by Meg Anne
She stepped back and grabbed four mugs from the drying rack on the counter. “Do you think I’ll get a chance to meet your Pop while we’re here?” she asked as she poured the steaming liquid into each cup.
“Maybe,” Lucas responded but didn’t sound convinced.
She knew both he and Lizzie were worried about their grandfather. Although, neither would admit it. If there was anything she had learned about the MacConnell family, it was that they weren’t overly interested in talking about their emotions.
Not that she could blame them; she was the queen of internalizing.
“How’d you sleep?” Lucas asked.
“So-so.”
“We could have worn each other out with that private game of poker.”
She turned and saw him grinning at her, his dimples flashing. Skye couldn’t fight her answering smile. That would have been a hell of a show.
“We both know you would have been the only one naked at the end.”
“I don’t know, Giovanni. I’ve got a pretty damn good poker face.”
“I don’t doubt it, but I would have played extra hard.”
“Pun intended?” he asked.
She smiled. “Pun definitely intended.”
Lucas stepped forward and caged her in with his arms. “We keep dancing around each other like this, one of us is likely to give in.”
“It won’t be me,” she promised. The challenge in her eyes was answered when he nuzzled his face into her neck. His stubble scraped against her delicate skin and she fought the urge to rub against him. Shit, that feels amazing. Skye was shocked she didn’t start purring and rubbing herself against him like a cat in heat.
“Be careful what you promise, Twyla,” Lucas’ voice was a husky growl as he stepped back and winked at her.
“I’m not afraid of a little challenge, Loomis,” she replied, her own voice heavy with desire. Before she could embarrass herself by pouncing on him, Skye turned and finished prepping the coffees the way she learned her friends liked them. Lizzie preferred a little of cream and sugar, while both Lucas and James took theirs black.
Once she was done, she handed Lucas two mugs of black coffee for him and his partner and followed him out onto the porch.
Lizzie was curled up against James’ side on the double swing, so Skye and Lucas each took a chair. It was still dark outside, and the moon shone so brightly above them it appeared to have been painted into the sky. It was hard to believe it was the same moon that shone over Chicago.
“Maybe today will be the day,” Lizzie said softly.
“The day for what?” James asked.
“The day we finally find a way to kill that bastard.”
“Heavy conversation for early morning,” Lucas grumbled. “But I hope so, too.”
Skye took a sip of her coffee, staring up at the last of the stars in the sky. Her wish was too complicated to put into words, so she let her eyes fall closed and settled for one heartfelt please.
Chapter 12
Skye
Skye sat on the couch, her grandmother’s journal forgotten in her lap. They’d all agreed to take some time this morning to work through the various books they’d dug up. After working through the odd little black book from the library, Skye hadn’t identified anything potentially harmful contained within its pages. At least not on the surface. With great reluctance, she finally caved and let Lucas take a stab at it. Which is why she was back to her grandmother’s journals.
She’d finally reached the last few pages, and it was clear from the cramped handwriting and terse language that her grandmother had been deeply worried about something. There was one word scrawled over and over on the inside of the back cover: amria. The word was unfamiliar, but something about it niggled at her consciousness, like there was a profound meaning hidden within the word.
Skye traced the cursive A and followed the path her grandmother’s pen had forged so many years ago. What did amria mean? And why had she written it so many times? Was it a name? If so, was it something or someone? Or was it a warning? Skye shuddered, her intuition sending spikes of adrenaline surging through her. Whatever this word meant, it was important. If only she could figure it out.
As it was, Skye didn’t even know what language the word was in. In and of itself, that wouldn’t be a hindrance if she could at least do a basic Google search, but that would have made things too easy on her and apparently fate was being a fickle bitch. In her complete lack of international traveler know-how, Skye had not thought to purchase one of those handy plug converters, which meant both her laptop and her phone were utterly useless until they made it back into town.
Skye let out a string of curses under her breath. Every time she thought they’d made headway, there was another setback. How come, for once, things couldn’t just go smoothly?
“Easy there, tiger,” Lucas said from the doorway.
She glanced up, taking in his tousled blond hair and stormy blue eyes.
“You stare at that book any harder you might set it on fire.”
Her lips quirked up. “Sounds more like a Druid skill than a Gypsy one. I think the book is safe.”
Lucas chuckled and walked the rest of the way into the room. Skye tracked the movement, appreciating the prowling grace that was Lucas MacConnell. Yet another thing fate loved to taunt her with. Had she never met Lucas, she never would have had the vision that sent them careening down this path together. The thing that brought them together was also the thing that kept them apart. She might have skipped potential heartache, but then she never would have met Lucas, and both he and his sister would likely be dead by now. Hard to be upset about a case of blue lady balls when the alternative was death.
Skye’s thoughts were dark, but the last thought made her snicker. Fate really was a conniving bitch.
“What are you chuckling about?” he asked, settling in beside her.
Skye shook her head. “Nothing.”
Usually Lucas would never let her get away with an answer like that, but something in her expression must have kept him from pushing. “You look like you could use a break,” he said instead.
Skye snorted. “You have no idea.”
