“Done.”
“And I want a nice dress,” I added, just so it was clear.
“Of course.” He kicked my legs apart and settled himself between them. “I’ve already arranged for that. And food, and a venue. And shoes.”
Shoes, huh? “What about flowers?” I asked, testing him.
“Roses.” He secured my wrists one-handed and lifted my leg until it was hitched around his waist. “Lots of roses.”
He seemed so sure of me and so in control of everything, a small part of me couldn’t help wanting to throw him. “So while you two were making plans for the foreseeable future, did it come up that I have a new job? What if I’m busy and can’t get time off?”
The comment didn’t even faze him, as if he’d anticipated that too. He merely lifted my other leg and raised my hips enough to open me to him. “Vieira told me about Venus. Told me he offered you a position in One Gov. Said you agreed to working with him.”
“I want to do this, Alexei,” I murmured against his shoulder. “Maybe I can fix what’s broken in One Gov. Or maybe that’s impossible and the Consortium should keep challenging it. I know you don’t agree with One Gov, but I need you to be okay with my decision.”
He pulled back enough so that our eyes met. “It may seem otherwise, but I don’t know the future. That’s your specialty. However, I have no doubt you will turn the entire tri-system on its head and mesmerize all of them. I intend to be there to watch it happen.”
I arched an eyebrow. “We’re all working together now?”
“Did you imagine it would happen any other way?” he asked, sounding anything but innocent. “Once we start making Consortium-style changes to long-standing One Gov policies, I’m curious to see how we’ll influence the tri-system. Personally, I’m looking forward to the reactions once we break down the heart of One Gov’s bureaucracy.”
“It sounds like you have it all worked out.”
“Not everything. Some things will always be beyond my ability to control. You, for example. You are the one thing I can’t predict but never want to be without.” His hands tightened on me—the one around my wrists and the one now on my hip. The pressure was enough to let me know that, for now at least, he’d caught me and wasn’t letting go. “Tell me this is what you want. That this is the life you want,” he whispered.
“It is,” I promised. “I want this. I want you. I want us.”
“And I know you read the shims I sent. You know everything I am, everything I want, everything I think. I’ve given you all I have to give. There are no secrets left between us.”
“And you need to keep doing that. So do I. We can’t let anything drive us apart like this again.”
“I swear to you we won’t.” His serious expression changed then, becoming a grin so wicked and hot, my breath caught. “Now focus, Felicia. In the spirit of sharing, I want us to try something I’ve been thinking about doing with you for some time. Pay attention as I’d hate for you to miss what’s happening next.”
Breathless, I asked, “You sure I’m going to like it?”
The look he gave me was one full of dark promise. “You’ve read the shims. We both will. Ready?”
I could only nod and give myself over to him as his grip on me changed. I felt myself lifted before his lips slanted across mine. I wasn’t sure what we were even talking about anymore—now, tomorrow, or the future in general. Maybe it was all three, and I could always check with my cards later. For now, I would just focus as I’d been advised and hold on to him for the ride of my life.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to everyone who read the first book, liked it, and encouraged me with their support. Hopefully you’ll like this one just as much. A special shout-out to my husband, Steve, who was smart enough to realize he had to give up announcing things like tub time and bedtime because he knew he couldn’t enforce any of the rules.
No one ever really expects to write a sequel to their first novel, so another big thanks to my agent, Rena Rossner, for her support when I started doubting myself and wasn’t sure I could do this. And an extra special thanks to my editor, Lindsey Hall, who helped me polish out all the rough patches and kept me on track when I was sure everything was going to go off the rails.
Meet the Author
Photo Credit: Ash Nayler Photography
CATHERINE CERVENY was born in Peterborough, Ontario. She’d always planned to move away to the big city, but the small-town life got its hooks in her, and that’s still where she resides today. Catherine is a huge fan of romance and science fiction and wishes the two genres would cross paths more often. The Rule of Luck was her first novel.
Also by Catherine Cerveny
FELICIA SEVIGNY NOVELS
The Rule of Luck
The Chaos of Luck
Author Interview
When did you first start writing?
I first started writing in kindergarten, just like all the other kids. My printing was terrible. Sometimes the lines on my d’s weren’t very straight and I’d get in trouble from the teacher. Let’s just say, I definitely wasn’t earning my weight in gold stars for writing back in those days. As I got older and learned how to read, I soon realized that “seeing Spot run” was really pretty dull because, honestly, who wants to see Spot run? Didn’t Spot have better things to do? I started to make up my own stories, although truth be told, they probably weren’t much better than seeing Spot run. I was probably around ten or so before I could write a story that had something resembling an actual plot and characters that did things. Then when I was thirteen, I had to complete an independent study project for English class. My topic was dinosaurs, so I handed in a short story about dinosaurs and time travel. I got an A+, although looking back, I’m sure the story was utter crap—not even suitable for lining the bottom of a birdcage. But it made me realize I could write something and people would actually like it. I kept going from there.
