Page 11 of Dark Rover’s Luck (The Children Of The Gods #95)

11

FENELLA

"D in landed." Fenella put the phone down. "We need to hurry up."

Jasmine looked up from the deck of cards she was shuffling with her dexterous fingers. "Relax, we have plenty of time. With rush-hour traffic, we have at least two hours before he gets here."

That was good to know. Fenella wasn't ready to meet Din yet, and she wanted to know what the cards said, even if it was stupid.

"I'd rather get this over with before he arrives."

Jasmine's lips quirked in a knowing smile as she shaped the deck of cards into a neat stack and then started shuffling them again. The cards moved fluidly between her slender fingers, making soft whispering sounds that somehow added to the atmosphere.

"You don't need to pretend for my sake. It's okay to be a little nervous."

"Please." Fenella rolled her eyes. "I've faced down far worse than a lovelorn Scotsman." She leaned back and folded her arms over her chest. "Speaking of lovelorn men, where is Ell-rom?"

A shadow crossed Jasmine's face. "Training."

"Training for what?" Fenella asked. "Martial arts? Sword fighting? Target practice?"

"It's confidential," Jasmine murmured, thumping the deck into shape on the wooden table between them with a bit too much vigor.

Fenella raised an eyebrow. "Does it have anything to do with the Doomers in Iran?"

Yesterday, she'd heard Kyra telling Jasmine that the clan planned to look into Doomer activity there.

Jasmine shook her head. "As I said, it's confidential. Let's focus on your reading, shall we?"

It seemed like Jasmine was adamant about keeping her mate's activity a secret, which was fine. Everyone had their secrets, and Fenella had her share. Besides, she was curious about what the cards might reveal, even if it was all nonsense. It was a nice way to pass the time and get rid of the nervous energy coursing through her.

"Let's. You promised me insights about Din, and I can't wait to hear them, even if it's all hogwash."

Jasmine cast her a mock glare. "And that's what you'll get, ye of little faith."

Fenella waved a hand dramatically. "Work your witchy magic, oh high priestess of the Mother of All Life."

Jasmine smiled at that. "What exactly are you looking for guidance on? Your relationship with Din? His intentions? Or your future together?"

Fenella hesitated. "Is he trouble?" she asked finally. "That's what I want to know. Am I making a mistake by letting him back into my life?"

Jasmine nodded. "Think about that question and hold it in your mind as you cut the deck into three," she instructed, handing her the cards.

Taking the deck, Fenella divided it into three piles, trying to keep her mind focused on Din and the question she'd asked. She felt ridiculous, but also tense, as if these pieces of cardboard might actually hold some truth.

Jasmine gathered the piles, reassembled the deck, and began to lay out cards in a pattern that looked vaguely like a cross.

"This is your present situation," she said, turning over the first card to reveal a figure carrying ten wands. "The Ten of Wands. You're carrying a heavy burden—past experiences, suspicions, fears. They weigh on you, but you're determined to manage them alone."

"Doesn't take mystical powers to see that," Fenella muttered.

Jasmine ignored her, turning over the next card, showing a man and a woman exchanging cups. "This card represents a challenge you're facing. The Two of Cups. Interesting. The challenge is about partnership, connection, and mutual exchange of emotion. You're struggling with the possibility of letting someone in."

She turned over a third card, placing it above the cross. "This crowns you—it's what you're aspiring for." The card showed a woman sitting on a throne, holding a cup. "The Queen of Cups. Emotional fulfillment, intuitive wisdom. Even though you pretend otherwise, part of you wants to trust your feelings."

"Well, there is nothing surprising or—" Fenella began, but Jasmine was already turning over the fourth card.

"This is beneath you—the foundation." She placed the card at the bottom of the cross, revealing a woman bound and blindfolded, surrounded by eight swords. "Eight of Swords. You feel trapped by circumstances, by your past. But notice how the bonds are loose—the limitations are self-imposed."

Fenella shifted uncomfortably. She didn't like how accurately Jasmine was reading her, cards or no cards, but then it wasn't difficult to deduce for someone who knew the circumstances of her life.

"This is behind you," Jasmine continued, placing a card to the left. "The Five of Cups. Loss, regret, focusing on what's been spilled rather than what remains." She looked up at Fenella with a gentle expression on her beautiful face. "You've lost much over the years."

"Haven't we all?"

Jasmine placed the next card to the right. "This is coming in the immediate future." She turned it over to reveal a ship sailing away. "The Six of Swords. A journey away from troubled waters toward something calmer. It often represents a physical journey to a distant place."

"A journey?" Fenella perked up. "I just got here, and I don't think they will let me out to travel the world anytime soon."

"The cards don't always mean what we think," Jasmine said cryptically, turning over the next card and placing it at the bottom of a new column she was forming. "This represents you in the situation."

