Lucifer, Jack and I stood in a rough triangle in the middle of the Heart, a dozen paces apart, each of us measuring the other two. Behind me, across the white floor, I could hear the four girls beginning—light and frost and crimson, and Rose's garden opening like a breath. It made a fitting sort of background.
'Arthur,' Luna said, in my head. 'Do you feel confident?'
'Of course.'
It was true, and it wasn't the whole truth. My heart had picked up a rhythm I knew from long ago, from before this world—the beat that comes when you're about to face someone who might actually beat you. I'd kept it carefully leashed since I arrived at Mythos. I hadn't needed it. Now I could feel it pulling at the leash.
How long had it been since I'd felt that? Too long, maybe.
