Wolf Sirens Night Fall: What Rises Must Fall (Wolf Sirens #3) Read Free

Caroline’s eyes dashed to the
blade.
    Tisane placed
it down near the cards and cast her stare over the girl. “Why did
you come here?” she uttered, frowning back inquisitively.
    “I’ll show
you.” Caroline’s scowl warned Tisane to stay back. She looked about
and picked up a dish from the kitchen bench, and making sure that
she was watching her, she tapped the dish to show its solidity and
then proceeded to snap it between her small hands as though it was
nothing but a loaf of bread. Tisane’s saintly countenance became
more certain. The girl placed the severed dish down in two pieces
on the old table.
    “Put on a
Bandaid,” Tisane nodded and gave a small, encouraging smile. The
girl’s eyes hardened. It was a small cut, but a trickle of red
blood still ran over the luminescent white skin of her palm. She
sat. The wound trickled, landing with a single drop onto the
table.
    “I had to
check. It’s just a nick.” She paused. “You should heal well. Please
forgive me,” Tisane implored. “Caroline wasn’t it? Pull a card.”
Her fingers expertly handled the cards with a finality that
promised a reading, she cut three piles and flicked them together
again. It seemed the wolf wasn’t in Caroline’s veins, but perhaps
the huntress was. Tisane’s eyes remained on the girl, quietly
appraising her as her hand swept to splay the tarot out like a fan
between their waiting fingers, ready for divination.
    “Choose – it’s
what you came for.”
    Caroline
hesitated, then leant forward and lifted her index finger. Her
short painted nail glided above the pattern on the back of the
spread, hovering and then suddenly she touched one, holding her
finger on it. Tisane slid the card back towards herself and looked
at it. She paused a moment.
    “The Ace of
Pentacles.” Tisane gritted her teeth. Lila’s card. The card
Caroline had pulled coincidentally represented Lila to Tisane. Was
it a sign? She gestured with a nod for Caroline to pull another. “I
accept these gifts from Artemis and mother earth,” Tisane
canted.
    The Ace of
Wands. Pulled second in a short reading it represented the present.
“Persephone, power inspired, fear and darkness be retired…pull
again,” Tisane urged smoothly.
    Death. “Renewal
and rebirth is in your future.” Really the card depicted an unhappy
ending, or just taken less literally as movement to another world.
Tisane hid the flicker of concern the image evoked, which was made
much stronger by the spilt blood on the table. “Release my
soul…renew my powers,” she noted. “Don’t fear this card,” she
assured her quickly, snatching it back into the pile and sweeping
up the entire deck.
    There was no
need for a full spread. Tisane piled the cards to the side.
Immediately she uttered something inaudible and reached for the
deck again, delicately shuffling them, concentrating. Separating
the three piles and shuffling them once more, she focused on
channeling.
    “Artemis,
Aphrodite and Persephone. I accept these gifts from mother earth.
Power inspired. Fear and darkness be retired. Release my soul,
renew my powers. Tell me what I see before me. So mote it be,”
Tisane muttered to herself and spread the cards. She immediately
flipped one for herself.
    Strength. The
Queen of Beasts, “Courage and perseverance.” Spiritual strength
would be needed. The cards often represented the entrance of a
person with similar qualities into the life of the one who sought
its answers. Girl of strength has now entered my life. Perhaps the
Demigoddess had sent Lila what she needed. Lila would have more
reason to slow her attack on the Cult, something that Tisane had
desperately wished for. Perhaps Lila was no longer the only
huntress in Shade. Young Caroline would need training.
     

3. Protectress
     
    In the early
hours I strolled into the house from the dark forest, the waning
crescent moon over my shoulder. The familiar cedar smell welcomed
me. Something wasn’t right. Reflexively my hand