The Fool looked back at them—a young man about to step off a cliff, a small dog at his heels.

"The Fool represents new beginnings, innocence, taking a leap of faith."

"I'm hardly innocent," Fenella scoffed.

"It can also mean inexperienced, and it applies to you regarding trusting people." Jasmine placed the next card above The Fool. "This is your environment, external influences." The card showed a beautiful garden with nine cups. "The Nine of Cups represents wish fulfillment, contentment. The village offers you safety, prosperity, and the possibility of emotional satisfaction."

"And this," Jasmine said, placing the next card above that one, "represents your hopes and fears."

The Empress stared back at them, a fertile, maternal figure surrounded by nature's abundance.

"The Empress embodies creation, nurturing, abundance," Jasmine said. "Perhaps you fear settling down, creating roots. Or perhaps you secretly hope for it."

Fenella said nothing, but the card made her uneasy. She had never wanted children, had never even considered it a possibility. But immortality changed the equation.

"And finally," Jasmine said, reaching for the last card, "the outcome."

She turned it over, and as she placed it at the top of the column, her expression changed, a furrow appearing between her brows.

"The Tower," she said.

The card depicted a tall tower being struck by lightning, with figures falling from its heights.

"What does it mean?" Fenella asked.

"Sudden change. Upheaval. The breaking down of false structures," Jasmine said. "It's not necessarily negative. Sometimes we need to break down the old before we can build the new."

"Breaking down," Fenella repeated flatly. "Sounds fantastic."

Jasmine studied the spread, her eyes moving from card to card. "There's a journey ahead of you—both physical and emotional. Din's arrival is just the beginning. You'll face challenges, upheaval, but also the possibility of real connection."

"So, is he trouble or not?" Fenella returned to her original question. "I didn't get a clear answer from your cards."

Jasmine looked up with a serious expression. "The cards don't see him as the source of trouble, but trouble surrounds this connection. The Tower doesn't appear for minor disruptions. Perhaps it means that you will face challenges together."

"Well, that's comforting," Fenella said with a sarcastic edge.

"The cards aren't meant to comfort," Jasmine said. "They're meant to illuminate."

They were nonsense, a parlor trick meant to entertain when done for free and defraud when done for money.

Fenella stood up and stretched. "Thanks for the reading," she said, trying to sound dismissive. "It was interesting."

"You don't have to pretend with me," Jasmine said. "I can see that it has affected you."

"No offense, Jasmine, but it's a bunch of hogwash." Even to her own ears, the protest sounded hollow. "Pretty pictures and vague interpretations that could apply to anyone, and in my case, you knew too much about me to do an impartial reading. You might have even guided the results with your preconceptions."

Jasmine didn't look offended as she began gathering the cards. "It's possible that I influenced the results with what I knew, but it's also possible that I didn't."

Fenella paced across the living room, trying to shake off the unease that had settled over her. Why was she allowing herself to get worked up over a deck of cards she didn't believe in?

It was ridiculous.

And yet, her intuition prompted her to believe what the damn cards had shown her, and she knew better than to doubt her gut feelings. Every warning sign she'd gotten so far in regard to Din had proven accurate, and she wasn't sure that the emergency landing was what they'd been warning her about. It all might be pointing to something wrong about this reunion with him.

And now The Tower. Upheaval. Destruction.

Her phone buzzed with another text. She picked it up, half-expecting another message from Din, but it was from Max.

Got Din. Showing him to his temporary quarters. All good .

Fenella stared at the message, confusion and irritation rising in equal measure. Why had Max picked up Din? Had he wanted to warn him about her? They'd probably spent the entire drive gossiping about her.

"What's the matter?" Jasmine asked.

"Max picked up Din at the airport," Fenella said.

"That's good, isn't it?" Jasmine asked. "Those two should rebuild their friendship, and the sooner the better. They have fifty years of catching up to do."

"I suppose," Fenella conceded. "I just hate the thought of them talking about me, which I'm sure they are doing right now. Maybe that's why I was so antsy."

Jasmine grimaced. "Well, I won't tell you that's not what they are doing. Men gossip as much as women do, but I don't think they would say anything unkind about you, so you shouldn't get upset."

Fenella loosened a breath. "You are probably right."

Her eyes drifted back to where the tarot cards had been. The Tower's image lingered in her mind—the lightning strike, the crumbling structure, the falling figures.

Din had overcome many obstacles to reach her, and according to Jasmine's cards, they were headed for some kind of cataclysm.

She ran a hand through her hair, feeling the familiar knot of anxiety tightening in her chest. She'd survived half a century by trusting her instincts and recognizing when something was off, and everything about this situation felt like a giant warning sign.

Din might not be the source of the trouble, as Jasmine had said. But trouble was coming all the same.