Okay, not quite the reassurance I’d expected as I felt a blush heat my cheeks. “I guess the walls aren’t as thick as I thought.”
Lotus smirked. “Guess not.”
If Alexei felt that way, how could Konstantin possibly come between us? Then again, it wasn’t like I had a stellar track record when it came to relationships. I either got dumped or didn’t care enough to fully commit. It was no wonder I kept second-guessing myself with Alexei. I hadn’t even told the man I loved him and we’d been together for months. Maybe the problem wasn’t him always getting dragged away on Consortium business. Maybe it was me.
“You still going with Buckley and me tonight?” Lotus asked, breaking into my thoughts.
“Sure. It beats sitting at home by myself.” I gestured down to my outfit—a haltered shimmering lime green dress that hit mid-thigh paired with a beaded pink belt slung low on my hips. I wore matching ankle boots, the heels studded with emerald flecks. I knew they were ridiculously expensive, but since Alexei had bought them, I tried not to worry about the cost. If he was determined to keep me in designer shoes, it wasn’t my place to stop him. “Is this okay, or do I need to change into fabric scraps?”
“Ha-ha, so funny. You’re a little too conservative, but it’s not like you’re trying to pick up anyone.”
I ran my fingers though my hair, shaking out the loose waves flowing to the small of my back. My hair would be fine and I could touch fix my makeup on the way. “What do you mean? I thought you and Buckley were good.”
“We are, but sometimes we like to add variety.”
“Variety?” I stared at her, eyes widening. “You mean, there are three of you?”
“Or more,” she said, matter-of-factly. “It’s not like it means anything and it’s fun. We’re not married or have a kid to worry about, so what’s the harm?” Then her look turned speculative. “You’ve never tried it?”
I shook my head. Either Lotus was more adventurous than I thought or I was woefully naïve. I suspected it was probably a mix of both. “It’s not something I was ever interested in.”
“The Russian hasn’t suggested a threesome?” Lotus asked, her tone clearly disbelieving. “I was positive he’d be into that. I bet he’s done things I can’t even imagine.”
“No, he’s never said anything,” I answered faintly.
“Well, you’re still a new couple. Give him time and he’ll probably want more than vanilla sex.”
My mouth opened and closed. Gods, could she be right? Was that why my gut was reacting this way? Was that really what he wanted, but he hadn’t said anything? Was I boring him?
“Wow, you should see your face,” Lotus marveled. “You look like you might throw up. Are things that bad between you?”
“Of course not. Everything is fine,” I choked out.
“Well, what works for one couple doesn’t work for another. He’s too possessive anyway. I don’t think bringing in another person would satisfy him. He’d probably just break up with you,” she said philosophically, brushing it away with a wave of her hand.
What? My stomach took a nosedive into my shoes. “Gods, Lotus! Enough! We’re not breaking up.”
Lotus put her hands over her mouth, covering her laughter. “You are so easy to rile! I had no idea you were this sensitive about him.”
“Look, are we going out or not?” I interrupted before we went down this ridiculous road any farther.
“Of course we’re going! You seriously need to relax, Felicia. I was going to suggest you get laid, but I guess that’s not an option tonight. We’re going to try that new club in the Vibe District, Red Dust. The place is hot right now. They have a Euphoria bar that brews a fugue cocktail so strong, Buckley says it makes his t-mods feel like they’ve upgraded to the next level. It’s only temporary, though. One Gov would be all over it if anyone really scrambled their lids. They’ve also done something to mess with the gravity so you actually float on the dance floor. Wild, huh?”
“I think Alexei said the Consortium owns it. Supposed to be themed, showing old Mars back before the terraforming days.”
Lotus looked intrigued by this nugget of information. “Figures the Russian would have his hands in it. That means you’ll be our ticket to avoiding the line. Maybe they’ll even let us drink for free.”
If there was an angle anywhere, my family could work it. I sighed, not my first of the night. “Let me get the lights and we’ll go.”
