Page 64 of A Bond with the Dark

“This next card is your present,” she says, flipping the next card over and examining it. “The Ten of Swords.”

Showing it to me, I see a figure lying face down with ten swords piercing their back.

“This card could represent a period of intense difficulty, betrayal, or being surrounded by darkness,” her voice takes on a more serious tone. “There are many things at work in your energy. There are new people, some dark and dangerous. Others you’ve let go of, and that’s a good thing. I see a lot of toxicity leaving your life. But there are choices that you’re making that are letting other darkness in. Something is swirling around your aura. You are coming to terms with who you are, and you’ll become powerful, but at the cost of something, and I don’t know what. What you’re playing with now can change your life in many ways. Be careful of the power you wield.”

My goosebumps react to her words.

“The last card is your future. What is going to happen in times to come.”

With the last one, she takes careful caution, flipping it over and narrowing her eyes on me as she does. “The Lovers.”

Holding it up for me to see, two skeletons embrace each other. “This card usually represents a choice,” she continues, setting the card back down.

There is a few seconds of silence as she braces her arms on each side of the chair, tilting her head back and closing her eyes.

She leans forward again and says, “Whatever you are doing now is awakening something ancient and powerful. There’s a threat on the horizon that you‘ll soon come to terms with. Choosing to imbibe this power may have dire consequences. This card can sometimes be called the Gemini card. It shows that there are two people, two of every kind of person, one bad and the other good. Your darkest desires will want you to choose the darkness, to revel in the deep dark instead of playing with the feeble twilight. Regardless of your choice, someone will get hurt; there will be pain, and part of that pain will be yours to own as well. It’s up to you who you wish to hurt less, as one will hurt extremely less than the other.”

None of this makes any sense to me, but somewhere inside, I know I need to remember it. Something in my future will cause me to look back at this and delve deeper into what this psychic says.

“Even though your choice will hurt you,” Quinlyn continues, “you have something in you that will save a lot of people. Your pain will end others’ suffering, and so this path you’re on is one that you’re meant to be on. Others before you could not rise from the ashes as you have, and you will have to keep rising out of those ashes. For you are like a phoenix. And your blood is potent. There’s a reason that you’ve been dealt the things you have. Your pain and suffering will not go unrepented. You have a magick within you that is unlike any other kind of magick the world has ever seen. Please take caution when honing your power, but hone it all the same. Conquer it. And seek the advice of others who walk your path, for they will guide you where you need to be.”

“And what of love?” I ask, and instantly feel silly for saying it.

“One love will rise you from those ashes. And one will put you in them. Your heart will want the pain. The burn. The fire. That is the love that will consume you. The other is safe. It won’t take you to the ends of the earth, but it will protect you and keep you safe. When the time comes, you must choose which love you want. The love that ends you. Or the love that revives you.”

“And what if I choose the love that ends me? What then?”

“That is your choice to make. You will know when the time comes which you must choose.”

There are so many questions that I want to ask, but I know that Quinlyn won’t know the answers to these.

It‘s up to me to find them on my own and in due time.

“I know you have lots of questions,” Quinlyn says as though she’s read my mind; the features of her face are severe, her mouth a firm line while she talks, “but I read the energy on you and the cards. All I can tell you is to be careful. The magick you’re playing with is stirring something ancient and powerful. Your eyes tell me you know exactly what I’m talking about. Just be careful with it. The energy around you contains darkness, which is seeping into your soul, attaching to and leaking into you. Careful if that’s the darkness that will consume you.”

I nod again as all the words I can think to say flutter out the window.

There’s something about Dominic that has a dark tinge to it. But I don’t want to let him go. I want to see where it goes.

“Thank you, Quinlyn,” I say, standing.

“You’re welcome.”

My mind floods with thoughts as I retrieve my purse and head toward the exit.

Who the hell is going to ruin me? It can’t be Dominic, can it? Sure, there’s that darkness in his eyes, but he’s fantastic. He’s sweet, sexy, kind. And if Dominic is the one that will ruin me, who’s the one that will save me?

If Dominic is the darkness, I want to be in darkness with him. There’s always something in his eyes that’s unfathomable, that tells me he knows grief beyond my comprehension. He has an agony playing at something in his aura, and I feel it sometimes when I’m near him. Something about him is unnatural, disarming. Haunting even. Like a weeping willow tree growing in the middle of a desert. Something that’s rare and shouldn’t be yet is. To behold him tells you a story. He’s unyielding. Indestructible. But dangerous? No.

Well. Maybe a little.

I leave the room and meet with my girls on the other side.

“So?” Claire says as we gather in the foyer and walk out.

“Interesting,” I say, not wanting to go into detail. “Yours?”

“Oh, apparently, I am going to meet the love of my life this summer,” Anna responds, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

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