Page 43 of Pixie Problems
“The voice still there?” Virion said, as though he knew that she couldn’t give it back.
She nodded.
Virion sat back on his haunches. “I’ve never heard of this before.” He turned to me. “Your sentientsilentpart of your magic found a new home inside of her, and it’s not silent anymore.”
“There’s a theory that theSilent Oneshave a genetic defect that allows them to have their magic but takes away their ability to have its sentience. Clearly, this theory is only partially correct. If I’m understanding you correctly, Prince Virion, you’re saying that the sentience was always there in theSilent Ones, but they just couldn’t hear it,” Draven said.
My liege nodded, looking about a thousand years old. His face looked worn and drawn as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. “That is my current working theory.”
I sat back, stunned. My magic had been sentient all along, I just hadn’t been able to hear it? My heart was thumping quickly, both from Dice’s kiss, and from the theories of my liege and Draven. This changedeverything!
I turned to Dice quickly. “What is it saying?”
Dice looked uncomfortable as she avoided my eyes. She plucked some non-existent dirt off of her jacket. “It’s wildly sarcastic.” She rolled her eyes. “Big surprise as it comes from you. But it’s also very . . . protective and . . . loving.”
My eyes burned. I had sentient magic. And my magic didn’t seem to hate me. “Why did it move into you?”
My liege and Draven looked like they hadmultipletheories about that, but they both kept quiet. Dice said, “I think because I could understand it?” She shrugged her shoulders. “Also, I think it wanted you to know that it loves you, and that it’s always with you.” She looked uncomfortable at this revelation, while I felt like a building had been dropped on my chest. I blinked my eyes quickly, fighting the burning sensation that was currently there because Draven obviously kept a very dusty and dirty villa. I refused to acknowledge that every surface gleamed in the firelight as though it had been waxed and cleaned within an inch of its life.
Dice paused. “I get the feeling there is another reason, but it’s remaining very secretive about that one.” She looked at Virion. “I can’t give it back?”
My liege shook his head. “It’s still part of him. It can still read his heart and anticipate his needs. It’s just also attached to you now. I’m sorry, Lady Dice. But it looks like it will be your constant companion now.”
I winced. Dice was not going to be happy about that. How could all of this have happened from a simple kiss?
Dice seemed to be thinking the same thing. “How did this happen from just a kiss?”
My liege moved back to the couch, reclaiming his curved swords. They breathed softly at his touch and glowed faintly. “My theory is that his magic, through the shared biochemistry of the kiss, was able to ascertain that you would be a host that it could speak to.” He looked between Dice and I. “I think it also sensed a close connection between you two.” He looked like he wanted to say more on that point, but changed his mind and remained silent.
“I’m so sorry, Dice,” I said in a low voice. “I was only trying to distract you.” I smiled sadly. “And of course take the opportunity to kiss you without you possibly skewering me.”
Dice shuddered, looking anywhere but at the three of us in the room. “I have to go,” she said suddenly, lurching to her feet. My liege handed her his contact information before she buzzed past us.
“Please call me if you need help,” he said. Dice nodded and left.
The three of us sat in the room for a minute or more in silence before Mesmer broke it. “Things are always interesting around you, aren’t they Rhys?”
I sighed. “I live to make others laugh.”
Draven got that thoughtful look on his face again. “The Laughing Elf. Now I get it. I’d mistakenly assumed it was because you have a weekly laughing hour and you, the owner, are an elf.”
“That too,” I said.
Chapter13
Dice
“If you sayanythingduring my shower I will find a way to kill you,” I threatened the voice in my head. The voice wisely remained silent.
All during my shower and getting ready for the day I fumed silently. I was now officially a crazy person. I heard voices in my head,andI responded to them. Yesterday the voice had so startled me that I had jumped a foot off the ground and got my gun out, looking around for the creepy person who knewwaytoo much about me. I had scared a little old hedge witch across the street so badly that she’d ditched her cane and ran into a corner store.
After my heart had stopped slamming into my chest and I’d been able to think rationally, I’d realized that the voice was coming frominsidenotoutside. It was speaking in a soothing tone butit was in my head!We’d had a very brief conversation wherein I’d threatened it with all kinds of dire things in exchange for information on where it’d come from. All it’d had to say wasRhysand I was livid.
I asked the voice to track him down—and miracle of miracles it had listened—and then I confronted him at the Leto Villa.
To say I was unhappy with the revelations of last night would be a vast understatement. I wasdevastated.I was going to carry around this parasite for the rest of my life. I wouldneverhave another moment’s peace. And for a girl who valued her alone time like a carb-loader valued the last plate of pasta, this was saying something. I didn’t know what to do. I was perilously close to tears, and I really needed my grandparents. I’d spoken to them last night. They were finalizing things on the ranch and then in the next month they’d be packing up and coming to Moonhaven Cove. That was the only thing holding me together right now. If I could just wait for my grandparents, everything would be okay.
I blinked in the mirror as I changed the color of my hair to dark brown. Pixies had very little natural magic. We had what most calledsmallmagics.The magic to do a little healing, produce small lighting orbs, hide our wings in the ether, fly—this was a product of magic. Nothing our size should be able to get off the ground with our comparatively small wing size—and other small things. Such as change our hair color. We weren’t the power houses of the paranormal world, that was for sure, but every once in a while, one of us was born with greater magic. Magic that beings like elves, warlocks, some witches and wizards, dryads, genies, etc. had. My greater magic was my Insight. But I still used my small magics nearly every day. One of the funnest ways that I’d found to use it was changing my hair color and putting on makeup in an instant. I just pictured what I wanted and it changed.
