Eight of Diamonds

Keywords - Upright: relief that's real, a cost still sleeping, tomorrow's tab  ·  Inverted: the cure was the bait, a need that rules you, a supplier who owns you

Upright

The remedy works, and the relief is real - you got exactly what you needed, and tonight that is the whole story. The price folded into it is real too, but it is still sleeping: a seed, a hook set for later, not yet a hand at your throat.

Inverted

The relief was the bait. The cure holds, but the needing is the situation now - the ailment you brought was never the real trouble; the supply is, and a hand you did not choose rests on the tap. What you fixed stopped mattering the moment the price did.

In Play

Upright. The draught relieves Cass's agony; she sleeps deeply for the first time in weeks. The encroaching aches of the morning are, for now, just a warning for later...

Inverted. The draught relieves Cass's agony - the apothecary who gave the first draught for free now names his price with a sinister smile, certain she cannot say no.