The Seer shot him a look of approval as she held the burning, sparkling stick to Lucky’s hair.His breath caught when nothing happened.He looked into the Seer’s eyes and her lips pursed.
“Omha asks nothing more of you but the loyalty you already show.”
Lucky hissed as a burning ember dropped to his hand.
Frowning, the Seer carefully set the stick into its holder.Blowing on the spark of light that had seared him, she hummed and tilted his hand.“Omha honours you instead.”Lifting her free hand, she tapped the sigil that had been sparked.“This means ‘the unclaimed and unbonded’.A symbol that is part of…what I see is a prayer for Omha’s guidance.I imagine you would have added the final line when you were bonded and claimed?”
Lucky eyed the light burn on his hand that couldn’t mean what it seemed.Except, the way the Seer looked at him said it was true.Omha had refused his hair because its existence was a sign of loyalty and belief in Her.To mark him this way…
The Seer covered his hand with hers.“May Omha bless you and your children.”She dropped his hand to push the money toward him in a clear sign the reading was over.
Lucky’s hands shook as he lifted the money.With a nod of approval from Ford, he placed the money into the donation jar at the side.“For supplies and your continued health.”
The Seer beamed brightly and dipped her head.“I shall accept the gift.”
He couldn’t have done anything else.What she’d given Lucky was more than a reading, it was a blessing, a gift and reassurance that he was right to put his faith in Omha.Laying one hand over the other to hide his new mark, a gift from Omha that made his eyes well with hope, Lucky stood and stepped away from the table.
“Come on, Lucky.”
When Lucky accepted Chase’s hand, he turned away from the table.He followed for three steps and stopped when he discovered Ford wasn’t with them, but was still hovering by the Seer’s table.“Chase.”He curled his hand around Chase’s arm to stop him and looked back at Ford, talking to the Seer, frowning over a pouch she placed into his hand.This was the pouch she’d told Lucky was a gift, but hadn’t given to him.Now he knew why.
When Ford walked over to meet them, Chase nodded to where he was turning the pouch over between his fingers.“What was that about?”
Ford weighed the pouch in his hand.“I asked the old witch why she didn’t charge for the reading.I left enough for a reading and prayers.”He speared Lucky with his sharp gaze and tossed him the pouch, which he almost fumbled.“Except that was no reading.”Ford didn’t give him time to explain, if he could even find the words.“She gave me that to clear a bittersweet memory.Witchy shit, I thought, but your face says otherwise.”
Lucky pointed to a circular bench around a nearby tree, needing to sit.It wasn’t even that he didn’t want to explain, but finding the words was impossible, because the Seer had tapped into his greatest fears and hopes, stripping his emotions bare, leaving him feeling raw and drained.
Ford led the way to the tree and let Lucky sit before crouching in front of him, maintaining eye contact.
Lucky tapped the pouch still in his hand.“This is a dream pouch marked with the symbol of Omha.She was honouring your service to omegas.”He removed the ORT shield hidden beneath Ford’s T-shirt and looped the string of the pouch through the ring of his ID shield, where his lanyard would clip while at work.“Wear this always.For me?Omha will protect you, even from things you don’t realise are a danger.”
Ford wrapped his hand around the small pouch hidden behind his ID shield then tucked it under his T-shirt, trusting Lucky’s guidance.“For you,” he agreed, though he sounded reluctant.“She said something cryptic.I think she gave me a cold reading.”
“What did she say?”
“There’s something I’ve been worrying about and it will be resolved soon.Whatever the thing is, she said ‘there were only three’ and ‘it’s all over now’.She told me to stop worrying and focus on resting.”
Lucky nibbled his bottom lip, not sure what her reading was about but sure that she was right and it would prove itself true in time.Maybe not for a day or two, maybe not for weeks.That was the problem with Seer readings, they didn’t have a time limit.
“Explain why she burned you.”
The first tear fell, but Lucky couldn’t hide his smile.“She refused your money because she considers her reading for me as a service to Omha.It would have been disrespectful for her to take money,” she explained, though only an omega would understand the bond between a true believer and Omha.“I asked if she would let me make an offering instead.”
“By burning your hair?”Chase asked in disbelief.
“My hair is like my markings, a sign of my loyalty to Omha.I was affirming my loyalty and belief in Her.”Lucky gathered his long hair into a messy bun.“She refused, which is a great honour.It means I honour Her enough without sacrificing something She believes important to my faith.The spark was Her sign that She wouldn’t take my hair, but She would repay my loyalty in another way.”Lucky rubbed his thumb across the back of his left hand, where the burn mark looked like a natural part of his markings.
Ford gently lifted Lucky’s hand.“She mentioned this was the symbol for ‘the unclaimed and unbonded’ and a final mark would be placed when you were bonded?”
Turning his hand to hold onto Ford’s, he reached his other hand to Chase.“Omha added the final mark Herself,” he revealed, another tear falling at the immense gift that he wasn’t sure he deserved.
Chase gripped his hand.“Omha marked you as being bonded and mated?”
“It’s a promise that Iwillbe bonded and mated.”
Ford’s thumb brushed his markings.“It’s red from being burnt into the skin, but there are two lines.”
He closed his eyes, releasing them to put his hands over his mouth as the tears overwhelmed him.Two lines because he was destined for two mates, to bond and mate with two alphas.This was Her way of affirming his belief, promising that no one would stop them from being together, because Omha’s will superseded all law.