I was about to call out to the shop AI and have it power down the reading room lights and sound system when the front door opened. We both turned to see a young woman huddled in the doorway.
She was young enough that it looked like she hadn’t started her Renew treatments yet. Her dark blond hair was pulled into a messy knot at the base of her neck and her clothing was shabby. The fabric was muted colors of gray and brown, with her skirt hitting her legs at an odd angle that was neither fashionable nor bohemian. In comparison, I looked like a tropical bird in my shimmering dress. And Lotus…Well, I didn’t know what to say about her outfit other than at least she’d put some effort into it.
It wasn’t until she was inside that I noticed the sleeping baby on her back. I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl, catching only a tuft of dark hair and closed eyes. It was strapped into one of those synth-leather slings people used when they wanted to keep their hands free. Like everything about the woman, the sling looked shabby. I had the feeling it was all secondhand—the clothes, the sling, everything the woman carried.
The pang I felt seeing the baby took my breath away. Once, I’d been obsessed with having a child because I couldn’t; I’d been blacklisted by One Gov from participating in the Shared Hope program that legally allowed every couple to conceive a child. Once my blacklisted status was revoked, I’d pushed baby thoughts to the back burner. A year ago, I hadn’t been emotionally ready. And now…Well, thanks to my horrible bitch of a mother, the thought of having a child terrified me.
Luck will always work to preserve itself, forever putting itself in a situation to its best advantage.
Those were her exact words and they still haunted me. She’d been obsessed with my luck gene and combining mine and Alexei’s DNA. I’d avoid thinking about all the things I used to want because it was easier than having to deal with the potential reality.
However, seeing this sleeping baby brought everything back. It wasn’t that I hadn’t been around babies lately; it was just part of a growing realization that maybe I wasn’t doing this right. The jittery feeling that had taken up residence in my gut made me wonder if something needed to change. Maybe fear had made me give up too much of what it meant to be me, and I needed to find myself again.
“Excuse me, but we’re closed,” Lotus said, approaching the woman the way you might a wild animal—cautiously, trying to hide all fear. “If you want a reading, you’ll need to come back on Jovisol. Or you can book an appointment over the CN-net.”
The woman looked panicked. “I know it’s late. I just hoped I could have a quick reading. I’m worried about my husband. I think he’s in a bad situation and I need help. This was the only time I could get away. I have money, if that’s what you’re worried about. Please.”
She was clearly desperate and out of options. I couldn’t turn her away.
“It’s no problem. I can do a reading right now,” I said, gesturing to the back room. I shot Lotus a look. She sighed in response, but sat back at the reception desk.
“I’ll start the payment transfer process,” Lotus muttered, tapping her own c-tex bracelet, probably sending Buckley a shim telling him we’d be late. Then she dug around inside the desk, before locating the blue chip wafer we used to transfer gold notes on the CN-net. “I just need your avatar reference data.”
The woman looked about nervously. “Novi Pazidor. Mars. Davis District, Elysium City. R4-6B1.”
Now that Lotus could track the woman’s avatar, she tapped on the wafer, waited a second, then nodded to me. The transfer had begu
n. A hundred gold notes. Back on Earth, I would have done this woman’s reading for free—that’s how desperate she seemed. On Mars, I didn’t have that luxury. Every gold note counted if I didn’t want to rely on a stream of Lila Chandler–like clients. Never mind that Alexei had bankrolled my shop and didn’t care if I repaid him; I didn’t plan on falling behind on my payments.
“Come back to my reading room,” I said, directing her to follow me. “I’ll see what I can do to help. My name’s Felicia, by the way.”
“Oh, I know who you are. I just never thought I’d be here,” she said, gawking as she followed.
“Why’s that?”
“Too fancy. You can just tell by looking this place isn’t for people like me.”
Too fancy? “What do you mean, people like you?”
“Miners. Driller Dive—yeah, I know what people call it and it isn’t in the best part of the city. It’s fine. I barely notice anymore. But like I said, I need help and everybody knows you’re good.”
