Estelle waited by the door, a quiet shadow.
Lady Rina set a final card into position. She frowned at the pattern laid out on her table. She studied it for a long moment, then swept the cards into a pile with a frustrated sigh. "What is it, Estelle?"
"A visitor."
"I am not receiving visitors this afternoon." She shuffled the thick cards.
"He is most insistent."
Lady Rina paused, her glance shifting to her companion. "If it is Leon, tell him he runs my businesses his way no matter what instructions I give."
"I believe he is Patrol."
Lady Rina set the cards in the center of the table. "Patrol? They are not part of this." She tapped one elegant finger on the deck, then turned the top card. A smiling lord on a white horse mocked her. "The knight errant. Interesting. You may show him in, Estelle."
Estelle left the room, silent as a ghost.
Lady Rina fingered the single card, her thumb rubbing over the knight's mocking smile and sly eyes. Circles within circles, and each reading more disturbing than the last. She would have gone herself, if she could. Larella's Gift might not be sufficient for the trouble she faced. She sniffed as she stuffed the knight errant back into the deck. Jasyn had been given help. It would be up to her and Dace to make use of it.
"Please, come in." She didn't need to look to know her visitor had arrived. He moved quietly, but his cologne gave him away. She spread the deck of cards across the table, faces hidden.
"Lady Rina, it is a pleasure to meet you. I have heard a lot about you." He seated himself across from her.
She took her time studying the man in the rumpled Patrol uniform with Ensign's bars on his collar. His hair was white, his eyes opaque silver, and his aura a most interesting shade of blue. Lady Rina allowed herself a small smile as she dropped her attention to her cards. Her fingers smoothed the worn backs. "You are no Ensign of the Patrol."
He cocked his head. "And you are not a woman to be underestimated. I need your help."
"Why should I give it to you?" She turned up the first card. The Jester? Most interesting.
The man leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. He rested his finger on the Jester. "I bring no deceit, not for you."
"You are a purveyor of deceit, lies, and trickery. Secrets are your trade." She rested her hands on the deck waiting for the shiver of power to tell her which card came next. It would help if she knew which questions she needed answered.
The man sighed. "Were. I may not have a career to return to. Do you mind harboring a fugitive for a while? You can always claim I threatened you."
"Are you?"
"Threatening you? Never." He picked up the Jester angling it to the light from the shaded lamp beside her. "Dace is scared of your cards. I think I understand why." He set it back on the table.
A tingle ran through her fingers at the name. She plucked the card from the deck and turned it face up. Death's skeletal face leered from beneath a black hood. "You bring her great danger."
"Not by choice, not this time. I need her help and I don't know how else to reach her." He set a small wooden box on the table between them, on top of the Jester and Death. "Will you make sure she gets these?"
Lady Rina touched the clasp. "May I?"
He nodded.
She lifted the lid. She ignored the data cube and the bundle of credit chips. A tiny necklace of gold trapped a fluttering jeweled pendant shaped like a butterfly. She lifted it from the box, letting the delicate creature dance on her breath. The wings were the color of dried blood. Rina sucked in a breath, then dropped it into the box and slammed the lid.
"It reeks of power."
"You felt that? Interesting."
She backed away from her cards and the box. "What are you?"
"What, not who? I'm Grant Lowell."
She reached for his hand. He allowed her to turn it palm up. She cradled it in hers. He had strong hands, small for a man. She ran her fingers over the lines on his palm. "You have power. Different but the same."
He smiled. "Some day we will have to spend time discussing it. But not today. I'm only one jump ahead of my arrest warrant." He pulled his hand free.
"You bring trouble to my house?"
"Not willingly. Please, just give this to Dace. She'll know what to do with it."
Rina studied his face as he stood. "She has enough trouble without your burden."
Lowell rubbed a hand over his chin. Every movement spoke of weariness. "I'd leave her out of it entirely, if I could. But I can't."
Lady Rina tapped her cards. "Choose three."
He studied her face before dropping his gaze to the cards still spread across the table. The Jester and Death watched. Lowell pulled three cards quickly, flipping them face up on top of Death.
"Hooded Man, Sword, and the Eye." She shivered. "Be very careful."
"One last card for you," Lowell said. He slid a single card from the deck, fingering the worn edges before turning it face up. A wreath of white trumpet flowers bloomed in a tangle of deep green leaves.
Rina's face paled. She slapped the cards face down and gathered them together.
"What?" Lowell asked. "What did you see?"
"My time is short. And so is yours. Please, go. Estelle will see you to the door."
He rested his hand on top of hers, squeezing lightly. "Thank you. If you ever need my help—"
"I will not need your help, Grant Lowell." She folded her hands into her lap.
He crossed to the door, hesitating as if he would say something more, but he remained silent as he followed Estelle from the parlor.
Lady Rina leaned back from her cards. She was afraid of them, for the first time since she had sensed their power when she was barely seven. Her hand shook as she reached for the deck. One last reading. For Dace. And herself.
She laid the cards in overlapping circles. She turned them face up, one by one. Each card added to the growing sense of danger gnawing at her belly. This was more than Gypsy politics. This was more than crime syndicates. Some other power moved in opposition, a power she'd never tasted before.
"Estelle?" She waited until her companion appeared, silent as always, in the doorway. "Have Leon send a summons to the Phoenix Rising. I need—" Her tongue twisted, unable to form the words. A spike of pain flared in her head. Her vision blurred.
"Lady?" Estelle hurried across the carpet.
Rina slumped from her chair to the floor. She gagged on the words that wouldn't come.
Estelle cradled her head as she made the call to Leon. "Send help. Please. She's having another stroke."
The room faded from her consciousness leaving only pain behind.