Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

“It isn’t,” she denied and laid the cards very decisively out in a pattern.

Do you know what those people are after? Why they’re watching you?” Sandu kept his gaze on her hands as she laid out the cards in a pattern on the table.

“No, I wish I did, but they’re definitely watching me. The first one to come here was the older gentleman. He said he wanted a reading.” Adalasia glanced at him from under her feathery lashes. “The moment he came into the shop, I knew something was off about him. I’d had a sense of uneasiness all morning, and twice I even laid out cards. Both times I was warned of danger.”

Her teeth pressed into her bottom lip as though she was trying to make up her mind whether or not to tell him something else. She’d been in his mind. They shared a formidable connection through that psychic bond, but without her knowing, there was an even much more powerful one. She was his lifemate. They shared the same soul. She didn’t want to trust him because there were too many things about him that scared her. He looked like a predator. Even her cards condemned him as dangerous and as something other than wholly human. He already had some kind of proprietary claim on her she didn’t understand but felt. But that connection was strong, and she’d been alone with her fears.

“My mother told me of a man coming into the shop for a reading just before her death. She had gotten similar warnings from the cards before he came in. She described the same man and the cards’ reactions to him.”

“Cards’ reactions? The same as mine?”

Adalasia shook her head. “No, nothing like that. When we have someone shuffle the cards and fan them out, or we lay them out to read, the cards tell us certain things for that person. At the same time, we learn things about them. The man called himself Mr. Castello. My mother read the cards for him, but she left certain things out just as I did when he came. When she told me she didn’t give him a full reading, she said it was because she was afraid, that the cards warned her he was there to kill her.”

She looked as if she was about to gather up the cards that she had laid out on the table between them, but he stopped her by laying his hand gently over hers. She pulled her hand away and put it on her lap.

“You don’t like what you’re seeing. Do the cards say I’m here to harm you?”

She shook her head.

“Adalasia.” He waited. A clock ticked several seconds off loudly. Finally, she looked up at him. “It would be an impossibility for me to harm you. I can protect you. In fact, I will protect you from anyone wishing to harm you.”

“I’m not looking for a relationship.”

“I’m very pleased.” He sent her a faint grin. “Since I don’t particularly want to have to choose pistols at dawn to fight for you, or something equally as antiquated, we’ll just keep it between the two of us.”

That got an answering smile from her. “Pistols at dawn?”

“I saw the matching antique dueling pistols you have in the case. They’re authentic, aren’t they?”

“Most everything in this shop is authentic.”

“Including the tarot cards. You said they’ve been handed down in your family from mother to daughter for a few generations.”

Adalasia glanced out the window of her shop as she nodded. “That’s correct.”

“Has anyone ever tried to get them from you? Has your family ever been robbed?”

“My mother was murdered in a home invasion.” Her voice roughened, as if she could barely speak.

Sandu wanted to soothe her, but he resisted using his abilities. She needed to be able to tell him everything in her own way without interference, even if it was difficult for her. The more time spent in her company— and in her mind—the more easily he read her character. She was independent. She thought for herself and made her own decisions. She wouldn’t like him suddenly inserting himself into her life and taking over.

“A few things were taken, but not her tarot cards. We have antiques that are worth a great deal of money, such as those pistols, but they were left alone. Cash was taken and two ornate knives. Nothing else. Not even jewelry. The police thought the killers must have been interrupted.”

“You don’t believe that.”

She shook her head. “No, I think it was him. Mr. Castello and his friends. I don’t know what he wants, but it has something to do with the cards.” She looked directly into Sandu’s eyes. “I’m a little worried that it might have something to do with you and this journey we’re supposedly on together. I tried to warn you to stay away.” She made a little face at him. “You’re not a very good listener.”