He lifted a brow and smirked at her. “That bad, huh? I know of some things we could do if you’re looking to relieve a little tension.”
She shifted in her seat as flutters started low in her belly. “Know of anything that isn’t X-rated?” she damn near growled at him. Today was definitely not a day to test the strength of her resolve. She was about one come-hither look away from crawling on top of him.
Heat flared in his eyes, but he made no move to touch her. “You’ve been promising to show us those Gypsy skills with your tarot cards. Maybe we take the afternoon off to regroup and blow off some steam?”
Whatever she’d been expecting him to say, that was certainly not even in the top one hundred. Some of the tension left her shoulders and she let out an easy laugh. “Yeah, sure. We can do that. You sure you want to hear what the cards have to say? They have a habit of forcing you to face harsh truths.”
His words were teasing, but he was dead serious when he replied, “I’m not the only one running from the truth, Skye. I can take whatever you throw at me and then some.”
A delicious shiver ran along the length of her body. Before she could embarrass herself by rubbing her body against his, she jumped off the couch and made her way toward the room she shared with Lizzie. “You wrangle the others and meet me on the porch.”
She didn’t dare look over her shoulder or she would have lost the strength to keep walking away. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could resist him. Hell, she didn’t even want to resist him. Everything about Lucas called to her; he was a siren, and she was a sailor about to fling herself off the ship to join him. Because that’s where this would lead. Complete and utter destruction, of both her and her heart. Especially when she knew he was destined to die.
His death had been foretold; it was only a matter of time.
But maybe heartbreak was worth the price of admission, if it meant that she could be his. Even if it was only once.
“Alright, so how exactly does this work?” James asked, eyeing Skye and her tarot cards dubiously.
Skye laughed as she ran her hands through the hair she’d just unbraided. “It’s not very complicated. I will have the person whose cards I’m reading shuffle and cut the deck. Then they will spread the cards out face down and select the cards that appeal to them. I will turn the cards over in the way they are drawn and we will go from there.”
Lizzie clapped with excitement. “I have always wanted to do this!”
“You can go first, then,” Skye said with a smile.
She lifted the deck of cards, still wrapped in a purple and red silk scarf that had belonged to her grandmother. This particular deck had been passed down, the hand-painted cards still looking brand new despite being easily over a hundred years old.
“Oh, they are beautiful,” Lizzie squealed when the navy-blue backs with their gilded stars came into view.
Skye ran her fingers along the top card. “Aren’t they? I’ve always loved these cards.” Skye held the deck out to Lizzie. “Go ahead and shuffle them.”
Lizzie gingerly took the cards from Skye. James smiled softly at Lizzie’s excitement, while Lucas’ focus was solely on her. Skye forced herself not to turn and look at him, not when her emotions where he was concerned were still such a jumbled mess. It wasn’t fair to either of them for her to be so indecisive. He’d made it clear that he wanted her. She was the only one standing in their way. Well, her, and a psychotic Druid bent on destroying them all. No biggie.
“Here you go!” Lizzie said, trying to hand the deck back. Skye stopped her by holding up a hand, not wanting her energy to interfere with the cards now that Lizzie had touched them.
“Go ahead and spread them out,” she instructed.
Lizzie did as she was told. “Now what?”
“Before you pick your first card, I want you to focus on whatever question it is that you want answered. Or if it’s not a specific question, focus on the area of your life that you would like to receive insight on.”
“Okay, got it. Do I need to tell you?” Lizzie asked, her blue eyes shining brightly in the sunlight.
Skye shrugged. “It’s up to you. The cards will provide your answers either way.”
Lizzie glanced furtively around at her brother and James and shook her head.
Skye chuckled. “Fair enough. Okay, I want you to hold your hand above the cards and move it back and forth along the row until you feel a card call to you. Once you find that card, I want you to select it and set it down, here.” Skye pointed to a spot just to her right. “Then you will do the same thing, twice more.”
Lizzie scrunched her eyes closed, her hand moving slowly down the line before coming to a stop near the end. She selected a card, and then closed her eyes once more.
Skye snuck a glance at Lucas who had his lips pressed together as if trying not to laugh. She looked back at Lizzie, barely fighting her own smile. His sister was following instructions so earnestly, you’d have thought there were a million dollars on the line.
After she set the third card face down, she looked expectantly back at Skye. “What now.”
“Now comes the fun part. You ready to see what the cards have to say?”
Lizzie nodded.
“Alright.” Skye flipped the first card over and her heart sank. Fuck.
Lizzie gasped, her hand flying up to cover her mouth. James reached out to hold Lizzie’s other hand. Beside her, Lucas growled.
“Maybe I don’t want to know,” Lizzie whispered, eying the Death card with fear.
“It’s not necessarily a bad thing, Lizzie,” Skye said, concentrating on keeping her voice calm and soothing.
“It’s the fucking Death card, Skye. How you going to give that a positive spin?” Lucas sniped, his voice as rough as gravel.
