Chapter 34

Ileft Nikki with Kreios and Simon, the three of them arguing over where her residence might be. Nikki had a soft spot for the older casinos on the Strip, but everything about her energy argued for the flashiest complexes with the luckiest tables. Just hearing her voice unburdened by pain was enough luck for me. She didn't need me for this discussion.

Instead, Armaeus and I stood outside the police lines that had been erected around the explosion site at Dixie's Chapel of Everlasting Love in the Stars. The devastation hadn't stopped at the chapel's doors. The fire had extended across the parking lot to the other businesses, sparing most of them, but completely gutting DarkWorks Ink. There was no indication of bodies inside, Armaeus had already searched. But he hadn't found the young family Jimmy had welcomed through the front door, or Jimmy himself, for that matter. And there was still no sign of Sariah either.

He didn't seem concerned.

"Worst case, Death would have taken them In Between," he assured me. "Sariah is not to be underestimated. Her ability to pierce the High Priestess's vision alone is, well, surprising."

"That's why we were in that godforsaken pizza parlor," I muttered, still having a hard time believing it. "She saw Eshe's vision of a dough army helping us, and when Maria's call for help came into Justice Hall, she jumped. It wasn't sympathy for Maria at all."

"So it would seem," Armaeus agreed, but I twisted my lips slightly, remembering the look on her face as we'd spoken. There'd been a little sympathy there, I decided, even if she'd deny it now. Something in Maria's plight had touched her.

Armaeus blew out a long breath, refocusing me. "Our work here is only now beginning, Miss Wilde. The fact that Dixie had enough power, or the Star through Dixie, to do this, indicates her power is very great."

I slanted him a sharp glance, but though it made my stomach pitch to consider it, I knew the truth when it was staring me in the face. I suspected Armaeus knew it too. "It's not a possession, Armaeus. It's Dixie. It was always Dixie. I don't know where she came from or how she managed to pull it off, but…she did."

"She could have been near us this whole time, all these thousands of years," the Magician allowed, though he sounded like he still didn't believe it. "Leaving the area only to come back as a new incarnation."

"A new Star is born," I muttered. My head hurt with all the ramifications—so many years I'd known her, so much information I'd inadvertently shared. How much of it would come back to haunt us all? "What do we know about her next moves?"

Armaeus squared his shoulders. "Simon hasn't been idle on that score. Tracking Dixie has proven easier than anticipated. With Nikki possessing so many things of hers, and Simon having been the one to install Dixie's surveillance equipment, we have plenty of material to work with."

I made a face. "You don't actually think Dixie would let him see anything valuable?"

"Oh no, but we have her DNA. Modern technology has gone quite far, but modern technology combined with magic goes even further. And Dixie is proud. She'll maintain her current form. She'll flaunt it." He made a lazy gesture toward his own body. "Had I wanted to switch out my form or improve it, I certainly could have, and there's no question she inhabits a very beautiful form."

"Well, good for her," I said darkly, shoving my hands into my hoodie pockets.

Armaeus tugged my hand from my pocket and brought it to his lips, pausing to give me a too-knowing look. "There is no one on this earth who will ever surpass your beauty, your strength, your importance to me, Sara. Never doubt it."

"Yeah, yeah." I flushed as he continued.

"With Simon's aid, now that we know what to look for, we have been able to detect the presence of Dixie's DNA at some of the highest levels of government internationally. It is also riddled through the homes of Jarvis Fuggeren and a few other prominent members of the Shadow Court."

"Fuggeren," I groaned. "Why can't he just stay out of things now? He's dead."

"What is also important is where we have not found Dixie's DNA," Armaeus continued. "She has been in the casino of the Sun, but not in his private residence. She has not been in any of the residences of the Arcana Council that we have access to, and there's no reason to believe she would trust any of them. They talk. They gossip."

"And she didn't know she would need to play her hand quite so quickly, did she?" I asked. "She was taken by surprise. After all these centuries, millennia of preparation, she was rushed in the end. She wouldn't have liked that."

