Page 27 of Rurik
Rurik reached over and took Charlotte’s hand. She glanced at him, guilt making her feel hollow inside. How could this woman know the secret she harbored about theformula?
The old woman turned over the third card. It depicted a woman holding the head of a lion and facing its open jaws, controlling the beast, keeping it from eatingher.
“The future. Strength,” Rurik translated. “Together you can control your destiny, but stand apart and all will burn to ash around you.” The woman touched both their hands, her eyes soft andserious.
Then she turned over the next card. A naked couple entwined together. Charlotte knew very little about tarot, but she recognized thatcard.
“The Lovers,” Charlottesaid.
The old woman nodded, and Rurik translated again. “Opposition and attraction. You must both choose between your desires. Family or each other. You cannot splitapart.”
She turned over the next card with a frown. With a little mutter, she slid another from her deck, putting it next to the card that had displeasedher.
“The Emperor and the Sun. You have two forces in your life. The authoritative leader who brings order out of chaos.” She stared at Rurik. “He speaks to you.” She touched Rurik’s chest again. “He tries to guide you—listen to him or you willfail.”
Then she pointed to the Sun and spoke to Charlotte. It took a moment for Rurik to catch up. “He’s your guiding Sun. He is the center of all, the source of your love and trust—he illuminates you. He is a man of action but does not understand you are guided by the moon. Yours is a different path. The Emperor and the Sun will try to destroy each other, and they maysucceed.”
Rurik’s green eyes met hers, and she swallowed hard. They were destined to be on two different sides if a war between dragons and humans brokeout.
She turned over the second-to-last card, revealing a man hanging by a noose. It was upside down. She traced the line of the rope and addressed Rurik. His words came out soft and low as hetranslated.
“You sacrifice comfort and passion, even your heart, believing things will be better as a result, but you are destroying yourself and hurting her.” The old woman curled her fingers over Charlotte’s, and a ghostly smile hovered about her lips, one born of sadness rather thanjoy.
She reached for the final card and turned it over, revealing a beautiful woman pouring water into a lake. Behind her a star shone brightly against the night sky. The old woman brought Rurik and Charlotte’s hands together and then spoke one lasttime.
“She is your star, your guiding light. If you forsake her, you will fall into darkness. Every shadow does pass, but if you go on without her, your light will die and so will the fate of yourpeople.”
The hairs on Charlotte’s neck and arms rose, and sharp tingling raced like an electric spark along her skin. She sucked in a breath, almost afraid she wouldn’t be able to breathe. The fair-haired man on the Sun card looked like Damien as a boy, and the Emperor looked like Grigori. The Magician looked like Rurik. The High Priestess even resembled herself. How was this possible? Was she just seeing what her subconscious wanted her to see? An invisible energy seemed to vibrate from the table and the cards. The old woman moved, touching each card as though counting them in a soft murmur of Russian, but Charlotte wasn’tlistening.
It felt as if she were facing a thin veil made of gossamer threads. The curtain in her mind rippled, whispers coming from the other side. But they weren’t loud enough to hear. She wanted to push the curtain aside and cry out to the voices, demand they speak in a way she could understand. The answers seemed so close, yet she had no way to move thecurtain.
How long can you last?a quiet voice asked.How long before you fall?But she didn’t comprehend. Fall into what? Orwhere?
She came back to herself in a violentrush.
“Charlotte, are you allright?”
She looked for the woman, but she was gone and the cards had vanished with her. “Huh? Oh, yes,fine.”
“Lost in your thoughts?” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. She managed another nod. She felt open, raw, and vulnerable—from a tarot card reading, of allthings.
“Yeah, I guess I was.” Charlotte wiped at her eyes, shocked to find tears coming away on herfingertips.
Rurik’s mouth softened into a smile. “You were shaken by the reading?” he mused. He ran his fingertips along the back of herhand.
“Weren’t you?” Her eyes burned with fresh tears.I am the guiding light for the man I plan to betray? Our brothers stand in opposition to each other, and we are the lovers who must overcome our opposite natures.It was all so close to makingsense.
Her secrets weighed heavily upon her heart. The older woman had somehow known about the serum. The secret that, if shared unwisely, could upset the balance of the world. Who knew what the consequences of that mightbe?
Rurik smiled, but there was a bittersweetness to it. “Why don’t we go see the palace? It’s still snowing, and the view will take your mind off yourworries.”
He’s trying to pull away. He’s afraid of whatever it is we could be together.So am I.But she could not imagine a world where she was apart from him, either. The old woman’s words trembled in her head like dew collecting on the delicate lines of aspiderweb.
Everything was connected, but she still couldn’t see how—she could only feelit.
“Come.” Rurik stood and held up her coat. She sighed and let him help her slide it on. Maybe he was right. She needed a distraction from the heavy weight she was carrying insideher.
As they left the restaurant, a light breeze rustled along the row of buildings facing the river. The wind played with her hair, tugging strands of it about her shoulders. Rurik stopped and watched her with a gleam in his eyes. Reaching up, he caught one of her loose locks, staring at the intricate snowflakes that clung to the dark-blonde strands withoutmelting.
