Frost Line Read online

  He was the Tower. He was chaos. Most thought that was a bad thing, but Veton knew better. Chaos was necessary. It was a part of life, as much as love, death, and happiness. Without chaos, one would not appreciate the more pleasant things in life. If life were pleasant from birth to death, how boring would that be? No one appreciated happiness unless it was occasionally disrupted.

  From the rubble left by his influence, new and better things could and would rise.

  He’d been trapped here, as they all had, since the fires of Alexandria. Now, that had been great chaos. The destruction of knowledge, the flames that licked from and consumed fragile books … beautiful. He hadn’t known the Alexandria Deck was in the library, but even if he had, he didn’t know that he’d have acted differently. Yes, the chaos had affected him also, but chaos was lovely in its own right.

  His work had not been appreciated. Some of his card mates had been downright hostile. He still felt sulky whenever he remembered their reaction; what had they thought he’d do? Cause a bit of rain?

  Silly beings.

  They had all been so annoyed because the fire had supposedly destroyed the Alexandria Deck, the means with which they could take short vacations and travel between the worlds. Without the deck, they were all confined to Aeonia. How ironic that they had quickly seemed to adjust and become content with their existence here, while he, the one who had wrought the fire and destruction that cost them the use of the deck, was the one who felt most restless and confined. If that wasn’t chaos, he didn’t know what was.

  Then Lenna had disappeared, and the realization of what must have happened had almost sent him to his knees, so great had been his joy. The deck still existed! Someone had found it, and knew how to use it! Now all he had to do was get it under his control, so those silly humans couldn’t lose track of it again.

  While the Emperor was making certain of the circumstances of Lenna’s disappearance, Veton acted. He knew what had happened; why worry about the how of it?

  He could barely wait to visit Seven again. Some worlds weren’t worth the effort, but Seven—Seven was special. It teemed with humans who were influenced by the Major Arcana each and every day. The One had created the Arcana to embody all the vices and virtues that resulted from the smallest decision; some of the humans believed the cards could be used to foretell the future, but what did humans know? They were wrong about so many things; that was what made them so deliciously unpredictable. Whether or not they believed didn’t matter, because they were all touched by the power the cards represented. In love, in fortune, in health, the influence of the vices and virtues held in the Major Arcana existed in all the realms.

  Like a child, Veton whirled in happiness, his long white hair flying around him. Then he sobered and quickly summoned three Hunters. While Jerrick was still “investigating,” Veton was acting. How delicious was it that he was one step—perhaps even two—ahead of the Emperor?

  The Hunters appeared almost immediately. Two of them, Stroud and Nevan, had worked for him before. The female, Esma, was new to him. Interested, Veton surveyed her. Stroud and Nevan were very alike, both about six foot two, muscled, brown hair cut very short. Esma was muscular, too, for a woman, but she had not lost her femininity in her pursuit of physical strength—far from it. He liked how she wore her long dark hair in a tidy bun. Her equally dark eyes were fierce and carried in them a hunger he found attractive. She didn’t look away, but boldly met his gaze. Interesting. He knew the picture he presented, a man so handsome it bordered on eerie, with long white hair and pale blue eyes; he carried the image even further by normally dressing all in white, or silver. In some moods he went with all black, but that was almost like a warning so he wore the black only when he was happy. Why be predictable?

  How he had envied the Hunters all these millennia; they could travel through the realms at will, experience things he could only observe.

  Soon he would once again be able to do the same.

  “The Alexandria Deck,” Veton said, his voice smooth. “It has been uncovered in Seven, and I want it.”

  Stroud asked, “How are we to locate it?”

  “Strength has been pulled from this plane to that of Seven. Only the deck could have accomplished that. Find Strength, and you find the deck.” He looked at each of them in turn. He had been told his icy blue eyes were disturbing to some. How could anything about him be disturbing? He didn’t understand it.

  “Do you expect her to hand it over without a fuss?” Esma asked, her tone less than deferential.

  Oooh, how exciting: insolence! It had been so long since he’d experienced anything except the obedience of his attendants.

  “I don’t know if she somehow discovered the deck and engineered her travel, or if she was taken unawares,” he replied. “It doesn’t matter. Retrieve the deck.” He thought, intrigued, that Lenna might not be inclined to hand over to him the power to control travel between the worlds. What if she fought? She was Strength; taking the easy path wasn’t part of her being. If she knew he’d sent the Hunters for the Alexandria Deck, would she fight? Yes, she definitely would.

  With relish, he voiced the unthinkable. “Kill her, if there is no other way.”

  Nevan gasped. Esma’s eyes widened. Only Stroud seemed unaffected, but then Stroud was the most experienced at working with Veton, and knew how his mind worked.

  “I know it is unheard of for a Hunter to assassinate one of the Major Arcana,” Veton said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “To be honest, I don’t know what will happen if one of the Arcane dies. I don’t know if we can die.” Talk about magnificent chaos! “It has never happened, not in all the years of our existence, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible.”

  “You are all as you have been since creation,” Esma said. She was not so insolent now, he noticed. Finally, there was a touch of respect in her voice.

  “We are, but everything changes.Perhaps when Strength is killed, if she is killed, another will take her place.” He looked pointedly at Esma. “The One might replace her with a wave of His hand, but I suppose it is possible someone from another world might be assigned to take her place. There must always be Strength. As far as I know, Strength doesn’t necessarily have to be Lenna.” He looked deep into Esma’s eyes as he spoke, knowing the inference she would draw. The Hunter would never suffice for the hallowed position, but now was not the time to tell her so. If she thought she might be elevated, she’d fight all the harder.

  Truth be told, if Lenna had voluntarily left Aeonia and didn’t want to return, that brought up another problem entirely. If it was indeed possible that she could be killed, a replacement would likely be provided, in one way or another. That was logical, to his way of thinking. If she didn’t return to her proper place, Aeonia and all the Major Arcana would cease to exist; that little wrinkle had been thrown in to keep them under control. The only solution then might be to attempt to kill Lenna so perhaps another could take her place.

  Only the One knew for certain if it was possible.

  He lightly clapped his hands to get their attention. There were specifics, important details his Hunters had to know before they left. “Bring me the entire deck. Every card, each one more beautiful than the last.” Veton closed his eyes and reached deep, fleetingly, into the world he could not yet touch. Seeing the world in a general way was easy; finding one particular entity in that teeming mass was more of a challenge. Because he knew Lenna he was able to briefly see her, and was surprised by her companion. A child.

  And then she was gone.

  The deck had to be where Lenna was, because it had brought her over. He wanted his Hunters to find her before she had a chance to hide the cards. He would not allow this opportunity to slip by.

  Stroud was the strongest of the trio of hunters, so Veton looked to him. “The Emperor will soon send a Hunter to collect Lenna. She can’t be gone from Aeonia long. She must return or be replaced within five days.” Or else this world would crumble. Much as he enjoyed destructio