Free Phoenix in My Fortune (A Monster Haven Story Book 6) by R.L. Naquin Page A

Fortunes was directly across the street from Andrew’s herb shop. I’d never been inside, but I’d been right outside after she fell through her plate glass window when the Leprechaun Mafia cursed her with bad luck.
    The doctors had done an excellent job, and the scars on her face a year later were only noticeable because I’d seen the original damage close up—close enough that I’d been covered in her blood by the time Riley had pulled me away to make room for the other EMTs.
    She’d come to see me shortly after she was healed enough to be up and around, to thank me for staying with her until help had arrived. Occasionally, we both happened to be visiting Andrew at the same time and had tea together.
    Madame Emilia was a sweet lady. And because I knew her, I also knew the grand gestures and fancy costumes were part of her gimmick to satisfy customers. In real life, she drove a minivan, took her kids to soccer practice every Tuesday and handmade quilts she sold online.
    Her name wasn’t Madame Emilia, either.
    “Hi Sheila,” I said. “New kaftan?”
    She grinned and spun around. “I made it myself. Too much?”
    “Never too much. It’s exquisite.”
    She plopped into an empty chair, the material billowing around her. “I saw you guys come in. Let’s see the ring.”
    I stuck my hand out and let her ooh and aah over my sparkles. “I guess I haven’t seen you in a few months.”
    She turned my hand side to side to catch the light at different angles. “Is it true he proposed on top of Mount Tamalpais?”
    I glanced at Riley to catch him blush. He did that every time he heard me tell people about that night. He was adorable. “No, the midnight picnic was on top of Mount Tam. He convinced a sphinx to fly us up there.”
    She gasped. “A sphinx. You’re joking.”
    Riley took my hand and gave her a polite smile. “It wasn’t difficult. Sphinxes are the taxi drivers of the Hidden world.”
    I knew that wasn’t true, not even a little bit. But I did know that Riley was uncomfortable with the conversation. For such an open guy, he was more private than people knew. But the picnic really had been wonderful. After the sphinx—his name was Ronald—had dropped us in a clearing on top of the mountain, Riley spread a blanket for us to sit under the stars, with another blanket for us to cuddle under. Mount Tam was covered in snow, yet that clearing didn’t have a flake in it.
    Molly had loaned him a miniature picnic basket that looked like it could hold maybe one medium-sized orange. Yet both blankets came out of it, followed by a tall thermos of piping-hot spiced cider, three kinds of really good cheese, baguettes, chocolate truffles, caramel apple tarts. The basket was like my purse. It could handle anything he put into it and still not weigh an ounce more.
    The absence of snow beneath us had been nice, but it didn’t keep it from being winter. We tasted a little of everything from the basket while keeping each other warm under the thick blanket. And when we were done eating, we made each other even warmer between those two blankets on top of a snowy mountain in the middle of winter.
    I felt my cheeks get hot and glanced at Riley. Yeah. He was right. Time to change the subject.
    I gave Sheila a look of disappointment. “So, no message from the spirit world?”
    “No, actually, that part was true. I’ve been watching for you to show up all afternoon. They’re practically screaming in my head.”
    I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “What, seriously?” I’d been teasing. I hadn’t expected a message from beyond, or wherever it was she got her information.
    She nodded and pulled a deck of cards from a hidden fold in her cloak. “Seriously. I have to give you a reading or I won’t get any peace.”
    I didn’t know how to respond to that. “I’m...I’m sorry. Does that happen often?”
    She shuffled the cards with an expert hand. “Occasionally. Tell me when to stop shuffling.” As she shuffled, she