Page 5 of A Waltz with Lord Death
This position was not for the faint of heart.
At the front door, he poised his fist to knock, but paused when he noticed a sign in the window.Fortunes and divination.Three images lay below the words, likely for those who couldn’t read—a deck of cards, a crystal ball, and a moon surrounded by stars.
“A fortune-teller, eh?” He pushed the door open, only to be met by a dozen strands of beads in his face. The moment they touched his skin, the string holding them up withered and broke, and beads scattered all across the floor.
He winced at the ruckus and considered cloaking himself, but a face appeared around the corner too quickly, a face that struck a chord of lively music in his heart.
He gazed back at the beautiful woman, frozen to the spot. Up close, the color of her eyes looked like two spheres of silver-blue glass, and behind them…
The spark of light ignited, a soul full of promise and potential. A soul filled with Life.
“I know everyone in this town,” she said, taking a single step closer to reveal dark red skirts and a dark red blouse covered by a deep blue corset. “But I do not know you. Who are you?”
A smirk pulled up on his lips, and he nearly leaned against the wall, at least until he reminded himself to not touch anything. “You are the fortune-teller. Why don’t you tell me?”
“So you want to play it that way?” She returned his smirk and gestured him further inside the cottage. He followed at a respective distance, not daring to venture close enough to touch her. “If you have come to get your fortune told, you have arrived at the right place. My skills are quite popular as of late.”
“No, thank you.” He quirked an eyebrow and glanced around the small room. A table with a set of chairs. Cards, teacups, and a seeing sphere on top. And flowers. Almost enough to challenge the garden bursting to life with all varieties and stenches. “Fortune-telling is not real.”
“Isn’t it? Give me a try.” In his survey of the room, he hadn’t noticed her move closer to him. He wasn’t fast enough to jerk away as she reached for him and pulled his glove off. He gasped and tried to rip his hand away from her before his powers of destruction claimed her.
But…nothing happened. The breath remained in her lungs, the smile on her lips. And the touch of her hand felt intimate, as if he could reach her very soul if he touched her with his power. A rosy blush entered her cheeks beneath his stare.
He regarded her in a new light, a curious light, hope breaking through the dark walls of his inner heart. “What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t. They call me Meira.”
“One who gives light,” he murmured. A fitting name for a potential candidate for Lady Life. Finally, he nodded. “Let’s see what you can come up with, fortune-teller. I am in the mood for a little amusement.”
“It’s not just for amusement. My fortunes guide the heart.” She led him to the table, and while she sat, he didn’t. He eyed the chair suspiciously, wondering if it could hold under his power, or if the brittle legs might snap under a torrent of darkness.
“Well?” she asked.
He reined in his power as if he were holding his breath. Gingerly, he lowered himself onto the chair. It held, much to his smug satisfaction.
The wood creaked suddenly, and with a sharpcrack, the legs snapped under his weight and he crashed to the floor. The airwhooshedfrom his lungs in the form of a black shadow. He may be immortal, but it still hurt.
Meira gasped and rushed to his side. She grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet. “I am so sorry, sir. I’ve never had an issue with the chairs before. I swear it was not intentional.” Her silver-blue eyes were full to the brim with embarrassment and regret. Surely, he didn’t fare much better with a back-handed blow to his pride.
Her brown curls brushed against his arm, and a sudden desire to wrap his finger around one of them overwhelmed him. He took a step back, putting distance between them. For her to become Lady Life, she needed to be willing to receive his kiss. He could not force her. Therefore, he needed to play his cards right and not give into the temptation to rush.
Even if destruction followed in his very wake.
Even if Barret lay in a coffin of frozen time.
“I will stand.” He gestured to the table. “Go on.”
She nodded, the rosy fluster never leaving her cheeks as she sat in a chair on the other end of the table. As she shuffled her deck of tarot cards, she glanced up at him. “I admit, I’m not used to having my customers hover over me.”
“And I admit I’m not used to chairs spilling me onto the floor.”
His quip drew a laugh from her. He stared as a spark of otherworldly light flickered through her like a candle desperate for air. But it sputtered out as if it couldn’t catch any kindling.
Crossing his arms, he grinned as he watched her closely and the way she shuffled the deck multiple times. Could a lying, deceiving fortune-teller really become someone as pure as Lady Life? There had to be more to her than she let on.
“Must you gaze at me so intensely?” she asked with the corner of her mouth quirking up. “Do you not trust my shuffling?”
“It is your beauty I do not trust. It is distracting me from catching a sleight of hand.”
