Betrayals (Cainsville 4)

"Are you sure you can't just see them?" Rose asked.

"If I could, I made a mistake there. Ricky is the Page of Wands, right? That's what I got before."

"Page evolving into King. Apparently, evolving rapidly."

Which he was, moving into his role with the Cwn Annwn, showing his strength and his leadership with the rogue Huntsman and with the broken hound.

"Now," I said to the cards. "Tell me something I don't know. Gabriel, Ricky and I will..."

I turned over a card showing a thief making off with an armload of swords.

"The Seven of Swords," Rose said. "It signifies secrecy and selfishness, doing something for yourself at the expense of others. Possibly hurting others in the process. It suggests someone will--"

"Betray me." My gaze slid to the King of Pentacles card.

"We're asking the cards about an event concerning you and Ricky and Gabriel. Yes, there will be a betrayal. Most likely to you as a group, rather than between you."

I nodded, but must have looked unconvinced, because she said, "I know Gabriel has--"

"Can we just continue? Please." I turned over another card before she could answer. The Hermit, reversed.

"Signifies isolation and darkness." She tapped her fingers against it. "It can mean an overabundance of introspection, but the sense I get is darkness. A dark and empty place."

"Gabriel, Ricky, me, dark place, betrayal..." I exhaled a little in relief. "Okay, no offense, Rose, but I think your precognition is running on a delay. That happened about four months ago."

"Yes, there was a betrayal, but it did not lead to you being in that dark place. Connected in time, rather than circumstance."

I turned over two more cards, which didn't add anything to the mix.

"Gabriel, Ricky, me, dark place, betrayal," I said again. "That's all I'm getting, isn't it?"

"That's what I saw in my premonition. The three of you, both together and divided. In a dark place. And..." She shook her head. "And that's all." She began collecting the cards.

"No, it's not. What else did you see?"

She said nothing until I prodded again, and then only, "Shadows, violence, anger, a struggle..."

"A struggle?" I prodded.

"A struggle against a violent impulse. Someone who desperately does not want to do something and yet the impulse..." She knocked the deck against the desktop, straightening them. "The impulse isn't strong enough to come to anything. But it's dangerous nonetheless."

"Can I get anything more concrete?"

She looked at me. "My nephew is involved. I would not hold back if I knew more."

"So beware dark places, dark impulses, and betrayals. That last one can't really be avoided, though. Unless I'm the one doing the betraying."

"Which I cannot imagine."

I wrapped my fingers around my teacup. "But I am, aren't I? Betraying Gabriel."

Her blue eyes bored into mine. "You have done nothing to Gabriel, Olivia. Nothing except good. Whatever choices you've made, they were because he offered no other option, and because you are free to pursue your own happiness rather than wait for something that may never come, because someone is too damned dense..."

She trailed off as I looked up at her.

"And that's not what you meant at all," she said, leaning back. "Which is a relief. Also rather awkward. This betrayal you were referring to, then..."

"Patrick."