She didn’t want to let me go…and neither did I.
I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I have to go.”
She slowly pulled her hands off me. “Alright…be safe.”
“Always.” My hand cupped her cheek, and I looked into her beautiful face, missing her before I was even gone. My thumb swiped across her bottom lip, and I inhaled a deep breath as I treasured this moment, felt grateful she was mine and not someone else’s. “I’ll miss you.” It was a pathetic thing to say, pussy shit for someone like me. But I said it anyway…and I meant it.
Her eyes lit up, and a smile spread across her lips. “I’ll miss you too.”
It’d been ten years since I’d visited the bazaar. It was a massive place, and Damien and I had been wandering the alleyways and admiring the handmade pots and rugs as we killed time that night before the brothel opened at dusk. I didn’t have a clear idea where that purple tent was located, so I kept walking in the hope I would stumble across it.
I bumped into various characters, gypsies who tried to pick my pockets and prostitutes who wanted a paycheck for the night. There were defanged cobras and magicians swallowing lit swords along the way.
Everyone knew I was lost.
I kept looking, knowing I would find it eventually if it was still here.
I turned to the right and headed down a new alleyway lined with gold pots. That was when I spotted it, a purple tent tucked nearly out of sight. It was a suspicious position for a business because it wasn’t clearly visible. It seemed like it only wanted to be visited by people who already knew it was there.
I opened the flap and stepped inside.
It was exactly as I remembered it. Gold pots were on the ground with turquoise jewels, it smelled like scented oils, and there was a round table with a single chair. A purple tablecloth was over the surface, along with the cards the gypsy had read a decade ago.
This was the place.
But where was the woman?
I took a seat in the chair and waited. I was prepared to sit there all night if I had to. This was a stupid idea with close to nothing odds, but I had to try. Otherwise, I’d lose my mind.
Half an hour later, the flap opened and a woman stepped inside. Adorned with various jewels around her neck and a shawl around her head, she looked like the woman I’d visited ten years ago, but I couldn’t actually remember what she looked like. This might be her…or just someone dressed in the same way.
She halted as she stared at me, her eyes taking their time roaming over every feature of my face. They drifted down and looked over my appearance, from my leather jacket to my black shoes. When her examination was done, she glided to the chair across from me and took a seat. “Only one fortune per person. That’s the rule.”
My eyebrows rose in surprise. “You remember me.”
“I remember your presence. Very tainted…very disturbed.” She grabbed the cards on the table and shuffled them until they were placed to the side. A low burning candle was in the center, the wax starting to drip onto the tablecloth. The musky air smelled like paprika and candles. “But I can only read your future once. Unless I can provide you direction, I’m useless to you.” Her hands came together on the table with resignation.
“I’m not here for a fortune reading. The first one was bad enough.”
Her eyes slowly filled with sympathy, as if she knew exactly what I’d been through. “Knowing the future is both a blessing and a curse. You accept terrible things easier when you know they are coming…but they are also all you ever think about until they happen.”
Definitely. “I need to know if it can be reversed.”
One eyebrow cocked to the ceiling of the tent. “The future has already happened. Now it’s the past. I hope you aren’t dumb enough to think the past can be changed.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then be clear, Hades.”
Goose bumps sprinkled up my arms, and the air suddenly felt thicker than it had a moment ago. There was an energy I couldn’t identify. This woman seemed like more than just a card -reader, a full-on sorceress instead. “How do you know my name?”
“I can read you.”
Even if Damien had said my name ten years ago and she caught it, there was no way she could still remember it. That meant she had to be telling the truth. “I’m married to the woman I love, and just as you said, she won’t love me back. It’s not prejudice or betrayal that causes her indifference. She just…doesn’t.”
She nodded slightly.
“You said I was being punished for the things I’ve done—”