I swore under my breath. There was a lot of wealth on Mars thanks to the raw materials out in the asteroid belt and the fuel resources of hydrogen and helium that humanity was just beginning to syphon from Jupiter. And if you could harvest them, you could gather diamonds as big as your head bobbing along the Jupiter fuel stream. But it took ingenuity and someone had to get dirty and do the hard work. AI drones couldn’t do everything. Unfortunately, it created a class divide on Mars almost impossible to cross. I thought I’d be able to bridge the gap the way I had on Earth—everyone wanted to know what their future held, after all. But no, I’d been lumped in with the rich bitches. All those women strolling in and out of my shop, trolling for Alexei, probably gave the impression they were the only sort of people I did readings for. Gods, I was probably missing all sorts of opportunities because of those dog-toting man-eaters.
I schooled my expression into a friendly smile. “Just because the shop looks fancy doesn’t mean you’re not welcome. My door’s open to anyone curious about their future.”
I’d set up my reading room similarly to how I’d had it on Earth, with two chairs situated around a low marble claw-foot table for my readings. The overhead lights were muted shades of pastels, casting a gauzy and delicate light throughout the room. I’d always thought it was comfortable, but if Novi thought it was too much, maybe I needed to rethink my approach.
The music volume was set low and sounds of cascading water played in the background. “I can turn the sound off so it won’t disturb your baby.”
“No, it’s okay. She’ll sleep through anything.”
“She’s adorable. How old is she?”
“Six months. First of the family born on Mars,” she said proudly, then her face fell. “I had to bring her with me tonight. I had no one else to look after her. Sometimes being here is harder than I thought it would be. Her daddy works off-planet in one of the asteroid mines. I only see him every couple of months.”
Was it a coincidence Novi had come in while Alexei was off-planet investigating the mine collapses? Maybe, but I didn’t believe in coincidences. Did that mean her husband was involved? Only one way to find out.
I held up my hand to stop Novi from speaking. “Rather than tell me more, how about we let the cards do their work? Please have a seat.”
She nodded uncertainly, taking the chair I led her toward. I watched her remove the sling from her back with jerky movements until she had the baby on her knee. The baby looked startled and opened blue eyes as if checking to see if she should start crying, but resettled quickly. I felt that pang again and it scared me. Was that really what I wanted? A baby?
I removed my c-tex bracelet, setting it on the table. Novi eyed me curiously.
“It’s true you don’t have t-mods? Nothing up here to log on to the CN-net?” She tapped the back of her head when she said it. That was where the One Gov–sanctioned implants went in just before puberty. Then they grew along with your body, radiating around the spine and throughout the brain, wiring everyone directly into the CN-net and to the rest of the tri-system’s population. Everyone except me, my family, and any others who shared a similar tech-phobia. Turns out there weren’t many.
“It’s true. No t-mods. No MH-Factor. Not even chipped. Not much keeping me connected except this”—I tapped my bracelet—“and luck.”
Novi gave a bitter laugh. “I used to believe in luck. Now, not so much.”
I left it at that and shuffled the cards, half watching as she held the sleeping baby stiffly in her arms. She didn’t look very comfortable. Maybe I should offer to hold the baby. Maybe I could—
Absolutely not. Ruthlessly, I squelched all baby-related thoughts and shuffled Granny G’s cards with extra vigor. It was a wonder the oversized deck didn’t go flying from my hands. Even so, their ebony and star-patterned backs flashed by quickly and I saw Novi’s eyes drooping as she watched. It always happened. The cards were mesmerizing, with a display of a spinning void on their backs. Once, a client had been so enthralled by the cards, she’d fallen out of her chair.
Since I had no desire to see Novi pass out or drop her baby, I stopped shuffling and offered her the deck to cut in half. Then I reassembled the halves and laid a traditional Celtic Cross spread, placing ten cards faceup on the table.
“Keep your question in mind,” I advised. “That will help focus the reading.”
“I am,” she said grimly, her eyes narrowing on the cards as I turned them up.
