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He scowled. Of course it s the most destructive force it s our power. Love begets violence, murder,
and war. Why else would mortals equate it with such horrible things?
What are you talking about?
Sunstruck, moonstruck, and lovestruck all mean maddened. We fear storm breaks and heart breaks. We
fall blind, fall into a trap, fall sick, fall madly in love. Why not rise in love?
I had no answer for that. I didn t know exactly how to describe love just knew his idea of it was
perverse.
If shot through the heart with an arrow, you get lovesick. Sounds painful, doesn t it? With his free
hand, he pulled the collar of his shirt higher, rolling his head on his neck. And smitten? One touch of the
dart, and an invisible affliction smites you down.
Love hurts. I get it.
He grinned; I grimaced. His yellowed teeth resembled his father s. You hurt right now, Empress. Your
love isn t diluted anymore. It s divided between the hunter and Death.
Somewhere in this lair, Aric fought tirelessly for me. I did love him. As I loved Jack.
It s complicated. My answer of the month.
You broke our rules by bringing Death here. But I m glad you did. Now we have two beloved to use
against you. Perhaps we should take them alive. Vincent s gaze went blank, his irises turning black.
You re seeing through your carnates eyes right now.
We are.
Siev, open your mind to me!
Aric! I m okay for now. Are you and Jack?
Engaged at present.
I m with Vincent. Can t find Selena or Violet.
I m coming for you soon. Hold tight.
I can stall.
No answer.
Vincent s eyes had cleared. Have you remembered our history?
I shook my aching head. But when Death translates your chronicles, I ll read all about it.
Our carnates are retrieving our stolen property from your horses as we speak.
From the Reaper s armored mount? I had to laugh. All the best with that. They had better hope they
couldn t catch that stallion. Thanatos bench pressed three eighty and made Bagger Spam with his hooves.
Why are those chronicles so important to you?
Our earliest memories are of Father reading them to us, each night before we went to sleep. Blood-
drenched bedtime stories. We re sentimental.
Sentimental? Because of you and your sister, your dad is being digested right now.
He nodded. Today we loved our father. We loved our mother as we began these new incarnations.
Had she died in childbirth?
A suspicion arose. Vincent, have you ever left this place?
He blinked. Why would we?
At my disbelieving expression, he explained, Our father bought the Shrine when our mother was
pregnant with us just in case his children would ring in a new game, and a new catastrophe. As soon as
he found out we were twins, he knew the game was starting. We ve been safe within here since before we
were born.
The twins had never felt the sun on their own skin?
He pointed toward a doorway. In there.
Again, I made the decision to go along with him.
Once we d crossed the raised threshold, he shut the door behind him. Never taking his finger from the
sensor, he locked us in with a combination I didn t see. I was trapped with him?
He was trapped with me.
Come, Lover, touch . . .
He d taken me to a sizable game room. Against one wall stood a fridge, a microwave station and sink
beside it. A trashcan overflowed with frozen food packages and empty potato chip bags. Clothes were
wadded up around it.
A hi-tech desk ran the length of another wall, covered with keyboards and video game controllers.
Monitors hung above. Different video games had been paused mid-action.
In front of a cushy gamer s chair sat a plate with a half-eaten Hot Pocket beside a can of Coke.
So this is your dukedom. You sit in here and play? While everyone else in the world was fighting for
survival? How did the least deserving assholes on the planet score these digs?
We play when we re not practicing our craft. Or being interrupted, he said with an annoyed look at
me. Sensor in hand, he dropped into that chair. In a way, our lives are video games. We send our avatars
into the world, and the Shrine is the big boss cave.
Vincent was a monster and yet he sounded like an excited teenager when he said, We ve turned it
into a house of horrors! We ve got carnates patrolling every floor and Baggers in the basement to guard
our treasure. Congratulations, Empress, you survived our little prank explosion, so you got to this secret
bonus level. But you only have one life left. He cast me that vile grin.
Vincent Milovníci had microwave snacks galore but had apparently never seen a toothbrush. I turned
from his smile, frowning at those clothes near the trashcan.
Were those Selena s?
Yes, that was her shirt, coat, and boots to be discarded with the food packaging. Because the twins
believed she d never need them? Where is Selena? What have you done to her?
In a perplexed tone, he said, We loved her.
Fury erupted inside me. You raped her?
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