Page 8 of Sanctuary of the Shadow
“This is good news.” It wasn’t a question. It was all in the cards. “You’ve been trying for a long time. Long enough that you feared you were unable.”
With shaking hands, Rosemary straightened her chair and sat heavily upon it once more. “Y-yes.”
“You will have a son.”
“By the Goddess.” The tears started to fall.
“But you must be careful. There are several potential futures where you could lose the child.”
The woman seized the edge of the table with a white-knuckled grip. “What should I do? How do I prevent this?”
Harrow hesitated. This was where her job got difficult. Being the bearer of good tidings was always pleasant, but the reverse…not so much. “You’ve been trying for a child long enough that unrest has stirred in your marriage. You feared your husband might cast you aside if you couldn’t provide him with children.”
Such a human problem, Harrow mused distantly. Elementals would never base a mating off the desire for an heir—a couple could be together their entire thousand-year lifespan without ever conceiving.
Long ago, Harrow’s mother had told her that because Elementals lived so much longer than humans, the Goddess hadn’t blessed them with the same rate of fertility to maintain balance. Harrow had been the first Water Elemental born in a century, and her clan had always told her she was a gift.
Now she was the only one of them left. And she didn’t feel like a gift anymore.
“Yes, that’s t-true,” Rosemary said.
“You will discover something about your husband that will upset you greatly. Though you have every right to be angry, you must not fall prey to dark emotions. Remember your joy for your unborn child. Hold onto your peace for his sake.”
“My son…” Rosemary’s eyes were still spilling tears, but there was also a hard look in them that told Harrow she might already have suspicions about what her husband was up to.
“Thank you.” The woman rose shakily from her chair. Leaning over the table, she grasped Harrow’s hands tightly and held them to her bosom. “Thank you so much. I can never thank you enough.”
After leaving another three gold pieces on the table, Rosemary left. Harrow reorganized her cards into a neat pile and tidied the rest of her workspace, trying to recall more details from the memory flashes she’d seen. Nothing more came to her, however, and she knew better than to force it. The Water would reveal more when it was ready.
Besides, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted these memories. Whatever they uncovered would bring her nothing but more grief and pain.
Her fortune-telling booth was set up as it always was. Beneath her awning tent, the writing desk from her caravan became the table she laid readings on, and her clients sat on the desk’s chair. Harrow sat upon a small chaise with clawed feet. When traveling, it fit beside the wardrobe inside. Like Malaikah’s, her portable home also had a mini wood stove with two burners for cooking.
The circus had set up camp for the next month at Allegra’s fairgrounds. Dinner was served in the meal tent at sunset—which was already well underway—and the main performance in the big top started at nightfall. Harrow tried to catch Malaikah’s show every night. She never tired of watching Mal backflip through space as the crowds gasped in awe.
Ducking outside, she flipped over theReading in Sessionsign on her tent and headed down the rows of colorful caravans. Ahead, the big top loomed in the fading light, the enchanted lights within already illuminated, giving the canvas a soft glow.
Salizar’s Incredible Elemental Circus was an elaborate setup. It never ceased to amaze her how much stuff they managed to pack into their tiny wagons and how quickly they were able to reconstruct their playground of weird and impossible things.
Maybe this wasn’t the life she would have chosen for herself, but over the years, she’d learned to love the mayhem of the circus and felt grateful to be part of it. And what else could one do in life besides be grateful?
At the meal tent, she piled a plate full of food and then took a seat across from “Lenny the Lizard Contortionist” and “Claudia Sky Tamer,” an eagle Hybrid with an impressive aerial show. Everyone was artfully dressed for tonight’s main performance, and the familiar preshow buzz filled the air.
Claudia and Lenny were already mid-conversation. “You must have heard about the human at Lady Absynthe’s show last night?”
Lenny’s reptilian eyes lit with the thrill of gossip. “What happened?”
“He managed to hide under the stage until after closing, and then he followed her back to her caravan to proclaim his undying love.”
Lenny cackled. “She told me her nipple tassels fell off during her final reveal.”
“Well, that explains it! If she flashed those puppies at me, I’d fall in love too.”
They dissolved into laughter together while Harrow rolled her eyes and took a bite of food to hide her grin.
Loren the Human sat down beside her and smiled shyly. “Hi, Harrow.”
“Hi, Loren.” She smiled in return, but inside, she tensed. “How are you today?” The only human employed at the circus (besides Harrow, or so everyone assumed), Loren was often referred to as such. Harrow, grateful she hadn’t earned a similar nickname, took pity on him. But every time he spoke to her, she felt as though her life of stability flashed before her eyes.
