I laughed and stroked his head. “Good job, you.”
Paz licked my cheek in a happy greeting, then scrambled down my arm, wrapping his limber body and tail around my wrist.
Idly scanning the room, I caught my aunt watching me. I looked away—I don’t know why, instinct not to be perceived by authority figures?—then back. A mistake. She beckoned me imperiously, and I could do nothing but head over.
She excused herself from her group and led me along a courtyard path lined with apricot trees. “It’s kind of your demon to dance with the wallflowers.” She made it sound likeWhat’s his ulterior motive?
“He’s not mine,” I said, flushing again. Good lord, I’d blushed more tonight than in the last year. “And he says the proper term is ‘shayd.’ ”
“Mm,” she said noncommittedly. “You say he’s been here for a month?”
I nodded.
She sighed. “I should have known. I’m sorry I haven’t been better about seeing you.”
“Oh,” I said, surprised. “It’s okay. You’re busy.”
She looked gutted. “It was wrong of me. You’re family. You don’t know anyone else here.”
“I’ve made friends,” I said. “And don’t worry about Daziel. He’s not dangerous.”
Her forehead crinkled, and the corners of her mouth turned down. “There are multiple forms of danger.”
She looked and sounded so like my father I couldn’t bear it. I stared at my feet. “Is the Sanhedrin trying to figure out why the magic is off—why the winds are strengthening, the maelstroms weakening? People are worried.”
“Ah.” She pinched the skin between her thumb and forefinger. “Many divisions are working on understanding what’s happening, but no one knows why yet. Areyouworried?”
I shrugged. “My friend Leah says if the winds are too rough, and if the Maestril is too weak, it could ruin her family’s silk harvest. And everyone’s worried about the lack of birds. The cobwebs and bugs everywhere are getting out of control.”
“Right.” She nodded. “We don’t understand natural magic—the workings of the earth, sea, sky—the way we understand letterform. It’s not something humans control; it’s the domain of the primordial beasts. While the Council is trying to understand why natural magic is misbehaving, we haven’t yet figured it out.”
“How can it be the primordial beasts’ domain? How do they control it?” I believed in the existence of the Leviathan and Behemoth and Ziz in a vague, unchecked way, the way I believed in cosmology and prophets and divine speech—they existed, probably. The rabbis could likely explain very thoroughly, but I didn’t really care. I’d never thought of them having an impact on my life.
“We don’t know,” Aunt Tirtzah said. “We know so little. We don’t even know if the beasts have forms like shedim or if they’re more…metaphysical. The study of natural magic has historically been ignored since it’s difficult for humans to harness, so it’s quite the pivot for the Council to now try to understand it.”
“When do they think they’ll know?”
Her shoulders slumped slightly. “I’m not sure.”
This was not reassuring. I looked away, watching Daziel spin his partner, who laughed with delight. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“Can you not mention Daziel to my parents?”
Aunt Tirtzah didn’t answer for a moment; I was too embarrassed by my request to look at her. “They’re your parents,” she finally said. “They need to know what’s happening in your life.”
“But nothing’s happening.” I gave her a pleading look. I almost said,Let’s make a deal—maybe I was spending too much time with Daziel. “And they’re such worriers. They’re already worried about me being here in the big, scary city.”
“I can’t keep secrets from them,” she said, sounding on firmer ground.
“But you don’t even talk to them that often. You and Dad send letters once a year.”
She sucked in a breath, and I immediately felt bad. I hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings. I softened my voice. “Please. Did you want your parents involved in every part of your life?”
Some of the tension drained out of her. “Your parents are less strict than your grandparents were.”
“Just think about it,” I begged. “If you decide they need to know, I’ll tell them. But I don’t want to upset them about something small.”
