Page 171 of Historical Hotties
“Take another card.”
Carington pulled out another one and handed it to Kristina, who placed it to the right of The Chariot. She suddenly smiled. “Ah, The Empress,” she declared. “It means beauty and desire. Surely that is your card.”
Carington blushed furiously. “What else does it mean?”
Kristina was still smiling at Carington’s bashful response. “Surely you know how lovely you are,” she said. “Why, there is not a man at Prudhoe who has not noticed. You are all anyone can speak of.”
Carington looked at her almost fearfully and shook her head. “Ye mustn’t say such things.”
“Why not? ’Tis the truth.”
“Can I pick another card?”
Kristina laughed softly and held out the deck. Carington plucked out another card and Kristina put it to the left of The Chariot. Her smile faded. “The Tower.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means Chaos.”
The answer came from the other side of the room. Carington and Kristina looked over to see that Julia was addressing them. When she knew she had their attention, she focused her dour predication on Carington.
“The Tower means Chaos,” she repeated, more slowly as if to drive home the point. “It also means crisis, disillusionment and ruin. It is horror and destruction.”
Carington instinctively stiffened at the woman’s hostility. She gazed balefully at Julia for a moment before returning to Kristina. “Can I pick another card?” she asked.
Kristina did not look particularly worried about The Tower and offered Carington the deck. Carington selected a fourth card and handed it back to Kristina, who laid it next to The Empress. Her smile was back.
“Ah,” she murmured. “The Lovers. And it is right next to your card, too.”
Carington looked more closely at the bright cards. “What does that mean?”
Kristina’s eyes twinkled. “It means that you shall find love soon. Is there anyone special you left behind in Scotland, my lady? Someone who has your heart?”
Carington shook her head, unwilling to divulge any information. She prayed her expression would not give her away. “Nay,” she replied, still eyeing the card. “No one in Scotland.”
“This is a very powerful card. It means eternal love and devotion.”
Carington simply shrugged as if she had nothing more to say to that. Kristina, suspecting there was more to what Carington was telling her simply by her evasive stance, held out the deck of cards.
“One last card, my lady,” she said. “I need five to tell your fortune.”
Carington pulled out the last card and handed it to Kristina. The young lady put it neatly next to The Tower. As she did so, the pleasant expression faded from her face.
“Death,” she muttered. “It sits next to The Tower.”
Carington already did not like the sound of that. “What does it mean?”
“It means precisely what she said,” Julia piped up from across the room. “It means there is Death in your future.”
Before Carington could work herself into a snappish reply, Kristina was shuffling them around and putting them back with the deck. She lifted her gaze to Carington’s curious face.
“’Tis a silly game,” she insisted softly. “Any fortune I have ever told has never come true. Do not take great stock in it.”
Carington gazed into her eyes, reading the disquiet, but did not press her. Instead, she forced a smile.
“Of course,” she murmured. “Only a game.”
Kristina shuffled the cards around furiously, trying to move on from the lingering Death card. “Let us tell someone else’s fortune,” she said. “Whose should we tell?”
