con un click, a mi tampoco me agrada eso y mucho menos me agrada la idea que planteas, de que haya una posibilidad de unir a Selena a Jack, no no y no puedo morir de un disgusto. Es por esa razón que ODIOOOO las historias con triangulos amorosos aunque ahora que conocí a Aric y no me parece un mal chico en lo absoluto, soy y seguiré siendo del Team Jack

corazón de Finn me decepcionó mucho. 

romances adolescentes que van cambiando las parejas sin ton ni son.

este triángulo con Evie, Ari y Jack. Miedo me da lo que haga con Finn, Lark y Selena. 

Muerte me gustó y, si no hubiera conocido a Jack, lo consideraría una gran pareja para Evie, pero Jack está ahí y yo soy de su equipo. No quiero más tonterías con el triángulo. Que se centre de una vez en la pareja de Jack y Evie, que bastantes problemas tienen como para meter a más gente. No, por favor. 

de pronto y analizando un poquito las cosas, puede entender un poco su cambio de sentimientos, pues puede ser que cuando conoció a Selena quedara impresionado por ella, lo mismo pasó cuando conoció a Evie, ya que creyó no habían muchas chicas y tenía rato sin ver una, pero al conocer a Lark la cosa fuera diferente para él, ya sabes sus sentimientos por ella fueron realmente serios, no sé, prefiero creer en ello, antes de creer que Kresley Cole sólo quiero crear triángulos tras triángulos  

un tira y afloja entre Muerte y Jack, pero ya nos iremos inclinando hacia Jack según avance la hisotria y lleguemos a los últimos capis. No creo que le dé mucha bola más a Ari. Seguramente Evie estará algo dudosa, pero el que quiera rescatar a Jack y dejarle que se explique es bastante alentador para ellos. Además, también hay que tener en cuenta que Ari la puso en una situación peliaguda al final del libro y Evie no estará tan predispuesta hacia él como en capis anteriores. 

En principio, tiraba a un Finn-Selena, pero si nos vende bien el Finn-Lark no me molestaría mucho. Poría asimilarlo. Lo malo es que, como dije, Selena quedaría libre y miedo me da...   Crucemos los deditos.

no te niego que sí da algo de temor que no tenga a nadie que le mueva el piso, sabemos que ella está por Jack, pero también Selena está clarísima que al final sólo uno de los Arcanas quedará, y todavía estoy con la duda de si Jack es o no es uno si al final resulta que sí lo es, crees que ella seguirá obsesionada con él

sería la carta de la Fuerza, pero no. Esa es Lark. Casi que no me extrañaría que él se quedara como humano o como algo diferente a las cartas.

líder.

Evie iba a rescatarlo.

tregua entre otros Arcanos con Evie y que los conozcamos más

su relación con Gabriel. Aunque yo la quería con Finn, sus interacciones con el ángel se han ganado mi apoyo. No sé por qué Kresley nos dio un poco de Selena-Finn en el primer libro si luego todo quedaba en nada.

eliminarlo tan rápidamente,

yo como que prefiero a Finn para Lark y que la antipatica de Selena se quede con Gabriel  pero dime algo, en el segundo libro cuando nos presentaran la alianza de Joules, se describió cómo era Gabriel ?  porque te juro que me sorprendió saber que tiene garras y colmillos 

Lark, pero es que le había hecho la pareja ya con Selena y es duro romperla, aunque, como te digo, me ha gustado la interacción entre Gabriel y ella.

tuviera garras

las alas y el pelo negro

Finn y Selena y yo con que Finn y Lark  en eso no estamos tan de acuerdo... 

Lark.

Selena-Gabriel.

Jack-Evie.

Aric, pero no ha sido así, para mi disgusto. En los últimos capis ella ya se declara enamorada de él. Odio eso de que le sirva uno u otro. Al final parece que hace la elección del chico solo por el orden en que los ha conocido.

de Jack.

hacen una captura importante y hay un nuevo rescate.   La diferencia ha sido que en esta ocasión los rescatadores son el trío protagonista.

Muerte en lugar de hacer que siguiera ganando terrero con Evie.

-lo de los clones-.

Jack.

Jack-Evie,

Aric

Aric

Jack,

renuncia a Jack.

con JD. 

con esa inseguridad de Evie que si Jack, que si Aric   en eso me saca la piedra

Evie-Ari...