Page 104 of When Wishes Bleed

I inclined my head. “Very well. Estelle, since you asked first, would you like the reading?”

She grinned. “Absolutely. What do I do?”

I told her to drink as much of the tea as possible, letting the leaves settle where they wished. Estelle sipped hers until the remaining water barely covered the leaves, then placed it on her saucer as I instructed. She scooted it toward me, careful not to disturb the cup. I waved my hand over it, erasing all the pastel pink roses. A web of black threaded around the inside, forming the familiar pattern required to read her fate. “Turn the cup over,” I told her.

She quickly flipped it, and the little bit of remaining tea emptied into the saucer. The pattern of leaves left a story. It always did.

I inhaled, closed my eyes, and recalled the pattern from memory, watching as Fate gave me visions of Estelle’s future. “You… you will attend a wedding very soon. I see you in the audience, watching the couple…”

Hearing Knox and Leah laugh, I kept reading. “Everything is about to change.”

She made a wooo sound, wiggling her fingers to tease me.

“Smoke,” I breathed. And then tasted it on my tongue, smelled it in the air. “So much smoke.”

“What’s on fire?” she asked.

“Everything,” I answered.

“Okay,” Rose chirped with a clap. “That’s enough darkness and despair from The Gallows, don’t you think?” She tucked her scarlet hair behind her ears as everyone around the table gawked at her.

“Witches have senses of humor,” I said to lighten the mood. “We aren’t all darkness and despair.”

“I’ve yet to see it,” she smarted. “The only thing you know how to do is wear black and be creepy.”

I quirked a brow. Creepy? She hasn’t seen creepy from me yet.

As she took a dainty sip from her cup. I whispered a transformation spell and darkness descended over the room. The walls began to bleed coal black paint from the ceilings to the floors, until each was evenly coated. “What are you doing?” she cried.

Tauren gave an approving laugh and Knox watched in awe, though Estelle seemed a little unsure of how to react.

The rosettes that lined the rim of Rose’s cup turned black, and when she looked from me to them, her eyes grew wide. “There are words at the bottom of my cup,” she said, squinting until she made them out. “You’ve been poisoned.” Her wide eyes turned to mine, questioning.

Does she actually think I would hurt her?

“Have I?” she shrieked, dropping the cup and saucer. As soon as the porcelain hit the table, the spell broke and everything was pink and perfect again.

I smiled at her aghast indignation. “Of course not. It was only a joke. I told you we witches have senses of humor.”

“Dark, creepy humor,” she jabbed, trying to cover the fact that she was shaken.

I shrugged. She wasn’t wrong.

“I like her sense of humor,” Tauren announced, winking at me as he took another sip.

Estelle began to laugh, shaking her head. “That was awesome. I wish I could do things like that. My mother would never rest.”

Rose guffawed. “Well I, for one, pity her future husband.”

Her pretty feathers ruffled, Rose pretended I wasn’t in the room for the remainder of the tea party – which thankfully was nearly over. At which time, she sweetly thanked everyone but me for attending. The moment the cameras were off, she strode from the room with her shoulders back and her chin up.

“That was hilarious,” Estelle whispered as we stood.

Admittedly, I may have taken it a bit too far. Rose was already on edge, and even though she was prickly, I shouldn’t have teased her, even if I only meant it in jest.

“Ladies,” Tauren declared as he stood, “we leave for the coast in half an hour.” With that, he excused himself and rushed from the room, jogging in the direction Rose had stormed.

“Looks like he’s made his mind up. Guess you’re riding with me,” Estelle said playfully, nudging me with an elbow.

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