He was domineering, even as a card, and I understood more than I cared to - understood what perhaps the gods of old - of fate herself, had been telling me all along. Dimitri was no longer a king - he would be an emperor.
The figure of authority - dependability - protectiveness. He was rational - coldy so. But it also spoke of dependability, sometimes indicating fatherhood, and that reading terrified me.
Even as my fingers worked, I didn’t have to look to know what the next card was. My own card stared back at me. Her gown flowing red - a river of blood that hid all the fertility and vitality that she possessed. A crown sat atop her head, a shield in her hand. The staff in her hand could be yielded as both a weapon and something to behold, and the wings at her back spoke of her connection to the source of life itself. The complete counter-part to The Emperor - a pairing - a partnership.
And while one of The Empress’ key characteristics was fertility - motherhood, even, I had never allowed myself to settle on the notion that it might actually apply to me in a personal capacity. Sure, I had mixed my fair share of fertility elixirs for clients, but had not allowed myself to consider that for myself - not when my prospects of partnership had been the likes of Andrew. But with Dimitri’s evolved card sitting next to mine, it was a difficult notion to ignore.
Of course there was always more than one reading - always multiple viewpoints. Dimitri and I could easily be viewed as the father and mother of the Bratva in our own right, and that understanding it didn’t inherently mean that Dimitri and I would have a child of our own.
Still, it was a possibility I couldn’t ignore, and even if it didn’t come to fruition, the facts still lay before me - Dimitri and I were both being thrust into positions of power, fuelled by this thing between us.
I drew my final card, feeling my connection straining, no doubt caused by the shock of the cards before me.
The Chariot.
I shouldn’t have been surprised, and yet I was. Not only did my reading only highlight cards from the major arcana, but they were all upright. I had never had a reading like this before, and doubted anyone within the Club had either. If I had any doubt about the divine providence that guided my hand during my stay here, it was erased with a harshness that stole my breath and made my chest ache.
As I looked down at the card before me, an image of Lauren flashed bright and clear in my mind's eye. For someone who had had a direct hand in Arlo’s death - in challenging Dimitri’s reign - in making her opinions known to me about the Club that I belonged to, she had been frighteningly quiet. It couldn’t last, and that was exactly what the cards highlighted.
Challenges would need to be overcome - challenges that my gut told me was some form of war. I still didn’t fully understand how the Tarot Club was an affront to Lauren and the Hoodoo community. I needed to talk to Charl - had been putting it off for far too long, but it was a conversation I could only have once my parents were safely back in their New York apartment.
I allowed some of the bath water to rush down the drain whilst simultaneously refilling the tub with hot water, not quite ready to leave the comfort of the water, but not content to stay in the cooling water either.
I repeated the process a few more times before Dimitri arrived home and found me in the tub, my cards laid out before me, my hair tied in a bundle on top of my head.
“I think I like coming home to you in my bathtub.”
As with everything that came out of Dimitri’s mouth, it was a statement more than a flirtatious endeavor, and before I could muster up a response - explain that water was my element - had always been my element, Dimitri was out the door once more, seemingly only stopping in to collect something he had forgotten.