(Reign of Tarot Book 2)
by Juli D. Revezzo
narrated by Christina Marie Morris (audio version)
-Historical, Gothic, France
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What the cards foretell may be real, after all
1793: Having escaped the Reign of Terror, Emilie Maigny took refuge in England, trying to come to grips with the life and loss she left behind. When her brother, Sinjon, returns, a terrifying evil swoops down upon her. Nightmares plague her now, providing strange clues...but to what?
Scottish-born Linton Morrison spent his entire life in luxury, whiling away the hours in intense study of the tarot and the cards' hidden meanings, but until he met the lovely Emilie Maigny, he would never have guessed how important his study might be - to his life and Emilie's survival when terrible evil strikes.
A Cypher is all Emilie needs, but what is it? Is Linton the key? He may charm her heart - and he may be her only salvation.
Excerpt: from Chapter two
The curricle rushed down a country lane but the driver pulled their horses to a sudden stop. Emilie’s nerves accelerated. Would she ever stop shaking? Her fear made her borrowed wool dress itch even more.
Her aunt clutched her hand. “Courage, ma chère.”
“Tante, what’s happening?”
The carriage driver spoke to someone and Emilie peeked out the window, wondering with whom he conversed. A man approached in dark cape and hat. Handsome, but a stranger, and Emilie wasn’t sure she trusted strangers anymore.
“Tante, who’s he?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
He opened the door and Emilie cowered in the corner. Did she detect a hint of gunpowder in the air?
“Come on now,” the stranger said. She didn’t recognize his accent. “We haven’t got all night.”
“Who…who are you?”
The carriage driver appeared behind him and Emilie’s heart slipped back where it belonged.
“Captain Bartram,” the carriage driver said. “He’s going to take you to safety, Mademoiselle. Monsieur Richard arranged it.”
Wary, she hesitated.
“Do I have to carry you over my shoulder, Miss?” Captain Bartram said. His gaze flitted over her. “I don’t think many would believe you a sack of potatoes, but all right.”
Emilie held out her hand in a halting gesture. “Prove to me who you are.”
His eyes darkened. “Your father and I are well acquainted.”
How horrid could he be if he was one of Père’s colleagues?
“All right,” she said and stepped down, then coaxed her aunt to follow. He hustled them to a waiting cart, and when Tante Collette settled, he helped Emilie up. However, he didn’t make a further move, but stood at the foot of the cart, studying her.
Fear gripped her throat. “Is something wrong, monsieur?”
“I don’t believe,” the man said, “we ever discussed payment.”
“What the devil?” her aunt said. “My husband said you agreed to take us. He never discussed payment, monsieur.”
He smiled at her. “Perhaps so, but I won’t go anywhere, unless—”
“Unless what?”
Tante’s eyes grew wide and she pulled up her skirt, ripped the hem, and offered him a gemstone bracelet she’d earlier sewn inside. “Take it and be damned!”
“No, that won’t do.” The man laughed a little. “I prefer the little miss give me a kiss.”
“What?”
Was he serious?
“Now see here!” Tante raged.
Emilie blinked. Kiss him? He was handsome with strangely beautiful dark eyes, pristinely dressed, and debonair. Surely, a gentleman and yet…
Perhaps if they’d met at a dance back home, and after attending a dance or two together, she might—might— consider it. But here? Now? She didn’t know him!
He shrugged and turned his back. “Suit yourself. Good luck, mes dames.”
If the choices stood between sitting here and facing who knew what horror, and a kiss? Emilie took a deep breath. “Agreed,” she said.
She leaned off the end of the cart and gave him the kiss he asked for, quick and demure, on a cheek that hadn’t seen a razor in at least two days.
“Can we go now?” she asked.
His dark eyes studied hers and something smoldered there she didn’t know how to name. Or maybe, right now, she didn’t want to know its name. A smile dawned across his face.
“That will have to do,” he said. He held up a length of tarp piled on the cart’s floor. “Get under here and try not to squirm. Give or take a stop, we should reach the coast with no trouble.”
Emilie pulled the tarp up, and folded her aunt’s hand in hers. “Don’t worry,” she said. “We’ll be all right.”
“How can you be sure? How can you trust his word?”
Emilie peeked over, watching him take the carriage driver’s place and send him in an opposite direction. “I don’t know, but who else can we trust?”
About the author:
Juli D. Revezzo loves fantasy and Celtic mythology and writing stories with all kinds of fantastical elements. She is the author of the historical romances, House of Dark Envy, Watchmaker's Heart, and Lady of the Tarot, the Antique Magic paranormal series and Celtic Stewards Chronicles series and more. She is also a member of the Independent Author Network and the Magic Appreciation Tour.
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