Page 70 of Speak of the Devil

If possible, it made him even more good-looking.

Not what you should be thinking about right now,she scolded herself.

“And the outcome,” Marva continued as she pulled the final card from the deck.

Not much doubt about that one, either.

A dark crimson hood with a night forest scene contained within. Written at the bottom wasDeath ∞ Rebirth.

Caleb let out a rusty chuckle. “So…we’re going to die?”

“The Death card usually shouldn’t be taken so literally,” Marva replied, looking unruffled. “In general, it usually means the end of a cycle and a new beginning. Often, it can be a hopeful card.”

Judging by the way one corner of Caleb’s mouth turned down, Delia got the feeling that he thought the psychic was blowing a bunch of sunshine up their collective asses.

“So, the outcome is a change of some sort,” she said, doing her best to be politic.

“Yes,” Marva replied. She closed her eyes and placed her hands on the tabletop, outstretched fingers covering most of the spread she’d just laid there.

Delia looked over at Caleb, and his shoulders hitched slightly. It seemed he didn’t have any more idea of what the psychic was doing than she did.

Before the moment could get too uncomfortable, though, Marva opened her eyes and gave them both a thoughtful look, even as she lifted her hands from the spread and folded them in her lap.

“There is a difficult energy here,” she said. “It comes from dark places and works in darkness. Whatever it is that you’re currently dealing with, you need to be cautious…and you need to rely upon one another.”

Since Delia thought she and Caleb were already doing that, she wasn’t sure whether the psychic’s advice had contributed much to the conversation.

Then again, they were certainly working together, but were they really relying on one another…trusting each other?

Delia had a feeling that Caleb had much more faith in her than vice versa. So far, it didn’t seem as if he’d done anything terribly underhanded, but could she allow herself to implicitly trust someone who was part demon?

She didn’t think she could answer that question. Not yet, anyway.

Caleb didn’t seem to have the same reservations, though. “We are working together,” he said. “She’s already saved my ass several times. But do you have any words of advice for defeating this ‘difficult energy’?”

The psychic’s mouth curved into a smile. She wore deep red lipstick almost the same color as her silk kimono, and although her expression was amused, something in her dark eyes told Delia that Marva understood this was serious business.

Instead of replying right away, she selected a card from the center of the deck and laid it down on the table, covering the Death card.

The Lovers.

Almost at once, heat rose to Delia’s cheeks, and she prayed the other two were too involved with looking down at the cards on the table to notice the way she’d blushed.

“Again, it’s not always the literal meaning that’s the true one,” Marva said. “This card can also signal friendship or a partnership of some kind. But I feel that once you get past this chaotic energy” — she waved a hand over the inverse pyramid of cards that had constituted the main part of the reading — “then something good will come of it.” She paused there, dark eyes keen as she took in her two clients and the expressions they wore. “Does that help to clarify the situation for you, or would you like me to do another reading?”

“Not a whole reading,” Caleb responded before Delia could say anything. “But maybe a little more detail about the King of Swords there?”

Frankly, after seeing the Lovers card, she was ready to quit while she was ahead, but clearly her companion didn’t have the same view of the situation.

Looking unruffled, Marva pulled another card out of the deck and laid it down on the table, a little separate from the others.

The Ten of Swords. Not exactly the most cheerful card, although in this deck, the image was still beautiful, showing a woman with her back to the viewer, standing in the middle of a bleak landscape while ten crows flew overhead.

“Painful endings,” the psychic said, and Caleb lifted an eyebrow.

“For the King of Swords, or for us?”

Marva didn’t blink. “I can’t say for sure. All I know is that particular energy is connected to this person, whoever they are.”

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