After the meeting, they said goodbye to John, and James took her to the guildhall’s canteen. As they entered the bustling café, Scarlett breathed in the smell of coffee and baked goods.
“So, did you see the black and gold smoke while you were speaking?” asked James once she’d slid into the seat across from him.
The canteen buzzed with conversation. Quite a few of the people she’d seen in the meeting had come straight here.
“Yes. What was that?” She took a sip of her coffee and sighed with pleasure.
James waved to a passing colleague before answering. “It’s an indication of opinion. Will, even. Golden smoke will appear when you’re speaking to someone and they agree with what you’re saying.”
“And it’s black if they don’t?” Ian Carmichael came into her mind’s eye.
“Precisely. And I’m sure you can see how, when you’re speaking to Parliament, this kind of infallible insight could be useful.”
Her mind reeled as she imagined seeing black and gold smoke floating above all the peers in Soleil’s parliament. “Is it always accurate?”
“People can lie with their words, but not with their hearts.” James bit into a blueberry muffin he’d bought along with her coffee.
Brayden.“I didn’t see any smoke yesterday, with Brayden.”
James shook his head. “You won’t. Or at least, I hope you don’t. The better you know someone, the less smoke you see. I can’t see any when I speak to Brayden and my dad. I’m not seeing anyone right now, but with all my ex-girlfriends, it disappeared as soon as we became close.”
“Why?” asked Scarlett.
James shrugged. “It’s probably a blessing, to be honest. It would be exhausting to beonall the time.”
“That’s true.” She didn’t want to use magic every time she talked to Beni, Manon, and Brayden. At work though…
“What if someone has both black and gold smoke above them?” she asked, thinking of the man with the mustache. “Mixed feelings?” She took another small sip of her coffee.
“Yep. That’s when you know you can persuade them with the right words. Debate with them and question them until you find something they like. Then it’s up to you to decide whether or not you can agree to whatever they need to be onside.”
“If someone’s undecided, I can help you deduce the right thing to say,” said Nori.
Scarlett’s mouth fell open. “Nori—she’s my light.”
“Yes, your light can help you navigate conversations to get better outcomes.” James’s smirk was patronizing.
She ignored his attempt to bait her and cocked her head to one side. “Isn’t this manipulative? Immoral?”
“You’re not taking away anyone’s free will. You just have a leg up at figuring out how to compromise with people. If you want to get into valor morality, is it immoral to use your Goddess-given talents for the greater good? If you’re a virtuous politician, this will further the good of Soleil.” He took a large bite of his muffin, chewing for a moment before taking a gulp of water.
“I suppose…” Scarlett thought of Moira and the lack of virtue in many of her father’s ex-colleagues—her soon-to-be colleagues. “I don’t want to control anyone’s mind.”
James gave her an exasperated look and glanced around, probably afraid someone was listening to her embarrassing misconceptions of soul-light magic. “A vox can’t do that. None of the soul-light valors can. You’re thinking of Sigur Viður in the war?”
“Yes.” The most notorious stories from the Great War filled her mind. “People haven’t forgotten the awful things that happened. It’s why Soleil banned magic, and every time there’s a hint of it being legalized, the newspapers rerun stories. The possessed soldiers who came home and murdered their own families…”
Years ago, at about age ten, she’d picked up a newspaper and been horrified by an article about the war that described women who’d lived with soul parasites controlling their husbands’ or their boyfriends’ bodies, not realizing until after they’d suffered tremendous abuse. It made her shudder just thinking about it, even now. She’d die before she’d be controlled that way.
“If the press find out I can influence people with magic, the anti-magic media will draw parallels right away.”
“The mind control Sigur Viður is infamous for has nothing to do with soul lights. That’s nasty stuff—parasite magic. You’d have to intentionally pursue that. It won’t happen by accident just because you’re a vox.” The look of disgust on his face told her he was as disturbed by soul parasites as she was.
Scarlett’s shoulders relaxed. “That’s a relief. How do they do magic if not with soul lights?”
“They didn’t teach you that in school?”
She scoffed. “No.”
