Page 60 of Duke's Daring Bookworm
“You didn’t even hear me out.” He hit my shoulder, but I had already braced for it and didn’t move a muscle. “Fuck, son. The least you could do is help out your old man.”
“Absolutely not. Now leave before I have you removed.”I eyed the security dotting the edges of the ballroom, so he knew I was serious.
“Fine.” He pushed away. I knew I would hear from him again soon. He preferred to live life traveling from party to party, blowing through whatever little money he got his hands on, coming back into my life just long enough to beg for more.
“Oh, Duke,” a feminine voice called to me as he walked away. I motioned for a security guard to follow him and turned to the new voice when I saw it was done.
“Mercedes,” I said with a polite smile. “How are you tonight?”
“Can we talk?” She pointed to a nearby quiet corner. I hesitated going, but I had responsibilities here, much as I would prefer it if I didn’t, especially one of the top executives.
“Of course.” The music thumped and pulsed around us, drowning out all attempts at conversation, and since I wasn’t interested in shouting, I led us over to the quieter corner to speak.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Want a reading?” A low voice came from the shadows near me. I’d stepped away from Duke, looking for some peace and quiet while he talked to his business associates. I held back a laugh at the pinched look on his face as he turned to speak to them. I hiked the voluminous layers of my dress up and stepped toward the shadows. Reading was a magic word in my world, but I didn’t understand the context and was enticed by the chance to learn something new.
A woman sat at a small table. Opulent maroon curtains with gold embroidery hung around the space and electric candles were strategically placed to cast long shadows while providing low light to the table. The woman was dressed just as extravagantly in a midnight blue gown that shimmered in the low light.
Simple black cloth with the sun, moon, and stars embroidered on it in a riot of colors covered the table infront of her. Colorful, metallic threads wove through the stitching, dancing in the candlelight, drawing me in like a moth to a flame.
Set against the backdrop of the iridescent black cloth laid a deck of cards, almost as black as the cloth, but somehow, they sucked in the light rather than reflecting it. The cards had a brilliant sun motif on the back outlined in gold leaf that matched the thread on the curtains perfectly.
I’d never had a tarot reading before and something swooped low in my belly at the thought of having one now. It wasn’t like it was real. So why did I feel so drawn in?
I sat down without even talking to the woman or asking if I could. She didn’t send me away or scold me, so it must have been fine.
“I’m Lyra,” the woman said. “I take it you want a reading?” Now that I sat there, I could take her in properly. Silver shot through her hair, making her look ethereal against the backdrop she had crafted and though her face initially appeared youthful, there were lines gently fanning out of her eyes and lips. The swooping sensation in my stomach increased the longer I looked at her, trying to understand how she could appear both ancient and somehow youthful at the same time.
“I—but it’s not even real,” I protested weakly. Clearly, this was just a fun little thing for the party. “Yes, I’ll take a reading.”
That swooping sensation stopped when I said that, like acknowledging that I was interested, settled something inside me.
“What can I call you?” Her voice easily carried to me in this peaceful little corner, despite the noise of the ballroom.
“Lily.”
“What would you like the cards to tell you?” She pickedup the deck and started shuffling. Her movements were so casual and precise that I wondered just how many hours she spent with them.
I didn’t answer. I had no idea what questions I had. I didn’t even know how to start figuring them out.
“Nothing? Well, let’s see what the card can tell me about you that you aren’t.” Three cards fell out of the deck as she spoke. They slipped from her hands despite the practiced and precise movements of her shuffle. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought they flew out of the deck on their own power, but no, it was just gravity and slippery hands.
She flipped each one over exactly where they fell. The colors of the cards caught my attention first. They were so vibrant that they seemed almost… alive. Figures danced across the face of the cards, seeming to call out to each other, whispering their secrets to the universe.
I’d seen pictures of tarot cards before, but nothing that looked quite like this. The images were somehow obvious and abstract at the same time. I couldn’t quite understand them. The cards and their meanings leaped away from me the more I tried to focus on them.
This was silly. Of course, they didn’t move. They were inanimate objects. When I looked away from them, Lyra’s stare pierced me. She didn’t seem to examine the cards at all, like she didn’t even need to see them to know what they said. It unnerved me and made me want to be anywhere but here.
“You’re a very intuitive person.” She tapped a card in front of her, still not looking at it. “The ace of swords talks about what goes on in your mind. You watch everything and can put together the pieces of life before anyone else. This is very frustrating for you.” She didn’t ask that. Shestated it like it was the most obvious thing in the world and yes, I did feel like no one could see what I saw. I hated it.
“You seek love, but maybe you don’t know it yet. Or you do know it, but something is standing in your way. You’re afraid. Perhaps afraid to take what you want.”
She pushed two cards toward me, and I saw images of water falling in both, one into a rosebush and the other from two cups into the abyss below. I realized then that the card was upside down and if it were right side up, the water would fall into the cups instead of out.
Black spots danced behind my eyes before I realized I had been holding my breath. I sucked in air and the spots cleared, but the images on the cards were still there, taunting me with their truth. I wanted love. I wanted Duke. Chills spread through me, solidifying this inside me like it changed every cell in my body.
Three more cards fell out of her dexterous hands. This time they were face up, and I was just as lost as I had been when the first three fell out.
