Page 31 of Desperately Seeking Vampire
Hey!
Ivo glanced at Minerva, unsure of whether she’d actually spoken the protestation, or if he was so in tune with her that he imagined it, but she was frowning over her cards as she slowly cut them.
“The thief takers were after you. Your employer clearly has told someone that you have this spell that he stole. It was your cards that he was afraid of. All three events circle around you. I would like to know what you see in the cards regarding your situation.”
She set down the cards. “I suppose I could, but I’ve never had much luck reading for myself. I think it’s because I know these cards too well. They aren’t strangers to me, if you will.”
“Ah.” Christian rose and returned with a deck of playing cards, which he handed to Minerva. “Will these better suit you?”
“Possibly, but this is one time when I can’t promise you that I’ll be any too accurate. Cartomancers often have blind spots when it comes to their own readings.” She opened the pack and quickly discarded the two-through-six cards of each suit, then began to shuffle and cut the cards several times.
“Why have you removed those?” Ivo asked, touching the stack of rejected cards.
“Habit. It comes from the piquet deck. That was before your time, assuming you weren’t around in the sixteenth century,” she told him.
“I was born in 1832,” he told her.
“I was around. I remember piquet well. It is a stripped deck,” Christian said with a little nod.
“Right. Cartomancers read only the piquet decks, so that’s what I do when I’m given a standard deck. OK, let’s see what we have. I’ll do a three-card spread, since I don’t want to push my luck.”
She flipped over three cards.
“Queen of spades, eight of spades, king of hearts,” Ivo said, wondering if those were good or ill omens.
“Yeah.” Minerva’s expression was frozen as she looked first at the cards, then up to him. “I have to be honest, I’ve never had a reading like that for myself.”
His arm tightened around her. “I will allow no harm to come to you.”
“I appreciate that.” She seemed to have difficulty swallowing for a second. “I expect you both want to know what they say.”
“If it would not distress you too much,” Christian said.
Her gaze dropped back to the cards. “It goes way past distressing, unfortunately. So, the queen of spades is a card that means imprisonment, or being bound to an extremely unfortunate situation. That might be tolerable, but then right next to it is the eight of spades.”
“If this is too much for you—” Ivo started to say, his growing sense of unease pushing him to protect Minerva from whatever was troubling her. He just wanted to make things right so she would be happy and laughing, teasing him about his ability to pilot Christian’s motorcycle.
“No, it’s OK.” She took a long intake of breath. “The eight of spades is a card of oppression. Destruction. Death, even. And also, imprisonment.”
Silence filled the room.
“And the third card?” Christian asked.
Her lips twisted in a parody of a smile. “King of hearts. You’d think that would be good, but sadly, it’s a card of slavery and bondage without end. So ... this is what the universe wants me to know about my life right now.”
“Do it again,” Ivo commanded, refusing to believe that his Beloved, his Minerva, whom he had found against all odds, and who now filled his heart and soul and mind, could have such a doomed future.
“I can’t,” she said, reaching for the cards, obviously about to gather them up.
“Wait,” Christian said, tapping a finger on his lip. “The tarot reader at the GothFaire used to read for me. She drew something she called clarifying cards.”
“Yes. Those are drawn when the message is confused or not obvious,” Minerva said slowly.
“Would it be good to do one of those?” Ivo asked her.
“Possibly. Possibly not.” Her eyes were dark with worry. He wanted nothing more than to take her to bed where he could make love to her and push all thoughts but those of pleasure from her mind, but he knew they would have no easy future together if they did not address this threat that hung over their heads.
“Do it,” he told her, pulling her closer, relishing the feel of her warmth against his side.
