130 iv. Cards

She hugged him as he pulled her close to himself. They continued to walk until she heard a sound from her stomach.

“Hungry, my queen?” he asked her.

She nodded silently, it will be impossible to lie at this point since her stomach has already decided on embarrassing her.

“So cute, aren’t you my love? Why are you so shy in front of your future husband? You can do anything in front of me, including and not limited to getting hungry,” he teased her.

“That was so unladylike, how am I not to be embarrassed?” she pouted. “I haven’t even agreed to wed you yet, yet you shamelessly refer to yourself as my husband. Do you know how unfair that is?”

“In the end, you will have no choice but to love me. Do I need to make sure you will have to beg for our wedding day when that time comes?” he laughed at her misery as her frown deepened.

“I hate that over confidence of yours,” she said that words but found her tone to be rather sweet and playful. Why is everything about her just seemingly out of her own control?

This man is driving her crazy every minute of every day since she met her. No considering her own obsession with him, it will be safe to say she has been crazy for him way back before even their eyes have met.

He chuckled and hugged her tight, stopping by a food stall that had caught her attention earlier. She wondered how he always can easily tell what she wanted.

.....

Has he been observing her or was that just a product of being together? She couldn’t care less of course. But there is something not so usual about that.

She felt like they were unlike so many couples. He knew her in ways even she didn’t know about herself. Despite their odd circumstance of him having kidnapped her, she can almost believe in a rather deep and passionate romance.

“Open your mouth,” he said, holding a stick stuffed with kikiam and fishballs dripped in oyster sauce.

She opened her mouth wide and greedily ate. Oh, it was heavens. She hasn’t had one of those in a while.

She didn’t even know this country have them. Would it be possible he had made sure this street have her favorite foods?

She shook her head, what was she thinking? She will be crazy if she thinks that. Wasn’t she so sure that this crude businessman has just decided on playing with her?

She ate a bite of the kikiam once again, smiling, “You should try it too,” she urged him.

“Try you say,” he stopped feeding her and watched as her lips moved.

“How about you feed me too,” he smiled as an idea struck him.

“How so? You are holding the stick, you know. Should we get back and get some more?” she blushed, surely he couldn’t be thinking that.

“Unnecessary,” he assured her, making her open her mouth for another bite.

With the kikiam on her lips, he tilted her chin and kissed her. She was so unprepared that she ended up biting his lip.

He laughed and licked his lips, eating the kikiam he was able to swipe from her mouth. He ruffled her hair and looked at her tenderly.

“I’m sorry,” she took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood off his lips again.

“It is fine, I forgot how you are not used to it yet. That manner of feeding your knight, maybe you should do it more often,” he teased her.

She blushed, “You are hopeless. Let’s go before I caused you more injury,” she tugged on his arm.

He followed her as she walked and admired every shop they stopped by. Her eyes were big as saucers, so full of life. Just watching her like this is already enough for him.

He insisted they go inside but she shook her head. Once they are inside the shop she was quite sure he would insist on buying her things. And she didn’t want to feel more indebted to her captor.

What if her normal brain kicks in once an opportunity presents itself? Then having taken so many things from him would complicate things. If she ever decides to run away.

They continued to walk, one shop from the next. Stopping to admire the display windows and to take pictures.

In one shop, however, her feet seemed glued in front. It was like a medieval shop. She looked at him and tugged on his arm.

“Can we enter?” she asked him, her voice shaking a bit.

“Of course,” he smiled, as if liking her choice of shop or simply amused at her reaction.

When they entered the shop she felt her heart beat even faster. It was a potions shop, or at least what the vendor would like to pass on to the customers.

She hardly believes potions and magics could be real. There is no reason to believe in them especially since they are in a modern world.

She felt his hand on her shoulder tighten, and that was the time she realized her body was shaking. She looked up at him, questions swimming in her eyes.

“It will be fine, sweetheart. I am here beside you. But if you are uncomfortable, then we can leave at any time,” he assured her, holding her steady in his arms.

“Welcome, my grace,” an old lady said in a raspy voice, greeting them before she can respond.

She looked at the woman with a crane in her hand, she had a rather pleasant face. Wrinkles didn’t take away from her beauty but rather made her think of the phrase to get older with grace.

She smiled emphatically at the woman as she shooed her in even deeper into the store. “I have been waiting for a long time for you, my child.”

She felt her nerves jump as she looked up again at Dominus. He squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“She tells that to all other guests,” he whispered.

The old woman frowned as if what he just said displeased her. “Do I indeed, sir knight?”

Dominus clenched his jaw and looked sharply at the old woman. The old woman didn’t insist further on the topic but made them sit on chairs surrounding a circular table with a set of large cards at the center.

“Do you wish to know your destiny?” the old lady asked her.

“How so?” she asked the old lady as she squeezed on Dominus’s hand once again.

“Tarot cards. The gods of old let me see the future through them,” the old lady said with conviction, it made Mary feel a sudden rush of cold in her bones.

“Do you wish to know your destiny, my child?” the old lady asked once again.

She looked at Dominus first whose expression made her rather want to just shut up, but her curiosity took the better of her, and replied, “Yes, I wish to know what the future holds for me.”

“A brave queen, indeed you are, my child. Neither there nor here will you change that admirable quality of yours,” the old lady shuffled the deck of cards and spread it on the table.

“Pick one card, my brave young lady,” the old lady announced, urging Mary to pick one from the deck.

“Ten of Swords,” the old lady announced. The lady looked even more gloomy, as she stared at the card that Mary has picked.

Dominus squeezed her hand. He had no knowledge about the dark arts nor about witchery and fortune telling but the facial expression of the old lady before him made him quite sure it wasn’t good news.

“What is it?” Dominus’s voice boomed across the room, making even the old lady tremble.

“An unwelcomed surprise in the future has been foretold,” the old lady said, followed by a steely silence that gripped the lovers’ hearts.

“What the hell does that mean?” Dominus’s expression worsened, his eyes were pinned on the old lady.

“Dominus,” Mary called his attention when she felt him tighten his hold on her.

“We better go,” Mary said apologetically, leaving some money on the table as she tugged on his arm.

“Will you not want to hear the rest of what is in store of your future?” the old lady tried to stop them, a nagging feeling of doom was on her chest.

“Please, we will rather not,” Mary insisted, noting how Dominus had gone silent.

Scared of the violence that might ensue if the fortune-telling continued, she pushed Dominus out of the store and dragged him faster across the sidewalk.

“Dominus,” she called his attention again when he has gone silent.

“It is not true. Do not worry about it. Even I do not believe in fortunes,” Mary insisted.

Dominus still did not talk, his mind was still on what transpired a little while earlier. Hearing the old lady say it revived fear in his heart.

What does it mean? What could it mean? He was quite convinced the gods has been against him from the start.

Curses and black magic are tools of evil and willing himself to be subjected to a blood curse meant he has just declared a war on the gods themselves.

It could be part of the reason why their reincarnations have always resulted in hardships and tragedy. Every reincarnation became even more worse than the first, in terms of dealing with the cards fate deal them with.

He stopped and held her by her shoulders. Pressing a tender kiss on her cheek, he mumbled his apologies, “My queen, please forgive me.”

historical

She frowned and placed her hand on his cheek, “What are you apologizing for, Dom?”

He tried to smile, feeling her touch on his cheek, “Nothing, nothing at all.”