Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
“For the project I’m working on,” I chimed in. “A novel loosely based on a star-crossed love affair between Prue, Tempie and Chassie’s great-aunt and my great-grandfather. We have Harmony’s letters, but we’re not sure she kept his because Prue can’t find them.”
Ravenna’s gaze floated back to the cards. “Well, they’re somewhere at The Downs.”
The room went wired again.
“She didn’t destroy them?” Prue asked.
Ravenna shook her head.
“Any idea where they are?” Chassie asked.
Ravenna studied the cards again.
Then another shaking of her head.
“Well, that stinks,” Chassie griped.
This caused Prue and Tempie, then Prue, me and Tempie, to exchange another glance because, boy…when Chassie decided to break out of her shell, she wasn’t messing around.
Ravenna took a fortifying sip of tea before she queried of Prue, “Is there anything more you want to ask the cards, hun?”
Prue almost accomplished hiding her quick peeks at Chassie and me before she shook her head. “I think I’m good with that.”
This meant she would ask the cards about me and Battle, and Chassie changing at another appointment.
I understood her play.
“Let’s do me,” Chassie said excitedly.
“All right,” Ravenna agreed, did the card gathering and offered them to Chassie.
“Just shuffle and give them to you when I feel it?” Chassie inquired.
“Just that, luvvie,” Ravenna said.
Chassie started shuffling. “When do I know when I feel it?”
“You’ll know.”
Chassie kept shuffling.
“Oo, there!” she cried and handed the cards to Ravenna.
Ravenna gave her a kind smile and took them.
She threw down only one, looked at it then looked at Chassie.
“Yes,” she said.
“Yes?” Chassie breathed, her eyes bright, a blush stealing across her cheeks.
What on…?
The rest of us exchanged even more glances.
“Yes, luv,” Ravenna said gently, smiling in the same vein.
“Thank you,” Chassie said meaningfully.
“It is my absolute pleasure,” Ravenna replied.
And with neither of them giving the rest of us that first hint as to what they were on about, Ravenna picked up the card she dropped and offered the whole lot to me.
I took them enthusiastically.
I loved tarot. I read my own. I went to readers.
But this was the best reading by far I’d ever been involved in.
I didn’t ask a question. I just wanted the cards to feel how I’d fallen in love with these women, their home, their pets, and yes, okay, also their brother. It was new love, burgeoning love, but I knew what I was feeling was very, very, very, very, very…
Fond.
Once I felt I’d imbued all that goodness in the cards, I handed them to her.
She didn’t immediately throw any down.
She examined me for an awkwardly long time.
And then she threw them down.
One, two three…
Four, five, six…
Seven, eight…
What the hell was she doing?
Nine, ten, eleven, twelve…
And thirteen.
She set the rest of the pile aside, scrutinized the scattering on the table, shifted them this way and that.
And then she looked at me. “Choose the ring wisely.”
I blinked and asked, “Sorry?”
“When the time comes, choose the ring wisely,” she repeated.
“What ring?” I asked.
“The ring,” she answered.
“My precious,” Chassie joked using a lisp.
God, I cannot tell you how amazing it was to see Chassie blossoming.
I shot her a smile, and so as not to make a thing of it, I returned to Ravenna. “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”
She sat back in the sofa with her tea. “Many don’t. Until they do.”
I flicked a hand at the table. “Thirteen cards, and that’s all it says?”
I knew she was lying, though I didn’t know how I knew she was lying, when she replied, “Yes.”
I gazed down at the cards, mumbling, “Maybe I should reshuffle.”
“You’re welcome to,” Ravenna said. “But you’ll have to ask a specific question, or the cards will tell me the same thing.”
I did my best to commit the cards on the table to memory, collected them, reshuffled and did that copiously, keeping my mind on nothing but what I had before (not hard), then handed them to her.
A chill raced right through me when she immediately threw down what appeared to be the exact same thirteen cards.
“Holy hell,” I breathed, staring at the table.
I could tell Prue, Chassie and Tempie were feeling the same way as they stared with me.
“My cards were blessed by a high priestess at Avebury,” Ravenna bragged. “They’re very powerful.”
“I’ll say,” Chassie whispered.
“Would you like to ask them a question this time?” Ravenna offered.
“Kinda,” I told her. “I want to see if my sister’s doing okay. Our mom died a little over a year ago, and it really hit us hard.”
“Of course,” Ravenna said softly.
I did the reshuffle, handed them to her, she took them, threw down three, and stated immediately, “She has a good husband. And she feels…” She tossed out another card. “Blessed that she has what she has when your mother didn’t have it. There is heaviness there, but mostly, she knows your mother was happy for her, and she feels grateful her life doesn’t have the challenges, but it does have the bounty that your mother’s life did.”