Free Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale by Tracy Falbe Page B

Emerald surmised and sat
up.
    Too confused to be properly jealous, Thal
said, “She just met him. Is this how people mate?”
    “My innocent babe,” Emerald purred.
“Sometimes yes it’s done this way. But Medina’s met him before. He
visited all through the winter. It’s something young women do
sometimes. A girl that age is going to be lying with somebody, so
she might as well help her people. Don’t worry about her. She knows
what she’s doing. Andreli taught her well and we’ll always take
care of her.”
    Andreli? Thal thought and wondered how much
he controlled everyone.
    Hoping to soothe him, Emerald said, “She
might fancy you.”
    “Why would she want me? I don’t have
anything,” Thal said. He was increasingly aware that he was not an
alpha among men.
    “You have plenty to offer a woman I suspect,”
Emerald said and patted his thigh.
    “Were you like Medina when you were young?”
Thal asked, trying to gauge how normal it was.
    “Maybe I still am,” Emerald proposed.
Flustered, he looked away, uncertain if he was repulsed or
interested.
    Emerald hauled herself to her feet with a
groan and rummaged through a chest under her little canopy. “Let me
help you out. A young man wants to know when he’ll find love. I
know this.”
    Into the firelight she raised a big deck of
cards. “I can show you another type of cards. Let’s read your
future with the tarot,” she said.
     
     

Chapter 7. Wheel of
Fortune
    “Is love your word for mating?” Thal asked as
she lit an oil lamp.
    “Love’s more than mating. It’s romance as the
poets say. It’s caring. It’s devotion,” Emerald explained while
gently shuffling the cards. She set the deck between them on the
rug.
    “Cut the deck,” she commanded.
    “Aren’t you going to show me the cards and
how to play them?” Thal asked.
    “This isn’t like primero,” she said and
wagged a finger over the deck.
    Intrigued, he cut the deck and she gathered
the cards into a stack by her knee. She directed him to draw one
off the top and turn it over.
    The card had a picture of a craftsman carving
a pentagram on a door. More pentagrams in circles ran down the
edges.
    “The eight of pentacles,” Emerald said. “You
can profit from your skills.”
    “The card tells you that?” Thal said
skeptically.
    “I know that because YOU turned over this
card,” she said a little reproachfully. Thal folded his arms and
waited. She turned over the second card and placed it perpendicular
to the first card. The card had swords on it along with a picture
of a sleeping woman with shadowy swirls around her head.
    Emerald took her time before saying anything
until finally she asked, “Do you have bad dreams?”
    He nodded but was more concerned by his
visions when he was awake. Deciding to trust Emerald because he
needed someone to talk to, he shared a few details about his waking
vision earlier that day.
    She was startled although she tried to hide
it. Emerald was accustomed to people sharing uncomfortable and even
unsavory personal details, but Thal’s experience was disturbingly
extraordinary.
    “Draw another card,” she said.
    With her guidance he flipped a card and set
it below the sword card. This picture showed a human skeleton in
black clothes flanked by bare trees.
    “The card of death,” Emerald said with well
practiced drama.
    “I’m to die soon?” he asked.
    “We all die, Thal, but this does not mean
your doom is nigh. But something in your life has died. You’re
shifting to a new phase. You may have a new purpose,” she
explained.
    Her interpretation dispelled some of his
skepticism. He stared at the death card and suspected that he did
have a new purpose in life.
    Emerald studied him. His silence was
informative. She drew another card and placed it perpendicular to
the death card. Her light gasp yanked Thal from his thoughts.
    “This is a powerful combination,” she
murmured.
    The card showed a beautiful woman with wavy
golden hair. White