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“The Seven of Cups represents the illusion of positive choice,” Las repeats what she just said as she laid out her example for the class.

As she does so, she adjusts an ornate headband on her brow.

Today’s is a row of tiny obsidian starbursts.

“An abundance of options that, upon deeper inspection, is not as ideal as it appears on the surface.”

“But with the Ten of Coins also present in the spread—signifying wealth and long-term success—would it not suggest that all the options in the Seven of Cups are good?”

“The Ten of Coins is in the future position that has no bearing on the Seven of Cups in the present conflict position.” Professor Rothou takes reading so seriously.

There’s no room for the cards’ meaning to shift depending on the other cards in the spread, the querent, the situation… or merely reader’s intuition.

“Right…” Even if she doesn’t say it, I can see Luren’s objection in her eyes. Her reading style reminds me so much of Arina it hurts.

Whenever Arina would read, her eyes would flutter closed, and she’d sway slightly as her hands moved over the cards.

As though she were conducting a symphony of whispers from the universe itself.

Singling out the voices she needed to hear.

She read from her gut and said every word during her reading with nothing but confidence, and as a result her readings were always shockingly accurate.

“What if our cards come up reversed—upside down, Professor?” Kel asks. The question is met with murmuring among the class.

My ears perk up. Reversed cards are one thing I’ve yet to truly probe Kaelis on, although the lore about him demands answers—especially if I’m to truly know the man I’m aligning myself with. But I also suspect he’ll tell me little, so I pay close attention now to Las’s answer.

Las clasps her fingers together over her stomach, all the rings she wears clanking softly.

She does the motion whenever she’s frustrated, as if trying to remind herself not to yell right from her belly.

An odd image for the usually soft-spoken professor.

“In reading, if the cards come up reversed, you turn them the right way.”

“Are reversed cards not an ill omen in a reading?” Sorza asks.

“Reversed cards are nothing more than stories told to frighten children,” Las insists. “There is only one way to properly read and use the tarot.”

“Technically, reversed cards do exist,” Alor dares to point out. “In wielding, if the Arcanist isn’t skilled enough to use the card, or it wasn’t inked properly, then the card can reverse and become volatile. The magic twists. Backfires, even.”

“Exactly.” Las smiles with a slight twinkle in her eye, as if Alor has just proved her point.

“Reversed cards only ‘exist’ briefly because of poor execution in wielding. Arcanists cannot intentionally wield a reversed card any more than they can read one. Fortunately, in reading you can at least correct the card painlessly. The cards have one power, one meaning. Nothing more or less.”

Eyes dart my way as she speaks. I represent the clan that was rumored to be destroyed by a reversed card.

But the rumors deviate from one another: Was the card intentionally wielded as a reversed card?

Or did Kaelis lose control of it? The former is a legendary level of terrifying.

And suggesting the latter would be treason.

So I keep my mouth shut.

“Now, if we can get back to the task at hand, today’s reading—one for the upcoming change of season as we welcome in the fall, the Season of Coins.

Remember, All Coins Day is just over thirty days away.

Now is the time to focus on perfecting your reading skills, as they might serve you well in impressing a student enough that they award you a coin. ”

All students are supplied with a full deck for reading class, though we’re not allowed to take it out of the room, to avoid the temptation of trying to use cards that are supposedly beyond our abilities. I give the deck a good shuffle and then fan out the cards.

I start by drawing the card that goes at the top of the spread—my present position.

Beneath that is the central challenge that lies ahead of me for the next season.

To the left and right of the center card are what is known and what is unknown about that problem, respectively. Beneath it is the likely outcome.

Each card is placed face down so they’re read in order, and then holistically at the end. My hand hovers over the top one. But I don’t move to flip it. There’s an uncomfortable energy radiating off it, as if the card is trying to push my fingers away.

I force myself to flip the cards, one by one.

Top—Present Position: Seven of Swords

Center—Problem: Ten of Coins

Center Left—What Is Known: Knight of Swords

Center Right—What Is Unknown: King of Swords

Bottom—Likely Outcome: Ten of Swords

After staring at the spread for a second, I rotate the only card that appeared upside down, the Knight of Swords. My fingers linger on it. A knight of Swords. I see Kaelis instantly in the man on the card—he has a severe jaw and deep-set eyes that stare at the world with barely contained ferocity.

What is unknown…the King of Swords.

My thoughts are so loud that I don’t hear Professor Las until she’s at my side, letting out a low noise that sounds almost like disapproval but is something even worse: pity. “You’ll have a harsh fall ahead of your winter, Clara.”

“The cards only show what might be,” I counter.

“Is most likely to be,” she tries to gently correct.

“But still not what will be.”

“Perhaps, for a better reader, they might.” Her comment makes me think of Arina.

Her readings were never wrong. If she were here, she’d know exactly what was to come.

Las taps my desk. “Study hard, Clara. The Three of Swords Trials are about more than fighting and fancy card work. The right reader can also gain an advantage by knowing what’s to come. ”

I stare at the cards as she leaves, willing them to be something different, to tell me something I don’t already know.

But there is only the Prince and the King of Swords, flanking the card that represents All Coins Day—the Ten of Coins.

There aren’t a lot of ways for me to read this spread.

Kaelis and King Naethor are going to consume my All Coins Day. And the final outcome?

The Ten of Swords, a card depicting a man skewered by ten fiery blades, predicting nothing but agony.