Page 24 of Pixie Problems
I didn’t know Draven’s story, but I sensed a kinship with him in that moment.
“I—” I cleared my throat and tried again. But before I started again, Zian nosed the door a helpful guard opened for him and let himself in. He jumped up onto the couch—much to Draven’s apparent amusement—and put his big head on my lap.
“It took the high elven gift with animals a while to work with him,” Draven observed, pouring himself tea from the tea service in front of him. He offered me one, but I declined.
I scratched along the tiger’s jawline, and he chuffed at me, before releasing a big sigh. “You were just jealous, weren’t you?” I told Zian. He opened one amber eye and snuffed at me. It sounded like a tiger scoff if I ever heard one.
It was funny, but having Zian make himself at home on my lap made me feel warm and comforted. It gave me courage. I closed my eyes, breathed in the stillness of the room for a moment, and began.
“I’m from Glacier Falls, originally, the paranormal town there near Interlaken in Switzerland.” My hand stilled, and Zian nuzzled into my stomach, his big head nearly knocking the breath from me. I smiled and laughed a little, shaking my head. He was such a big baby.
I looked at Draven. “My family’d been there for seven generations. Despite being from a high elven line, my family was very humble. My father was a wood carver, my mother a seamstress. They used their star elven gifts in the humblest of ways. Unlike their forbearers who used them as assassins, soldiers or guards, my family discovered that to live in harmony with their gifts, taking andgiving,using their power for more than killing, created a synergy with the stars that was unheard of among our kind. So, when I say my family was humble, they were, but they werepowerful.”
Draven nodded, looking thoughtful. “I sense deep power within you. I’ve met a star elf a time or two in my lifetime, and you are more powerful than they.”
Unlike my childish antics earlier with Dice, Draven’s comments didn’t puff up my chest. Oh, I could be a little childish and flustered when it came to Dice being attracted to me, but when it came to my power, I was stone-cold sober. It was something I didn’t mess around with. Even in joking. Because the truth was, I was one of the most powerful star elves on the planet.
And that was why . . .
I sighed.
Zian nuzzled me again, and I tried to smile, but grimaced instead. My lips trembled.
“We lived a simple life,” I whispered. “I went to a nearby college for a business degree but went home on the weekends.” I looked up. “I was born without the dual souls that most elves are born with. Among our kind, we’re called the Silent Ones.Most still have their magic, but the sentience of it is completely absent.” I leaned back, closing my eyes. “There’s a stigma attached to it among elves. Of course, anything different . . .” I shrugged. “But my parents never made me feelother.They gave me a good home, alovinghome, and I was happy there.” I swallowed.
“I had a sister, Maja.” I sucked in a breath, and held it through the pain, then let it out in a gush that blew Zian’s fur all around. “She was a special spirit. She wasn’t born silent like me, thank the stars, but she had a light to her that was undeniable. She walked into a room, and the room and its occupants lit up. She was kind. Genuinely, with no thought for herself, kind. The sort of kindness you see so rarely in the world.” I smiled with my eyes closed.
“She had a gift that allowed her to talk with animals, kinda like Ben. They sought her out when they were in trouble.” I scrubbed a tear away. “One night in deep winter, we heard a heavy scratching at the door. A lynx needed help. Its mate was in a trap.”
I sighed, avoiding Draven’s eyes like I would a laser scalpel. I had no desire to see what his expression looked like.
“Against the wishes of our parents, she bundled up, gathered a few things, and followed the lynx into the forest. She saved the lynx, but on the way back to our home, a heavy tree fell, punching a hole in the ice my sister was crossing. The hole splintered, and she went in.”
I pushed a hand into my side, trying to massage the pain that radiated from it like someone had stabbed me with a poison-dipped knife. I couldn’t catch my breath, the pain was so bad. My head spun. I tried to draw enough air in, but it suddenly felt like my lungs were three sizes too small.
Draven, without a by-your-leave, set his tea cup down, knelt on the rug in front of me, took my wrist, and bit down, then sat back after a millisecond, wiping the blood from his lips.
“Dude,I am not,”gasp“a midnight snack! What in the stars iswrongwith you!?”
And then my anger abruptly fizzled, and I felt super calm. Abnormally calm. And, more than that, I felt . . . warm and fuzzy?
Okay, what in Polaris had just happened? My lungs had opened up, and the feeling of the walls closing in around me was abruptly gone.
“Better?” Draven asked.
I nodded, feeling really confused. “Whydid you do that?”
“If you were human or less powerful, I could influence your emotional center without the bite. But . . .” He shrugged. “You were spiraling into a panic attack.” He peered up at me, gauging how tenuous my control over my body was. “You should feel calmer.”
I nodded again. Zian hadn’t even opened his eyes when Draven had gone all chompy on me. Some friend he was! Draven moved back to his chair, and I could still feel him stabilizing me through the bite-bond.
“Is it normal for me to feel, like, less alone after a bite?” Okay, that sounded weird, but yes, I felt less alone now. His bite had done something unusual, and I wasn’t sure if it was because Draven was a master vampire, or something else. I knew master vampires to be extremely powerful, and Draven was no exception.
Draven picked up his tea again, topping it off and stirring in cream like he hadn’t just taken a bite out of me. Seriously, what was I, a peach? I mean, I’m sure I was delicious. My magic alone was probably a serious buzz for a vampire.
“I’m sorry about your sister, Rhys. She sounds like she was something truly beautiful and special.”
And in that moment, with the pain I saw in his eyes, the pain I knew was there because he not only empathized with me, but knewexactlywhat it felt like to lose someone you adored, I forgave him for mistaking my wrist as a snack.