“New beginnings,” she said, forcing her voice to remain steady. She took a deep breath. “Change… the end of a cycle. The Death card represents all of those things. It’s a card representing possibility. Since you drew it first, it is showing you where you are presently. Right now, you are experiencing a rebirth.”
Lizzie perked up at that. “Okay, that’s not so bad then.”
Skye smiled gently. “Do you want me to keep going?”
Lizzie nodded. “I mean, it can’t get much worse than Death.”
Skye didn’t have the heart to tell her she was wrong. Instead, she flipped the next card over. “The Lovers,” she said with a grin.
Lizzie’s cheeks flooded with pink, and she stole a glance at the man sitting beside her who was leaning forward with new interest.
“You don’t say,” he murmured.
“Of-fucking-course,” Lucas groaned.
“The Lovers represent choices, union, love, and relationships. This is your path forward.”
Lizzie and James squeezed hands while Lucas slumped back in his seat.
“Don’t worry, you’re next, Detective.”
“Can’t wait,” he said sullenly.
Skye laughed. “Okay, the third card. This represents your future if you take the path before you.” She flipped the card over and couldn’t control the smile that bloomed across her face. “The World. Fulfillment, harmony, completion.” For a reading that started with death, it was one filled with symbols of hope. The cards didn’t reveal how much time Lizzie may have left on this earth, but they did show it would be a time filled with love and happiness. No one could ask for more than that.
At a loss for words, Lizzie snuggled into James’ side, her radiant smile saying more than enough.
“Would you like me to read for you?” she offered to James, who shook his head.
“I have everything I need,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to Lizzie’s head.
“Alright, you’re up,” Skye told Lucas, picking up the cards and holding them out to him.
“Same deal as Lizzie?” he asked, deftly shuffling the cards.
A tingle worked its way down her spine, and she spoke before realizing it. “Draw five cards.”
He lifted a brow at the steel in her voice, but nodded as he fanned out the cards and quickly drew five.
Before she’d even shifted to flip over Lucas’ first card, she knew that this would not be a usual reading. The hair along her arm was already standing on end. “This card represents your major concern or conflict,” she murmured, turning the card to reveal the Emperor in reverse.
“Oh look, he’s upside down,” Lizzie said. “That means something, doesn’t it?”
Skye frowned, nodding tightly. “Yes. In reverse, this card represents chaos, anger, and domination.”
“It’s the Druid,” Lucas said flatly. “You don’t need to be a fucking Seer to realize that.”
Skye flinched, but moved to flip the second card, hissing in surprise when two flipped over.
“They must have gotten stuck together,” Lucas said softly, his eyes never straying from the table.
In the twenty years she’d practiced tarot, never once had two cards been stuck together. “These cards represent your current challenges,” she said, setting them above, but to the side of the first card. The Two of Wands in reverse and the High Priestess, also in reverse.”
“Are you sure we just aren’t on the wrong side?” Lucas joked, running his palms down his legs.
She gave him a weak smile. “I’m sure.”
“What do those two mean?” Lizzie asked.
Skye shivered. “Fear of change and a loss of self, respectively. The two could also mean playing it safe, while the High Priestess could also represent secrets and hidden agendas.”
“Keep going,” Lucas demanded tightly, his lips pressed together and his brows low over his eyes.
“Factors that are affecting you and your situation.” She flipped the third card over with trembling hands. “The Wheel.” Her stomach
swooped.
“What does this one mean?” James asked.
Icy sweat trickled down her back as she replied, “The Wheel represents destiny.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Lucas let out a harsh bark of laughter. “What a bunch of bullshit.”
“Shut up, Lucas,” Lizzie snapped. “You’re better than that. If you weren’t so fucking terrified, you wouldn’t have to try so hard to appear unaffected.”
Lucas scowled at his sister, but didn’t comment.
“What’s the next one stand for?” Lizzie asked, gently prompting Skye to continue.
“What can help you grow.” She flipped the card, her eyes narrowing. “Judgment. It represents an awakening.”
“Accessing his powers,” Lizzie said with a little shrug. “Obviously.”
“Last but not least…” James said, performing a half-hearted drumroll on his knees.
Skye’s heart pounded and her palms were sweaty. Each one of these cards had been a warning, a harsh reminder of what they were up against. She expected nothing less from the final card. “What you need to do to be successful.”
“Oh, come on,” Lucas scoffed. “The cards can’t possibly have an answer for that.”
Skye flipped the card almost defiantly, sitting back in her seat with a whoosh of breath.
“What the hell is that supposed to be?” Lucas asked, scooting closer to look at the card.
On its face was a man in splendid armor, standing in front of what appeared to be eight sticks comprising a gate. In his hands was a ninth stick—a wand—that he held before him like a weapon. It was probably a coincidence, but the man was blond with fierce blue eyes, his lips parted on a savage snarl.
“Nine of Wands,” Skye whispered. “The last stand.”
Alone in her room, Skye was still shaking as she set her cards back down on the table beside her bed. Lucas had pushed for answers, but Skye had none. His course was set; he was destined for battle. There were no surprises there, but it reinforced the futility of her interference. When the course was set, what could a lone woman do to prevent it?