Page 20 of Dark Rover's Luck

"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."

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