Page 110 of The Shade of Things
Let’s be honest. Had we not been discussing my child, I’d have jumped up, yelling “Ohrist magic! Booyah!” while moonwalking just to annoy the fuck out of Eli. Plus, I was delighted my daughter and I both had powers.
I studied her carefully, looking for any of her tells that she was hiding her feelings, but she had a small proud smile, and her eyes were lit up. I squeezed her hand. She’d face challenges ahead that she hadn’t expected, but she was one stubborn kid. If she wanted this, she’d make it work for her. I ignored the voice in my head whispering about players and gameboards.
Eli pointed at me. “Explain this.”
“You’re being a dick.” I crossed my arms. “That explanation enough?”
Sadie kicked her dad. “Stop trying to blame Mom. I’m magic because of you, Dad. Suck it up.” She scowled at him with a stubborn set to her jaw.
“It does beg the question,” I said, “of why wasn’t Sadie born with magic?”
“Juliette thinks it’s because your Banim Shovavim magic blocked it from coming out,” Sadie said. “It short-circuited and it took this long to be set right.”
“Not quite,” Juliette clarified. “Sadie doesn’t have your magic or a recessive Banim Shovavim gene, but the very fact of an Ohrist baby getting nutrients from a mother with a different type of magic caused this confusion.”
Eli sat with his head buried in his hands. He’d checked out.
I wasn’t a total monster. Obviously, I felt sorry for him. A bit. Through my smugness. Not only had Sadie inherited magic from his side of the family, it meant he had a recessive gene but no ability, and I couldn’t tell which fact upset him more.
However, right now, I had a more urgent question.
“Are you sure she was born with it?” I said hesitantly. “Could it be something that recently occurred?”
The young women stared at me with curious expressions while Eli raised his head up.
“Meaning?” he said.
“I have to tell you something, but I swear I had no idea this was what it meant.” Twisting my hands in my lap, I laid out the entire story of raven shifters bringing things into existence, the game of blackjack I’d played with Poe, the raven drawing blood from my finger, and the announcement of a new player.
I finished to shocked silence.
“That’s why all the birds were there?” Sadie said. “To watch? Pervy.”
“I knew it!” Eli crowed. “Chus don’t have magic.”
Our daughter flinched, hugging her knees to her chest.
“They do because Sadie was born with her magic,” Juliette said. “Miriam didn’t cause it to spring up out of nowhere.”
“You’re positive?” At her nod, I sighed, silencing the voice of doom in my head.
All Poe had said when the raven bit my finger was that I was surrounded by magicians and now there was one more. An unexpected one. I’d played their words over enough times to easily recall them now. I was the one who assumed it was some villain coming after me because of my parents. Never had I been so happy to be wrong.
“How can you be sure?” Eli gave a dismissive wave. “It’s magic. It’s not science.”
The healer stiffened and sat up very straight. “I have trained and studied magic for years.” She spoke with the same haughty authority that I’d heard in her uncle many times. “The only thing Miriam’s confession does is clarify things. Without that card game, Sadie’s magic would have remained buried forever, instead it untangled the blockage and released it.”
He bowed his head. “Maybe that would have been better.”
“Excuse me?” Sadie’s eyebrows shot up and I shot daggers at my ex.
Juliette murmured an excuse about water and fled into the kitchen.
My daughter threw up her hands. “What part of this do you not get, Dad? If Mom hadn’t played that game and I hadn’t gotten my magic, you’d both be dead. And who knows what would have happened to me?” Her chest rose and fell raggedly, but it wasn’t anxiety. Not from the red flush on her cheeks.
“Be that as it may,” Eli said, “it changes everything.”
“Why?” I snapped. “Because Sapiens are better? Purer? Do you look down on Nav or is all right for others to be sullied so long as your precious bloodline is pristine?”