"Agreed. If the Star has taken the side of the Shadow Court, as seems almost certainly the case, I suspect she intended to remain behind the scenes. After six thousand years of hiding, there's a certain appeal to remaining hidden, a constant reminder of your strength over your enemies because they don't even know you exist. You can move a lot more easily if you are hidden."

"So does she have to act now?" I asked, reasonably enough. "I mean, it's not like anybody but us knows…"

Armaeus tilted his head. "We know, and so do the honor guard of the Moon. So do the demons the Star manages and has come to rule quite successfully. And so does the Court as well, if they were not already aware. That would be more than enough to force her to act now. But I suspect there's more to the picture than we yet understand. Further, Dixie has also revealed herself at least as a shadow figure to the arcane black market, in addition to government figures around the world, the rich and powerful. Even if she's not the Star incarnate, she's got something to prove. It will be easy enough for her to maintain the illusion that everything is going as planned. But not if she doesn't act boldly and swiftly. I suspect we are once more on the precipice of war, Miss Wilde. Only this time…the enemy might well be our own Council members."

"Oh, gee. Is that all?" I shook my head. "I think I preferred fighting the gods."

"Speaking of," Armaeus said, turning toward me. "How are you feeling after all you have endured? Physically? Personally?"

I blinked at him. "What do you mean? Why would I feel any different?"

"You have exercised your abilities to a degree that you arguably didn't even know you could in rapid succession, first with Roland and Emilio, then with the hunters you returned from Atlantis, then with Nikki. And of course with me. You are evolving to a position higher than most Justices aspire to, the balancing of what is real and what is potential, the blending together of those disparate forces. That's not what Justice does now, is it, Miss Wilde?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What is this? Am I getting reprimanded for straying outside my job description?"

"I could not presume to reprimand you, not now—perhaps never again. If anything, I think you're taking on a new role. And I am fascinated to see where it may lead you, and the Council at your side."

I blinked at him, but I couldn't deal with that speculation now. I needed to stay focused. "Speaking of new roles, what about the rest of the Council? Eshe and Viktor? Tesla? What would be the benefit of them going to the Star?"

The Magician grimaced. "Just because they weren't in attendance this night doesn't mean they've defected, but there's been dissension in the ranks for some time. And there has never been complete accord in any of the Councils. Dixie in any of her incarnations is proof enough of that—as is the Moon. And the Sun."

"But there can't be two Councils, right?"

"There cannot. There is always one Council, even if its members are at odds with each other. The ruling power lies in the seated Council, until it is disrupted. The Devil will prove particularly hard to unseat."

"Harder than you, you mean," I said drily. "You're not saying that in a hopeful manner, but in a certain one. The Devil will be more difficult to unseat than you would be in his position. Why?"

Armaeus smiled. "Because the Magician doesn't rule. It's not the point of the card or the point of my magic. I don't gather followers the way the Emperor does—or the Empress, for that matter. There are other roles better suited to leadership. The path of the Magician is most usually a lonely one. It is not the place for building empires."

"I don't really think of Kreios as being all that into the empire-building thing either."

"Not intentionally, no. But he draws people to him whether he likes it or not. It is part of his makeup. He is the best choice for ruling the Arcana Council through this crisis."

"What about Death? She won't defect, will she?"

The Magician snorted. "There are only two Council members who care not even the slightest about the politics of the actual structure they've adhered to. Death and the Hierophant. Michael's place in this pageant remains a mystery, but he is bound tightly to Death in their distance from and yet deep concern for humanity. He will not defect; neither will she. How they will act in the coming trials is not something I can predict other than that. There is much to learn…and much to relearn as well."

With that, he reached out his hand to me, and I slipped my fingers in his. He lifted my hand to his mouth, his lips brushing over my knuckles. Magic surged within me in a new and slightly disturbing manner—both quick and slow at once, cool and hot, blending together and at war with itself.

"That's…different," I said, blinking at him. "What's happening to me?"

He smiled. "I can say with absolute delight I have no idea, Miss Wilde. But I can't wait to watch it happen."

Then he pulled me close, bending his head to mine, and once more swept me away.

* * *