In Sickness, Health, and Full moons

Chapter Five [Tanner]

Evanora pulled so many cards, Tanner wasn't even sure it was a proper spread. The Lovers lingered in his hands. He couldn't seem to put it down.

"Justice, reversed." Evanora tapped on the card. Justice held scales in one hand and a sword in another. "I thought this was you, mister lawyer man, reversed for the stress, but no. No, you have not been honest, and that"- she tapped on the card next to it -"has brought about Death."

Tanner's breath caught.

"Now before you go panicking all over my house, Death does not always mean physical death, you see? It means an end."

Tanner clenched his jaw and whispered a single word. "No..."

"It is okay, do not panic." Evanora flapped her hand at him. "The card is not reversed, señor Kelly, and Death tells me of an ending, that is true, but also tells me of new beginnings. You see, you hold The Lovers. You will not let it go, even though I asked for it back. That is no coincidence."

His grip only tightened on the card and Evanora only smiled back.

"You are not done with your lover. Death tells me that your dishonesty has caused an end, but you holding on so tight to her, to the woman you love"- Evanora tapped on The High Priestess -"Death tells me you have a chance at a new beginning with her also, if you listen to your intuition. What does your intuition tell you to do?"

"I don't know!" He shrugged, an over exaggerated roll of his shoulders, and frowned at the cards. "You said they'd tell me what I need."

"And they tell me you need to listen to your intuition, tonto, do not question me."

"My intuition almost got my wife killed, Evanora." Carefully, Tanner spun The Lovers between his fingers. "With my own hands." He remembered the feeling of his claws digging into her back, the pressure then ease of her skin breaking to make room for him. Bile rose in his throat and he swallowed hard to keep it down.

"No, that was not your intuition. That was your fear. Fear is a dirty thing that plays tricks on minds." She tapped the side of her head before lunging forward and jabbing a finger into his abdomen, where Azrael's knee had left a bruise. It was not in the center. Tanner realized, she must have aimed for it. "What does your gut say?"

Tanner gritted his teeth and breathed against the pain thrumming under her fingertip. All he wanted was to apologize, to make things right even if that meant putting Azrael's mind at ease and never seeing her again. He felt it in his chest, in his shoulders, on his tongue. Every bit of him felt pulled to Azrael, tugged and torn in every direction to find her. "I need to tell her I'm sorry, I need her to know that I love her." It was the easiest answer in the world. So simple, spoken so softly, but it was his loudest truth.

Evanora grinned and pulled her finger away. "That is your intuition, cantante de lúa. Listen to it."

Other cards told him that he could not pour from an empty cup, that he must take care of himself to take care of others. Some told him to take it slow, and others said not to wait too long. He took that to mean no grand gestures, but a gesture was needed nonetheless. Before he stood, Evanora slapped the eight of swords on the floor between them. The illustration made Tanner's gut twist. A woman, bound and blindfolded, surrounded by swords stuck into the ground.

"Somewhere with eight. Your wife, she is restricted, isolated. Eight. Does the number have meaning to you?"

"Eight years." Tanner's legs went numb. Tears sprung to his eyes. "We've been together eight years, married for four." Had she felt trapped with him? Had he isolated her?