I drag my gaze away from the cards and back to Ellis’s face. A small smile has caught about her lips, a smile that feels genuine not because it splits across her face or crinkles the corners of her eyes but because of the softness to it—and the way her gaze lingers on mine. I hold out the deck of cards, and she chooses one from the middle, then flips it over to show the Magician. “Whatever it is you’re trying to do,” I interpret, “you will succeed. All the power you need is in your hands.”
