"You know what?" I interrupted. "I think I'm getting the hang of this. You can skip that one. I have a good idea what it means." It might as well have been Dimitri and me on that card, the cup empty and full of heartache.... I really didn't want to hear Rhonda analyze what was already tearing my heart up.
So she went on to the next one: the Queen of Swords, also upside down.
"Cards like this refer to specific people," Rhonda told me. The Queen of Swords looked very imperious, with auburn hair and silver robes. "The Queen of Swords is clever. She thrives on knowledge, can outwit her enemies, and is ambitious."
I sighed. "But upside down..."
"Upside down," said Rhonda, "all of those traits get twisted. She's still smart, still trying to get her way... but she's doing it through insincere ways. There's a lot of hostility and deception here. I'd say you have an enemy."
"Yeah," I said, eyeing the crown. "I think I can guess who. I just called her a sanctimonious bitch."
Rhonda didn't comment and moved on to the next one. It was facing the right way, but I kind of wished it wasn't. It had a whole bunch of swords stuck in the ground and a woman tied and blindfolded to one. Eight of Swords.
"Oh, come on," I exclaimed. "What is it with me and swords? You gave me one this depressing last time." It had shown a woman weeping in front of a wall of swords.
"That was the Nine of Swords," she agreed. "It could always be worse."
"I have a hard time believing that."
She picked up the rest of the deck and scanned through it, finally pulling out one card. The Ten of Swords. "You could have drawn this." It showed a dead guy lying on the ground with a bunch of swords driven through him.
"Point taken," I said. Ambrose chuckled beside me. "What's the nine mean?"
"The nine is being trapped. Unable to get out of a situation. It can also mean slander or accusation. Summoning courage to escape something." I glanced back at the queen, thinking of the things I'd said in the Council room. Those would definitely count as accusations. And being trapped? Well, there was always the possibility of a lifetime of paperwork...
I sighed. "Okay, what's the next one?" It was the best-looking one in the bunch, the Six of Swords. It had a bunch of people in a boat, rowing off over moonlit water.
"A journey," she said.
"I was just on a journey. A few of them." I eyed her suspiciously. "Man, this isn't, like, some kind of a spiritual journey is it?"
Ambrose laughed again. "Rose, I wish you'd get tarot readings every day."
Rhonda ignored him. "If it were in cups, maybe. But swords are tangible. Action. A true, out-and-about journey."
Where on earth would I go? Did it mean I was traveling to the Academy like Tatiana had suggested? Or was it possible that, in spite of all my rule breaking and calling her royal highness names, I might actually get an assignment after all? One away from Court?
"You could be looking for something. It may be a physical journey combined with a spiritual journey," she said, which sounded like a total way to cover her ass. "This last one..." Her eyebrows knitted into a frown at the fifth card. "This is hidden from me."
I peered at it. "The Page of Cups. Seems pretty obvious. It's a page with, um, cups."
"Usually I have a clear vision.... The cards speak to me in how they connect. This one's not clear."
"The only thing that's not clear is whether it's a girl or a boy." The person on the card looked young but had hair and an androgynous face that made the gender impossible to determine. The blue tights and tunic didn't help, though the sunny field in the background seemed promising.
"It can be either," Rhonda said. "It's the lowest in rank of the cards that represent people in each suit: King, Queen, Knight, and then Page. Whoever the page is, it's someone trustworthy and creative. Optimistic. It could mean someone who goes on the journey with you--or maybe the reason for your journey."
Whatever optimism or truth I'd had in the cards pretty much disappeared with that. Given that she'd just said about a hundred things it could be, I didn't really consider it authoritative. Usually, she noticed my skepticism, but her attention was still on the card as she frowned.
"But I just can't tell.... There's a cloud around it. Why? It doesn't make sense."
Something about her confusion sent a chill down my spine. I always told myself this was fake, but if she'd been making it all up... well, wouldn't she have made something up about the Page of Cups? She wasn't putting on a very convincing act if this last card was making her question herself. The thought that maybe there was some mystical force out there blocking her sobered up my cynical attitude.
With a sigh, she looked up at last. "Sorry that's all I can tell you. Did the rest help?"
I scanned the cards. Heartache. An enemy. Accusations. Entrapment. Travel. "Some of it tells me things I already know. The rest leaves me with more questions."
She smiled knowingly. "That's how it usually is."