Chapter Forty-Five
Fallyn
The grinning skull of the death card leered up at me, a divine taunt that sent my sense scattering. Ash's hand warmed my arm, steady and bolstering.
“The most important thing to know is that this card is seldom literal,” The old woman said in a practiced, even tone that reminded me of the one Thaddeus used to use when he couldn’t save someone, when they were too far gone for even magic to help them.
Her contemplative gaze flickering back and forth between Ash and me did nothing to instill further confidence. “Draw another.”
The moment was heavy with its own gravity, and I had to fight my own body to do as she directed this time. When I flipped a card over, there was no skull, no fearful image that greeted me, but that of a tower surrounded by a thorny thicket, leaning and crumbling into disarray.
“The tower. Interesting. Something in your life is not as it would appear,” She gave a hostile glance at Ash, as subtle as a brick.
“Something rooted in chaos and upheaval. One final card, before the reading.” I drew one more, only two cards stuck to me simultaneously, drawing concern from her.
“Something isn’t right. The cards are afraid for you.
Something is coming for you, my dear, and I need you to be ready. ”
“What is it?” Ash's eyes met mine in loaded silence, silence that echoed in the oracle's in turn.
A beat strung together with bated breath.
“Flip the cards." The oracle said finally, "Let’s see what they say.”
A devil, complete with horns and a tail winked at me from the cards, the evil persona of The Morningstar.
And two grim lovers completely decomposed, embracing each other.
Though they had no flesh, they cried, their tears streaking their skeletal faces.
The oracle shot to her feet, muttering protection spells with wide, tearing eyes.
“Child,” she whispered before running to the cabinet under the window and packing a handful of earthy-smelling things into a mortar and pestle before grinding them down.
She packed the powder into a necklace made of gold before handing it to me.
“May this bear you some protection. There are forces the spirits are warning you against, forces beyond the mortal plane who want you for their own. Whatever is about to happen, it will strike at you soon. And it will strike hard. It will strike you where it hurts the most.” She patted my cheek with a grandmother-like love.
“I need you to run. Break that curse. And do it fast.” She looked to Ash one final time with contempt.
“May death find you quickly if your intentions are ill. May death take its time with you if you bring her to her doom.”
Ash’s face held none of the amusement it previously had. With tight lips and a gaze that he tore from me to address the oracle in front of him, he responded, “I assure you, Madam, on that we are in perfect agreement.”
“You can’t change the Fates’ design. They’re as fickle as it gets.
” Her tempestuous tone did nothing to lift my spirits as we walked away with the oracle watching on grimly behind us, the feeling of foreboding following us down the street and around the corner.
I barely felt anything. Not the wind on my face, not the cramping in my feet, not the chill in the air.
I barely registered his hand taking mine.
“Fallyn.”
His gentle grasp on me drew me to a stop.
I wasn’t crying. Not yet. But my heart hammered violently against my ribcage and stalling my lungs, my breaths came shallow, and my teeth sank into my lower lip.
“I’m afraid.” The admission was a whisper, barely audible floating on the breeze and away, but somehow Ash heard it.
His hand tugged me into the alley away from prying eyes, before pulling me against him.
“I know.” His voice always held a hint of dare, a touch of softness, a kiss of shadows, but his voice now held none of his usual swagger.
The oracle must have unnerved him more than I’d originally thought.
For all his bravado and bluster, it was possible he was as concerned about that prophecy as I was.
“You’re allowed to be afraid. It’s what you do with your fear that defines you.
The world, the Fates, not even the gods get to make you yield unless you allow it.
Running from your fear won’t stop it, you just give it your back and you become even more dangerous. ”
“Is that where all your confidence comes from? You don’t give anyone permission to take it away?”
He levelled me with a stare. “Yes. That’s exactly it.
The only one who can give a situation power over you, is you.
So, the gods have taken notice of you. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
” I took a bolstering breath of air when Ash put his arm comfortingly around my shoulders.
And surprisingly, I did find it comforting.
I didn’t recoil, I didn’t protest. Instead, I leaned in and breathed deeply once more.
“Come on. I think we could both use that drink now.”
I could not have agreed more.