The cards really were lovely. The nano-dip treatment I had done annually kept the centuries-old deck looking as if they’d been painted yesterday. The people looked almost lifelike, and the objects seemed as if you could reach in and pluck them out from the cards themselves.
I took a moment to look over the spread, letting my mind sift through the potential meanings and how they might apply to Novi’s husband. She was clearly upset, so I didn’t want to say anything to make it worse. Still, it was all I could do not to let out a low whistle. Whatever her husband was into, it looked like trouble.
“What does it say?” she asked, looking at the cards.
I pointed to the first card: the Page of Wands. “This is your husband. People respect and follow him. He’s always looking forward to the future, but gets impatient when something’s in his way. And hovering over him is the King of Swords. This could be someone he reports to at work, or has authority over his life. The King is preventing him from getting what he wants, or creating a hostile situation where he feels like he can’t get ahead. There are a lot of pentacles in this reading, meaning your husband is concerned with money or material status.”
“That’s why we came to Mars,” Novi said, eyes tearing. “There was nothing for us on Earth. We thought starting over was the only way to get ahead.”
I pointed to another card: the Four of Pentacles, reversed. “He wants to protect what he has and provide for his family, but there are conflicts with those closest to him. It’s causing delays and he hates the obstacles. He’s been off-planet longer than he intended and he doesn’t want to come home because he doesn’t feel like he’s doing enough to make you happy.”
“But I’d never do anything to make him feel like that!”
“Maybe you haven’t, but that’s what he believes,” I said gently. I tapped another card. “The Four of Cups means he’s dissatisfied when he shouldn’t be. Everything is good in his life, but he can’t see that. He’s lived so long with this idea of needing more, he’s missing out on the good things coming his way. It’s making him suspicious, and putting him in situations where he thinks his friends are against him.” I pointed to the eighth card: Justice. “He believes he’s right, and whatever actions he’s taking are justified. But your final card here is the Tower. He’s going to lose everything if he continues on this path. If it’s wealth he craves, he’ll realize it isn’t the important thing he once thought. His whole view of the world will change, but the upheaval may be too much for him.”
I looked up to see a pale
, terrified expression on Novi’s face. She held her baby so tightly, she started to squirm in her mother’s arms. I reached out and touched Novi’s hand.
“This is the future,” I said gently. “If you tell him you’re worried, you can change this. I’ve been doing this a long time and I know this outcome doesn’t have to happen if you work at it.”
“Really?” she asked, sniffing and swiping at tears.
I handed her a disposable wipe from a drawer in my reading table. I always kept a supply on hand for moments like this. In my experience, when people felt you were telling them something personal or you seemed to understand their problems in a way no one else could, they cried like babies. I didn’t mind. I understood how cathartic the whole card reading experience could be.
“If he loves you, he’ll listen. You say he works in the mines, so maybe the next time he’s on leave, bring him here. I’ll do a reading and see what can be done to get this situation resolved.”
“Yes,” she said, drying her tears quickly. It was like her own outburst surprised her, making her angry because it was so unexpected. “He says there’s been a lot of upheaval recently. Things aren’t like they used to be. I don’t know…I’ll tell him what you said.”
“I always send my clients a copy of the reading transcript they can upload to their memory blocks. You can send it to him, if you want. That might help,” I suggested gently.
“Yes, I’ll do that. Thank you, Felicia. I’m so glad I came to talk to you. Bless you.”
I slipped my c-tex bracelet back on and got up. Novi followed suit. Her gushing praise was a little over the top, but it felt nice to help someone who needed it instead of creating a star chart for someone’s dog, or predicting when and why such-and-such a man didn’t ask so-and-so’s daughter to a party.
“I’m happy to help,” I said as I walked Novi to the front of the store.
Lotus was already there with the door open as if she couldn’t wait to usher Novi outside. I arched an eyebrow when Novi wasn’t looking. Lotus merely gave me a half shrug. Obviously, someone was in a rush to see her boyfriend.
The Chaos of Luck Page 3
