It made more sense when Alec explained it like that, and Adam thought it over for a few minutes. A history book from outside of time, only revealing its secrets at the rate that its reader experienced history. That made it seem less like censorship and more like a law of reality. Time moving in one direction, not because it must, but because it was how human brains processed and experienced it.

He turned another card. This one was the Knight of Pentacles, and Adam glanced up at Alec to assess. He found Alec looking back at him, both of them caught in the middle of a stolen glance. Returning his eyes to his cards, Adam turned over a couple more, still trying to find some insight on what he was supposed to do here, as the priestess. Four of wands; harmony, union, partnership, romantic engagement. The Magician.

The cards clearly didn't understand that Alec didn't like him. Adam flushed to the tips of his ears, turned the cards over, and shoved the whole deck away from him on the table. Then he did his best to focus on the book, even though making sense of the Latin was a headache. "Is there a dictionary here to translate Old Latin into English?"