Who are some of your biggest influences?
I have a lot of influences. Like, I mean, a lot, and it would be impossible to list them all. I’m all over the place when it comes to reading and love many different genres. I love a good hard science fiction story with lots of technical jargon and detailed explanations, but I also love a good weepy romance too. And there was a time when I couldn’t get enough of epic fantasies, the more sequels, the better. However, if I have to actually pick someone, I’d have to say my biggest influences in writing are Kim Stanley Robinson, Sylvia Day, Ilona Andrews, Karen Marie Moning, and Hannu Rajaniemi.
Where did the idea for the Felicia Sevigny series come from?
I’m fascinated by the Singularity that’s supposed to hit in the next fifteen to twenty years—when scientists predict we’ll have real artificial intelligence. Fascinated, but also a little bit horrified about what might become of the human race when computers can think for themselves. I’m also intrigued by the idea of genetic manipulation and what sorts of things can happen when you tinker with DNA. I’m not saying I like everything that’s going on in the world right now, but it’s out there happening as we speak, and you can’t ignore it. At the same time, I also wondered how the human race would fare if all the global disasters that science predicts all suddenly hit. What if the polar ice caps melted? What if the “big one” finally hit and the earthquake was so massive, it changed the face of the earth? I wondered what life would be like if we survived all that. What would the world be like once we came out the other side and managed to rebuild? So I basically took all the worst-case scenarios that could happen to the human race, threw them together into one pot, and set it to boil. What kind of world would we have then, and how would we live in it? And if you could survive all that disaster and still come out with your humanity intact, you must be pretty lucky, which is how Felicia’s character sort of came into existence.
The Tarot card elements of the story are so vivid and unique. What made you want to use Tarot in your novels?
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to any
one that I like to know how things are going to end up. I’m forever asking “why,” “how come,” and “what’s going to happen next.” I want to know how it ends—and when I say “it,” I mean everything. How does it all end? Where are we going as a species, and how are we ultimately going to get there? I find it upsetting that I’m never going to know. I won’t get to see the final curtain fall, so to speak. So I love the idea of using the Tarot as a way to see into the future and get a tiny peek at what’s happening and what we might expect.
What, if any, research did you have to do in preparation for writing this series?
I think I did more research than I did actual writing, if you can believe it! I did a lot of research into Tarot cards, and went to more psychic fairs than I care to remember so I could get a sense of the drama and the relationship between the card reader and the client. I also did research into genetics, planet terraforming, geological global disasters, space travel, what living in a post-Singularity society might be like, and the Russian mafia. There was so much world building that had to be done to lay the groundwork for this series, it felt like I was reading a little bit of everything. I wanted to make the world feel real and logical, and as I researched, I realized there was so much I didn’t know and had to learn. Obviously, I have absolutely no idea where society will be eight hundred years from now, but it was fun to guess and build it from scratch.
This series has a phenomenal cast of characters. If you had to pick one, who would you say is your favorite? Which character was the most difficult to write?
Aside from Felicia, who I really like but sometimes gets on my nerves, I’d have to say that one of my favorite characters is Lotus. I loved writing her. She’s like Felicia, but without the filters or the conscience. She does and says whatever she wants, pushes her boyfriend around, and more or less gets away with everything. I would have loved to expand on her character but there wasn’t room with everything else that was going on. A close second was Felicia’s mother, Monique. I loved writing from her whacked-out perspective and how she could justify everything she did, no matter how terrible. I found Konstantin Belikov the most difficult to write, mostly because I think writing a good bad guy is tough to do. You don’t want to turn him into a cartoon villain, or make him evil for the sake of being evil. It all has to fit into the context of the story and flow logically from that. It’s also hard to write about the bad guy’s plan and motivations without it sounding like a boring laundry list of evil or turning it into an info dump. If you can create a great villain and write him or her well, you’re a rock star as far as I’m concerned.
What’s one thing about the series, either the world or the characters, that you loved but couldn’t fit into the story?
This story is told from Felicia’s point of view, but there were times when I wished I could have shown what Alexei was up to when he and Felicia weren’t together. I’m not entirely sure what sort of projects he might have been working on for the Consortium, but I wished there was a way I could have shown them in the story rather than have him describe things to Felicia in passing.
Lastly, we have to ask: If you could have any superpower or futuristic technology, what would it be?
This is going to sound really lazy, but I wish I had a TV that could bring me a snack whenever I’m lying on the couch and there’s a commercial break, but I can’t be bothered to move. If I had a nickel for every time I wished for that, I would have many, many nickels. Although I guess when the Singularity hits, this might actually become a reality, so maybe computers taking over the world won’t be such a bad thing—if they bring me unlimited snacks.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Catherine Cerveny
Cover design by Wendy Chan
Cover images © Shutterstock
Cover copyright © 2016 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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ISBN: 978-0-316-35552-0
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