“What have you seen so far, Tia?”
“There is a magician and a fortune-teller over at the square.” Tia leaned in closer. “They weren’t allowed on the church grounds. But the juggler and the menagerie are in the churchyard. They even have a lion this year.”
Selina smiled. “I must see that!”
Mia nodded as she took another almond from her sister. “And we need more almonds.”
Selina and Tia laughed.
Selina hadn’t felt this relaxed since the duke had returned. To be with her friends without the worry of him seeing her made her feel lighter. She glanced around the area one more time just to be certain he hadn’t decided to come to town.
“Who are you looking for?” Mia asked with a knowing smile.
“I don’t want to even think about him today.”
Tia laughed. “The duke would never come to a fair. That is far too unsophisticated for a man of his station. He’s probably back at the estate reading a treatise on our tea exports from India.”
Her friend was most likely correct. Selina almost laughed aloud at the idea of Colin sitting before the fortune-teller looking for some wisdom. Although, she wondered what the woman would say to her. There was only one way to find out.
“I have decided to have my fortune told,” she told her friends as she walked toward the decidedly frightening woman.
“Good luck,” Mia called. “We shall be at the menagerie.”
As Selina approached the woman, she slowed almost to a stop. The woman wore a scarlet dress with a multitude of colored threads shot through it. Atop her head was a black and gold turban. The woman suddenly turned her head and stared at Selina. The fortune-teller frowned her wrinkled face. Black kohl lined her tired eyes lending her an exotic yet daunting look.
The woman crooked a finger at Selina. “Come along. Others will be here soon and you must be first.”
Why would she need to be first? A nervous shiver made her body quake. “I haven’t decided if I want to have my fortune read yet.”
“Of course you have decided. I knew the moment you broke away from your group of friends that you would want a reading.”
Selina took a step closer and then stopped again. What was wrong with her? She never let a person intimidate her. Not even the duke himself could manage that feat.
“Come along,” the old woman complained. “I don’t have all day.”
She swallowed down her trepidation and pulled out the seat across from the woman. “My name is—”
“I know who you are,” the woman said in a harsh tone. “I am Madame Czerwony.” She took Selina’s hands into her own. “And you are the wise woman.”
“I am just a healer.”
The older woman shook her head. “No, my dear. You are one of the few left in these lands.”
Selina was surprised by the woman’s words. No one believed in the tales of the wise women. “Can you tell me of my future?”
The woman, with her one blue eye and the other clouded by a cataract, stared at her until Selina felt forced to look down at their joined hands. “No,” the woman finally answered. “I don’t think you would believe me.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re already a wise woman. But someday you shall also be a very great lady.”
Selina suppressed a laugh. There was nothing great about her . . . nor would there ever be. “I doubt that very much.”
“Of course you do,” Madame Czerwony said with a slight shrug.
“How will I become such a lady?”
This time the old woman cackled. “The same way they all do. You shall marry into it.” She leaned in closer and whispered, “And if you do, you will be forced to give up many things. So think carefully about whether or not it’s worth the sacrifice.”