““I’m sorry you want him,” Matthew began in a careful tone, as if he was trying very hard to say the exact right thing to me. “I feel your heart—it actually aches. I wish it didn’t, Evie. You cannot have him.” I glared down at him. “Why would you say that?” “You don’t want to be Arcana. But you are.” He gazed up at me with those soulful eyes. “Jack’s not.” “So what are you, like, a card purist or something?” “He’s a weakness. You use him as a crutch. When he helps, he hurts.” How could that be? He made me feel hope. “Jackson might be the only thing that’s keeping me from turning into a monster.” Matthew shot to his feet, towering over me. “Into what you were meant to be!””
