Page 111 of The Shade of Things
“Magic was real,” Eli said to me in a low, hard voice. “But you never mentioned it. Not when we were dating, not when we were having a child together, not even when you accepted it back into your life. Yet the second you decided I needed to know, you got angry that I didn’t immediately accept it. That I dared to need some fucking time to deal with the shock.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, his words landing like barbs.
Shaking his head, he moved over to the window. “My baby has powers. Not from you. From me. Has my mother been magic all these years and not told me? Was my dad? If they were, why wasn’t I let in on it? But again, I’m not allowed a single second to process that? I’m just automatically the bad guy?”
My fury ebbed away.
Sadie looked at her father and then to me with a pleading look. I didn’t know how to fix this, but for her sake I’d try.
“Eli—”
He held a hand up, and I lapsed into silence.
Juliette returned a moment later, remaining in the doorway as if taking the temperature of the room before sitting back down.
My hand flew to my mouth, and I chortled, holding my belly because the laughter had an edge to it that hurt, but I couldn’t stop. The universe was so fucked up. I’d been worried about whatever I’d brought into existence with that stupid card game, but if I hadn’t played, Eli and I wouldn’t be alive. Sadie might not be either. The Wise Brothers, the Human Race, I’d assumed that every game in the supernatural world had dire consequences.
I wiped tears of mirth from my eyes, my chuckles subsiding, and took Sadie’s hand. “My badass baby, you saved us.”
She flipped her hair off her shoulder. “Damn straight I did. Like mother like daughter.” She sniffed. “Some people should be grateful for that.”
“I’m allowed to be scared for you, Sades,” Eli said quietly. “Your mom is an adult, and she knew about magic her entire life. You’ve had a lot dumped on you in a very short time with this on top of it. You can’t tell Nessa or Caleb. You’ll have to carry this secret with you, unable to share it with people you love. Ask your mother how hard that is.”
“It’s really hard,” I admitted. “Mostly because I had no one to talk to. Yes, I’d known about magic, but I’d only had it for a year before I lost my parents and went to live with Goldie. When I reclaimed it, there was no one for me to ask, and I was the only Banim Shovavim in an Ohrist community. It’s not the same for Sadie. She has me, and Juliette.”
Juliette smiled. “Of course she does.”
“And Jude, and Nav, and Laurent,” I said.
“Plus Tovah,” Sadie piped up. “Ava and Romi’s niece. She’s an Ohrist and she’s my age. We’ve been texting. Oh, and I have Uncle Emmett.” Her eyes sparkled.
Eli slapped a hand to his forehead, almost as distraught over hearing Sadie call the golem her uncle as he was over her having magic. “Give me time.”
“Look on the bright side, Eli,” I said. “It’s your daughter who got the active Ohrist gene in your family and not your sister. You know she would have tormented you with it. How fun would that have been?”
He glared at me. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“Yeah.”
Reluctantly, he shrugged. “Okay. Yes. True.”
“You always said you’d love me the same if I was queer or trans,” Sadie said.
“I would,” Eli said.
She shrugged. “Then why is this different?”
I tilted my head at him, awaiting his answer.
Eli braced his elbows on his thighs, his hands folded in front of his face. “Look, I love you more than anything. That hasn’t and will never change. Whatever anger or grief I’m feeling right now has nothing to do with you having magic. I swear.” He sighed. “A few months ago, my biggest fear for you was boys. Or girls. Mostly boys though because I know how those horndogs think. Maybe your chemistry grade.”
“Hey,” Sadie protested. “A C+ is totally respectable.”
Eli gave her a flat stare. “Suddenly, I lived in a world with magic, and I had to worry about vamps getting to you. Now, it’s not vamps. It’s dybbuks. It’s Lonestars. It’s magic battles that I can’t help you with at all.” He took her hands. “You aren’t supposed to save me, my girl. That’s supposed to be my job.”
That was kind of sweet.
Sadie didn’t think so because she snorted. “Are you serious? Geez, Dad, welcome to the twenty-first century. You can unlock my chastity belt, and did you know I’m not legally property either? I can vote and everything.”
