Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Listening to him say this, my heart was breaking.
And not for Atlas Talyn.
For his son.
He kept at me. “Your books could soar, and it is highly unlikely you’ll ever be as wealthy as me. But don’t you ever, ever, darling, mistake what you offer to me. Am I understood?”
Oh man.
I was about to start crying.
So my, “You’re understood,” was croaky.
“Quickly, I’ve adjusted my RSVP to Rally and Court’s wedding to give your name as my plus one. Court texted to say she’s delighted you’re coming. Is that all right?”
“Perfect,” I pushed out.
“All right, sweetheart.” Now he was purring. “I’ll text my goodnight.”
As he did last night, the perfect boyfriend, never allowing me to think I wasn’t on his mind.
“I will too.”
“Have a good day, Vivi.”
“You too, baby.”
We hung up.
I managed (barely) not to burst into happy tears.
And by damn, it was true.
Somehow absence did make the heart grow fonder.
On this thought, Noelle and I started and stopped, started and stopped, I kicked her up to a trot, then to a canter, leaning into her, and we stopped again.
Eventually, Scotty came out on Troilus.
And we headed to the field.
CHAPTER 20
THE CLAIRVOYANT
I was a little bummed that Ravenna’s fortune-telling lair wasn’t a cottage covered in vines, surrounded by flowers, and so cute it would attract unsuspecting children so she could cook them and eat them.
It also wasn’t a creepy, rundown manor house with dead rose bushes outside and cobwebs everywhere.
It was a flat above a Boots in the town centre.
It was Wednesday afternoon, after we’d gone to a cute bistro in the village for a lovely lunch.
No, my book wasn’t progressing very rapidly.
Yes, I was ready to start writing.
However, I could get so stuck into a book when I was writing, I forgot the time, sometimes forgot to eat (or shower), and usually railed at anything that would take me away from it.
So I thought it best to go over notes, augment the outline to help me write more efficiently when I got down to it, and hit the book on Monday when Battle went back to London.
Tempie parked her sparkling black Defender (totally the vehicle of the landed aristocrat with style) in the town centre car park, and as we were walking to a door beside the pharmacy, Prue ordered her older sister, “Be nice when you get there.”
“I’m always nice,” Tempie replied.
Chastity made a dissenting peep, and it wasn’t a whisper-peep.
“All right, so I don’t suffer fools,” Tempie conceded. “It’s a good trait.”
“Do as your name suggests with that trait with Ravenna. She’s sensitive to emotion and undercurrents and—” Prue didn’t quite finish.
Because Chastity, coasting effervescently ahead of us, broke in to tease, “Ley lines?”
Prue gave Chassie a startled hopeful look, then moved it to Tempie, who was giving her youngest sister a contemplative hopeful look. She caught Prue’s gaze then they both looked to me.
I shrugged.
I also smiled.
They were getting it.
Yippee!
Prue put in a code at the door, it buzzed, and we went in and up the stairs.
She knocked on the door.
Bummer part two, Ravenna didn’t look like Angelica Huston or that chick that played Rowena in Supernatural, or Melisandre in Game of Thrones.
She was about an inch taller than Prue, had bigger breasts than Chassie, bleach-blonde hair, a heavy hand with makeup, and I suspected she was around my age.
“Come in, come in,” she said distractedly. “I’ll start the tea.”
We walked into bummer numero three.
There was no velvet, tassels, fringed scarves thrown over lamps, circular tables with long tablecloths and crystal balls in the center, or pentagrams carved into the floor.
Instead, it was an open-plan kitchen and lounge with slouchy, comfortable-looking furniture and a hint of a mess (nothing gross, only discarded shoes on the floor, cast aside cardies over the arms of chairs, and copious tea mugs scattered about).
“I’m not certain the woman understands how to set a scene,” Tempie leaned into me to say under her breath.
I gave her big, shut-up-and-stop-trying-to-make-me-laugh eyes.
I heard the undeniable sound of the button on an electric kettle being pressed as Prue said, “Ravenna, I’m really excited to introduce you to my sisters, Temperance and Chastity, and my dear friend, Vivienne.”
Ravenna turned, looked at Tempie, Chassie, and when she looked at me, her head jerked, her body lurched, and she was falling.
“Goodness! Ravenna!” Prue cried, rushing forward to latch on to her to keep her on her feet.
“Please,” Tempie whispered skeptically beside me.
Ravenna kept her eyes glued to me as she steadied herself with Prue’s help.
“Do you need some water?” Prue asked. “Here, let’s get you down and I’ll see to the tea.”
She walked her to the sofa and Ravenna sat in it, consistently, and freakily, staring at me.
“I’ll be on tea,” Chastity chirped.
I hoped her tea was better than the coffee whoever brewed for Battle and me.
“I’m fine,” Ravenna decreed, finally tearing her attention from me. “It’s just, the veil has been unpredictable now for weeks. I don’t understand it. I’ve never felt anything like it. And sometimes, it makes me dizzy.”