Le Pitch
Présentation de l'éditeur
In this seductive follow-up to Poison Princess, #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole takes us deeper into the dark world of the Arcana Chronicles.
Shocking secrets
Evie has fully come into her powers as the Tarot Empress, and Jack was there to see it all. She now knows that the teens who’ve been reincarnated as the Tarot are in the throes of an epic battle. It’s kill or be killed, and the future of mankind hangs in the balance.
Unexpected allies
With threats lurking around every corner, Evie is forced to trust her newfound alliance. Together they must fight not only other Arcana, but also Bagmen zombies, post-apocalyptic storms, and cannibals.
Gut-wrenching treachery
When Evie meets Death, things get even more complicated. Though falling for Jack, she’s drawn to the dangerous Endless Knight as well. Somehow the Empress and Death share a history, one that Evie can’t remember—but Death can’t forget…
Extrait
Endless Knight
1
DAY 246 A.F.
REQUIEM, TENNESSEE
FOOTHILLS OF THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS
This is what I truly am. . . .
Jackson stumbled back from me, making the sign of the cross. Just as I once predicted.
With that one gesture, he has broken my heart utterly.
—And yet I could not be prouder, Empress— seductive Death whispered in my mind.
I heard him so clearly; he must be close. I had nothing left to lose, no reason to live in fear of him. Watch your six, Reaper, I’m on the hunt.
A rasping chuckle. —Your Death awaits.—
I started laughing, and I couldn’t stop.
Jackson paled even more. I hoped he would desert me now and take the other three with him, out of my reach.
Because otherwise, the Empress might just kill them all—
Moisture tracked down my face. A tear?
Rain.
As Jackson and I stared at each other, drops began to fall between us.
My laughter died when I saw him clutching my hair ribbon so tightly that his battered knuckles were white—as if by holding on to it, he could hold on to the sweet girl he thought he’d known.
She was gone, replaced by the Empress, still tensed to fight, standing in a puddle of the Alchemist’s remains. As my reddened hair streamed over my cheeks, I felt my face twisting into an expression I’d never made before. One of menace.
I was half-surprised Jackson hadn’t drawn on me, but his deadly crossbow was still slung over his shoulder.
Along with the ominous drizzle, fog began rolling into this ghost town, obscuring everything, but I spied movement out of the corner of my eye. I dragged my gaze away from Jackson to the rest of our ragtag group, three other Arcana like myself.
Selena, Matthew, and Finn.
It was Selena I focused on. She’d removed her bow from her back and was now slipping an arrow from her thigh quiver.
I raised my brows with surprise. I supposed the Archer had finally gotten tired of waiting to kill us.
When she nocked that arrow, the whirling thorn tornado above me tightened. The little vine by my face straightened in her direction, a viper poised to strike.
“So that’s how it’s going to be, Archer?” My voice was raw from screaming in pain. I sounded like a movie villainess. I felt like one too. There’s a heat in battle—just as Matthew had told me. “Do we do this now?” Exhaustion was setting in as my body regenerated. Though the Alchemist’s acid grenades had eaten away part of my clothes—and skin—I still had some fight left in me.
But for how long?
“Whoa, ladies, what’s going down here?” Finn asked in his SoCal surfer accent. “Selena, why in the hell are you drawing on Evie?”
Matthew murmured, “The Moon rises. The Moon sets.”
Selena ignored both boys. “I don’t want to hurt you, Evie,” she said, even as she aimed at me. Her flawless skin glowed, tinged with red like a hunter’s moon. Her long hair streamed around her face, silvery blond, the color of moonlight. “But I will protect myself until you rein this back in.”
“I’ve remembered what we’re meant to do, Selena.” Kill each other. “Give me one reason why I s